Newman off as Blueboys bow out

London Colney 1

Kings Langley 2

LONDON Colney’s hopes of winning the Division One Cup were dashed after a 2-1 defeat to Kings Langley on Tuesday evening.

The defeat came at some cost to the Blueboys who had top goalscorer Matt Newman sent off late on after picking up a second yellow card following a clash with Ross Hampton, the Langley ‘keeper.

Hampton had taken over in goal from Ross Channer whose evening was ended when he collided with Newman early on. No foul was given against the Langley stopper and the Blueboys were allowed to continue but the hobbling custodian was able to recover to keep out Danny Fitzgerald’s effort before being replaced.

Bruce Hutchinson put in an energetic performance down the left-wing and his well placed shot was saved by Hampton.

Against the run of play Kings Langley opened the scoring. Chris Mason skipped round Dean Thompson with ease and his low cross was turned home by James Armstrong to give the visitors a 36th minute lead.

Three minutes later it was 2-0 when Mark Whittamore failed to deal with Nathan Pooley’s corner kick which left Armstrong with a simple tap-in.

The Blueboys responded positively after the break reducing the deficit inside 60 seconds of the resumption. Defender Thompson swung a free-kick over for John Butler to score with a glancing header.

Minutes later Fitzgerald should have levelled the tie when he picked the ball up with plenty of time and space in the box but he smashed his volley over.

Hampton pushed a low drive from Trevor Stevens around the post as the Blueboys pushed hard for an equaliser and Fitzgerald drove over the bar.

Langley’s time-wasting tactics frustrated Colney and with only a minute to go Newman was given his marching orders after letting his frustrations get the better of him and fouling Hampton.

London Colney: Whittamore; Thompson, McCafferty (Hudson), S Murphy, Paradise, Sutton, Butler, Stevens, Newman, Fitzgerald (Warner), Hutchinson (Knightley).