Langford visited The Grass Roots Stadium home of Tring Athletic with the confidence of two clean sheets in their last two games. The Reds showed two changes from the midweek Cup victory at Colney Heath with Dave Cook replacing Kevin Patterson in defence and John Coley coming into the starting line after suspension.

The home sides form had seen an improvement after a slow start to the season and Langford were forced to work hard to contain them in the first half. Chris Salmon blazed over when well placed was the first real chance of the game for Tring. Home custodian Gary White enjoyed a slice of luck when after dropping Dave Cook’s long ball into the area. The visitors however couldn’t take advantage of the loose ball. With Langford forcing their way more into the game cries for a penalty when John Perry appeared to handle Robert Groves shot were waived away. Liam Meehan’s chance of opening the scoring was wasted when his effort cleared the Reds crossbar following a free kick. With Marc Barnes and Lee Pateman providing the Tring defence with a lot of problems the Reds were looking more likely to open the scoring rather than their hosts. Barnes opportunities were sadly wasted by not being on target when well placed and Pateman tried his luck from distance and again when breaking into Tring area it took a well time challenge from Terry Phillips to deny the young Reds forward. Langford did finally manage to break the deadlock on the stroke of half time. Robert Groves intercepted the ball in midfield and his exquisite pass put Mark Barnes away. Lee Pateman supporting Barnes run then scored from eight yards after the ball was squared back to him. A deserved half time lead for the Reds with Pateman’s tenth goal of the season.

The second half saw Pateman come close to adding his and Langford’s second but his volleyed effort was saved by White. The dangerous combination of Pateman and Barnes then combined again but Barnes disappointedly couldn’t finish the move. Tring produced their best period of the half so far and forced a couple of corners but not the required equaliser. Robert Groves had scored twice at Tring in last season’s game and only a goal line clearance denied him adding his name to the score sheet in this season’s game. Ben Williams came closest to a Tring equaliser when his terrific shot beat Eely all ends up but struck the underside of the crossbar before bouncing to safety. Within injury time the Reds thought they had done enough to grab the win but Tring kept pressing and when the ball was swung into the far post just out of the reach of Eely, there was Matt Wort in a position to lob the ball back over the Reds goalkeeper to level the game up. All the points so nearly went to the home side with only the width of the crossbar denying Ben Williams an even later winner.

Matches between these sides have in the past been good natured and tight affairs with today’s game being no exception. It was therefore surprising that the referee deemed to book five Langford players and four Tring players. What wasn’t a surprise however was the dismissal of John Coley in what has so far been a very in disciplined season for the experienced striker and yet another suspension beckons.

Langford play at Broxbourne Borough in the next SSML Premier Division Cup on Tuesday. The following Saturday Haringey Borough visit Forde Park for League action. Haringey lifted themselves off the bottom of the table with a 4-1 demolition (Alfred Kamara, hat trick) of Colney Heath on Saturday and coupled with an improved showing in recent weeks could provide interesting opposition for the Reds considering their recent home form.

Langford; Dan Eely; Shayne Willett; Dave Drury; Dorian Small; Dave Cook; Joe Delasalle; Adam Pitcairn; Lee Pateman (Jim Bywater); John Coley; Mark Barnes (Rhys Davies); Robert Groves

Tring Athletic: Gary White, Chris Salmon, David Foskett (Capt), Terry Phillips, John Perry, Liam Meenan (Rob Duncan 55), Ben Williams, Pete Martin, Steve Johnson (Matt Wort 70), Danny Gray, Gary Nicholson (Paul Lewis 78). Subs not used: None