Kings Langley are set for some Friday night football this week, as they travel to Oxfordshire to take on Thame United. With the weather playing havoc on the recent fixtures of both sides, they will no doubt be desperate to get back to action and battle for a victory that could have significant consequences at both ends of the table.

Thame United, who sit just one spot outside the playoff places with two games in hand on the side above them, Hadley, are yet to take to the grass since the turn of the year. With their New Year’s Day meeting with Kidlington and their weekend’s fixture with Enfield both facing postponement, Friday’s tie with Kings will mark their first outing of 2025.

The Red Kites narrowly avoided relegation last season, but have fared much better in the current campaign and are looking up the table, rather than down it, on this occasion. Their last encounter saw them fall to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of league-leading Berkhamsted, but prior to that they had won four out of their previous five, including 4-0 thrashings of both Leverstock Green and Aylesbury United.

A quick glance at their past results shows they are no strangers to high scoring affairs, regularly engaging in entertaining battles such as November’s 9-1 victory over Adderbury Park in the Oxfordshire Senior Cup, or contrastingly, their 7-2 league defeat away at Real Bedford back in October.

A strike force combining nous and experience with the exuberance of youth has yielded great rewards for Ben Williams’s team, with 31-year old Daniel West and 18-year old Brayden Daniel bagging a total of 13 league goals between them.

Harry Alexander, no stranger to Jordan Parkes’s men after his brace secured all three points for Thame in the reverse fixture earlier this campaign, has five league goals and is an important feature of their side, controlling the play from his midfield role in behind the strikers.

The damage was done for Kings early on that day, with a lacklustre first half showing at The Orbital Fasteners Stadium pounced upon by the Red Kites and Alexander in particular to ease out to what would prove to be a decisive 2-0 lead.

They couldn’t recover, despite an improved second half performance, and it condemned them to a defeat that saw Thame climb above them in the league standings back in late September.

Since then, while Thame have continued to rise up the rankings, fortunes have been less favourable for Parkes and his Kings Langley team.

A run of three consecutive defeats with just one win since the end of October has seen them fall to 14th and they now find themselves in danger of drifting into a relegation scrap, only eight points ahead of the drop.

The remainder of this month could be vital for Kings, who face the league’s bottom two sides in North Leigh and Leverstock Green immediately after the trip to Thame, in moving away from danger and cementing a spot in the top half of the standings.

Performances, on the whole, have been positive, with many of their defeats close-fought, but it’s important they now convert this into points to ensure their final league position provides a fair representation of their quality.

Charne Lemba, December’s Player of the Month, will look to bring his trademark composure and resolute defence from the back, while Jonathan Lawson will hope to add his first goal for the side up front.

After more narrow disappointment on New Year’s Day in Hadley last time out, Kings are still awaiting their first points of the year, and what better place to start than at The ASM Stadium.

They’d love your support, so if you’re interested in some non-league action to end the working week, head to Oxfordshire for a 7.45pm kick off on Friday night.