Aside from the 16/17 season when under the management of Richard James (now AFC Welwyn boss) they finished in fourth place of the it's been quite a struggle for Langford FC since their relegation from the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division in 2011. Their average position finished in Division One is 14th between 2011 to 2023.
Happily for everyone associated with the Forde Park club things are looking upwards this season with Manager Stuart Robertson having an impressive young squad of players who are very well coached and play good passing possession based football.
Their visitors on Saturday 30th December were Buckingham FC who after the merger of Division One side Buckingham Athletic and Division Two side Buckingham United in the summer are officially playing their first season as a 'new club' - I'm sure that the merged club could/may well rise up the levels of non-league football sooner rather than later as the Town which has a rich history of football most notably with Buckingham Town playing in The Southern League from 1986 to 1997 and famously reaching the FA Cup First Round in the 84/85 season where they lost at home 0-2 to then Division Three side Orient - The East London side dropped 'Leyton' from their name between 1966 and 1987.
Both sides played some good football with FC the more direct side getting the ball up the field seemingly quicker as opposed to the hosts who had lots of possession.
It was 0-1 at half time courtesy of Dante Grey's goal - The former AFC Rushden and Diamond's player was able to turn the ball into the net following a low cut back from the right hand side.
Langford equalised in the second half thanks to a Reece Perry header following a Ben Moore free kick into the penalty box.
The second half also saw a very bad clash between a Buckingham attacker and the Langford goalkeeper Eben Tulomba - It was no particular player's fault and was just one of those unfortunate incidents that occur once in a while. Thankfully the Buckingham player who came off worse was able to walk around to the dug out after receiving treatment.
The final score of 1-1 was probably the right result on the performances of both sides.
It was great to see a good number of away fans who had made the 35 mile trip from Stratford Fields to see their team play - the future certainly looks bright for them despite their current 13th place position in the table. They are now five games unbeaten in the league which has included a 4-4 draw at home to Winslow United in front of 212 people on Saturday 23rd December.
Langford are in eighth place just three points behind Northampton Sileby Rangers in fifth place which is the last play-off spot in the division - They have a chance of reaching the play-offs but on the negative side the teams in and around do have games in hand over them.
This game was watched by a crowd of 58 with their seasonal average for league games being 46. As I always write about every non-league team I cover it would be great to see this increase - If you are local to Langford why not pop down and catch a match?
Weather permitting they are scheduled to travel to Irchester United before two games at Forde Park when Raunds Town visit on Saturday 13th January and Rushden & Higham United on Tuesday 16th January.
Buckingham FC have a tough away trip to table topper's Northampton ON Chenecks on Saturday who have just one defeat in their twenty league games played so far. Their five game unbeaten run will certainly be put to a stern test.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS - LONG
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS - SHORT
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