Ilkeston Seal Win at Kings Langley

Monday evening saw Kings Langley fail to get out of the bottom four in the Pitching In Southern League Premier Division Central when they were beaten 2-1 at the Orbital Fasteners Stadium against Ilkeston Town.

And as a result, the visiting Robins moved up to sixth in the standings, and although trail the play-off places by eight points, will keep Nuneaton Borough and Rushall Olympic looking over their shoulders during the run-in.

Jamie Ward’s visitors headed to Hertfordshire looking to extend a run of unbeaten games to ten.

And it was Ward, the former Derby County and Northern Ireland international who gave his side an 18th minute lead when the ball was cleared to the edge of the box and the 36-year-old caught it superbly to fire past Jack Berman in the Kings goal.

The home side got themselves a foothold in the game after that and were back on level terms on the half-hour mark when Andronicos Georgiou’s free-kick was blocked and it was returned into the box by Ethan Light for Jorell Johnson to tap past Harrison Foulkes in the Robins` goal.

Crucially, however, Ilkeston restored their advantage 2 minutes into first half injury-time and it was another of their veteran players, former Reading, Middlesbrough and Swansea City striker Leroy Lita, who has been in excellent form since joining the club in January, who scored it, finishing off a cross from the left – his 12th goal in 13 games for the club.

The second half saw the home side push hard for an equaliser and Foulkes, on loan from Derby, produced a couple of fine saves late on to preserve the lead and secure the points for his side.