Kings Langley knocked out of FA Trophy by Cambridge City

Rene Howe had given the hosts a 20th minute lead in the first qualifying round tie after they had ridden their luck in the early stages, but Cambridge levelled ten minutes later before securing their progress seven minutes from the end of normal time.

Freddie Buers was the only change, brought in on the left side of attack, but it was the visitors who did all the attacking in the first ten minutes, with Langley fortunate to escape as the woodwork was struck three times.

Freddie Buers tries to get past City keeper Joe Welch (Image: Len Kerswill)

Pat Staszewski headed against the bar and fired the rebound over, Joe Hood saw his close-range shot deflected onto the post by Alex Tokarczyk and Richard Black’s header also came back off the bar, before Kings settled and rather surprisingly took the lead when Joe Welch fumbled Buers’ shot and Howe steered the ball into an unguarded net.

That prompted the match to be competed on a more even basis and City underlined that when Hood sent a curling shot into the far corner of the net to restore parity on the half-hour mark.

As the game flowed, punctuated by the first water break, Sonny French fired straight at the keeper in a one-on-one and a through ball from Michael Gabblah saw Louie Collier lob the keeper but have the goal disallowed for offside in a very close decision.

Kings boss Jordan Parkes passes on instructions during a drinks break in the hot weather (Image: Len Kerswill)

Buers was booked for simulation when felled by a raised leg tackle across his shins – it was hard to see how he could have stayed on his feet and it was a poor decision by the referee.

Undeterred, the 17-year-old was in action again in the first minute of the second half when he outpaced the accompanying defender only to see his shot well saved by Joe Welch.

The second mid-half break followed on the heels of City having a Don Cotton effort ruled out for offside, but the final period was unremarkable until seven minutes from the end of normal time when Stefan Broccoli fooled his marker with a skilfully disguised turn just inside the Kings’ half and then set off on a solo run through an empty half to slot the ball cooly past Tokarczyk.

Kings were unable to build on Rene Howe's first-half goal (Image: Len Kerswill)

It was a goal that had looked to be coming and Kings seemed to have little in reply to save the day, but any hope was effectively doused when Tokarczyk foolishly indulged in a war of words with the referee over City’s time wasting that achieved nothing but two yellow cards and dismissal in the first two minutes of time added on.

With all three substitutes used, Isaac Pedro went into goal and tried to launch a few closing attacks, but even in the unlikely event of scoring an equaliser, Kings would have gone straight into a penalty shoot out without a recognised keeper.