Kings Langley travel to Southern League Premier Division basement side Gosport Borough tonight buoyed by holding leaders King’s Lynn Town to a goalless draw at the CRY Community Stadium on Saturday.

Facing a side that had won six of their nine games on the road this season, Paul Hobbs’ men frustrated the visitors with a game plan that sometimes saw a back five, but counter-punched with quick breaks before they almost won it at the death.

Michael Gash and Leon Mettam put headers over the bar in the opening ten minutes, but apart from a scrambled shot that hit the post, that was the most the table toppers had to show for all their possession and neat approach play.

Mitchell Weiss and Michael King struggled to get on the end of long balls that have become an unwelcome feature of Kings’ play of late as visiting centre-back Tom Ward hardly put a foot wrong all afternoon, while Kieran Turner was a willing workhorse in a dual role up and down the left wing.

It all made for an uninspiring opening period as far as entertainment was concerned and the home crowd were justifiably nervous as the teams re-entered the fray, given Kings’ poor second-half record at home this season.

They survived a first-minute penalty shout when the referee was not impressed by Michael Clunan’s fall in the box and upped their possession rate to eventually surpass that of the Linnets, beginning to produce some passing movements that stirred the crowd to feel that a contest was about to develop.

Nor were they disappointed because as the game opened up and flowed from end to end, the hosts began to give Town some anxious moments of their own.

Weiss and King both had shots well held by Alex Street, the incisive runs of Stevie Ward saw a penalty appeal turned down and Elliott Godfrey and Josh Coldicott-Stevens were providing the kind of forward passes that were unsettling the visitors.

But the leaders also had their attacking moments, with a Cameron Norman shot going just wide and Mettam failing to connect with a perfect cross.

The home defence were having a good day though, as typified by one perfectly timed saving tackle from Gary Connolly in the area.

As the minutes ticked away, it looked that a highly creditable draw was to be the outcome, but then came the moment when time seemed to stand still as Street came for the ball outside the area, surrendered it to Coldicott-Stevens and could only watch as his low side-footed drive honed in on the open goal, only for it to pass no more than a couple of inches outside the post.

Now it was Kings’ turn for frustration as Weiss lobbed the under pressure Street, but saw the ball cleared off the line as the hosts finished strongly.

But the final drama of an intriguing finale was at the other end, as Martin Bennett tipped a fierce shot from Ryan Hawkins over the bar with the penultimate kick of the match.

Kings Langley: Bennett; Folarin, Connolly, Johnson, Adebiyi (Tring 46); Ward (Karagozlu 90), Coldicott-Stevens, Godfrey, Turner; Weiss, King (Ocran 80).