Kings Langley Pip Bedford in a Game of Chances

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 3 May 2014 at Gaywood Park
Result	Kings Langley 1 Bedford 1
Competition	Spartan South Midlands Division One (Step 6)
Hopping	Ground 536 on the lifetime list.  Not often that there is a match of vital importance at an unvisited ground less than 30 mins away from Yapp Acres, so an easy choice.
Pre-match preparation
Sun Postal Sports have won the division, but this game between 2nd and 3rd will decide the other promotion place.  Both have 85pts but KL have the better goal difference, so a draw will do for them.  Bedford have to win.  The previous league meeting was a 3-3 draw way back in August.
This match in one sentence
Bedford will rue all of their missed chances, particularly from a first half that they dominated.
So what?
Kings Langley head into the Step 5 world of the South Midlands Premier division for the first time in their history, and Bedford, as Anne Robinson would have put it, you leave with nothing.
The drama unfolds
Bedford started the game strongly so I took a very early clip.  A lovely scything foul on the wing leads to a booking and a set-piece.  Home ‘keeper Steve Bourke makes the first of many saves and someone shouts “1-0” just as a goal-bound shot is deflected wide.  It was an exciting and frantic start to the game.  Kings Langley are in black-and-white. Bedford striker Josh Ford then rode two tackles and smacked the crossbar before I took another clip.  This is save-of-the-season from Bourke as he tips a deflected 20-yard shot onto the bar.  These two clips were typical of the first quarter-hour and Bedford’s management could not believe it was still 0-0. Kings Langley had their first sight of goal when Gary Connolly’s shot past an outrushing Aaron Bodger went just wide, and Bodger made another save as it appeared that the home team had now weathered the early storm.  Ford then had another chance but Bourke was able to fall on a tame shot.  Kings Langley missed a shot from a corner before Bourke did enough to foil Ashley Kersey as a red kite circled overhead.  I took a clip of a Bedford set-piece on 35 minutes and then a last-ditch tackle just before half-time.  (Note: not suitable for family viewing  due to rude words floating on the breeze…)  0-0 at half-time The second half was more even, and both sides kept a balance between attack and defence.  Here is how the deadlock was broken, and it was a goal for Kings Langley.  The scorer is Jonny Munday.  1-0 after 67 mins This meant that Bedford needed to score twice and Bourke was soon back in action with a full-length save.  The visitors appealed for a penalty when a driven ball was deflected on to a defender’s arm but the ref quite reasonably declined.  Kings Langley held out until the arrival of a freight train on the adjacent line with 10 minutes to go.  Here’s the clip.  1-1 after 80 mins Bedford were almost certain to create a chance to win it.  In fact they had several as defence became increasingly desperate.  Here is the moment that they probably realised that they were staying down, followed shortly after by the final whistle.  As a neutral, I enjoyed this thoroughly.  Well done to both sides, and congratulations and commiserations respectively to the two clubs.  Final score 1-1 We love this game because of its unpredictability and fine margins.  That's how close it was, that could have been Bedford's defining moment.
Ground Pix
The best hand-written teamsheet ever ... *applause*
Match Pix
Huddle Stats
Kings Langley are the second team to use a twin huddle this season, and Bedford made do with the one.  I think we have established that it doesn't make any difference. 2013-14 Summary so far: P W D L GF GA Pts Pts per Game Non-Huddlers 29 13 3 13 45 48 42 1.45 Huddlers 16 6 5 5 19 15 23 1.44 Twin Huddlers 2 0 2 0 3 3 2 1.00 2nd Half Huddlers 1 0 0 1 1 2 0 0.00
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Yellow (home) drew with Green (away), no clean sheet for either side. 2013-14 Summary so far: 3pts for a win, 1pt for a draw, -1pt for a goal conceded and +5pts for a clean sheet P W D L GA (-1 each) CS (5 each) Pts Pts per Game Purple 1 1 0 0 0 1 8 8.00 Grey 12 7 2 3 13 5 35 2.92 Red 3 2 0 1 3 1 8 2.67 Green 11 5 1 5 16 2 10 0.91 Yellow 5 1 2 2 9 1 1 0.20 Orange 3 1 1 1 6 0 -2 -0.67 Radioactive Bile 3 1 0 2 6 0 -3 -1.00 Pink 7 1 3 3 16 0 -10 -1.43 Blue 3 0 1 2 6 0 -5 -1.67
What Next?
I will be sitting with the Sholing faithful, and hopefully the Yapplets, at the FA Vase final at Wembley next Saturday.  Come On You Boatmen!  Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!