Sam Murphy was the hat-trick scoring star as Kings Langley got back to winning ways in some style with a 5-1 victory over fourth-placed North Leigh on Saturday.
Murphy was one of manager Jordan Parkes’ first signings in July, only for the FA Vase winner to sustain an injury after five appearances which was to sideline him for four months.
In a reshuffled pack, he was handed a more forward midfield role and responded by being at the heart of everything as the revitalised hosts put their recent run of poor results behind them in impressive fashion to leave them ninth in the Southern League Division One Central table.
It was Murphy who opened the scoring when he nodded in a Michael Gabblah cross after a quarter of an hour, only to see the Millers equalise two minutes later with their first attack of the match, as a free-kick was expertly flicked in by Michael Hopkins.
Stung by this, Kings launched a series of attacks with a Louie Collier shot cleared off the line by Dan Peart, but when the same player played in Murphy, his low shot inside the left-hand post eluded the despairing hand of Timmy Mungall to restore the lead on 24 minutes.
As the hosts continued to dominate, Collier surged across the line of defenders seeking an opening, before dispatching a precision shot to make it 3-1 ten minutes later and he was to go close again before the interval.
The usually reliable Rene Howe headed over the bar from close range, but it was Kings’ teenage keeper Gabriel Ortelli who provided a memorable moment, dashing all of 25 yards from his goal to execute a perfect sliding tackle on a breaking forward.
It was much the same story in the second half as the other young Watford loanee Michael Adu-Poku showed his speed and control to deliver a cross from which Mungall saved Howe’s shot, and the Kings striker was then the victim of an injustice as he had a ‘goal’ wrongly disallowed for offside.
When Howe’s next effort was cleared off the line, he turned his attention to the role of provider, receiving a through ball and unselfishly squaring for the incoming Murphy to rifle home to complete the perfect hat-trick of head, left and right foot in the 81st minute.
All that was left to emphasise Kings renaissance day was for joint leading scorer Rayan Clarke to come off the bench to hit a screamer into the top far corner in the last minute to complete a five-star show
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