Added-time goal saves point for the escape artists Kings

This time it was hosts Banbury United on the receiving end of a Jorell Johnson header that was no more than the visitors deserved.

With Kings fielding an unchanged line-up, the match opened cagily as the sides tested each other out.

Langley keeper Martin Bennett was first into action with a brilliant starfish block from a point-blank Ricky Johnson header, but Kings began to find their rhythm and good interplay saw Mitchell Weiss slip the ball through to Kieran Turner, whose shot was tipped round the post by debutant home keeper Martin Herdman.

Kings then forced four consecutive corners, the third of which resulted in Herdman repeating the save, this time from Weiss. The visitors continued to impress with their incisive one-touch passing and as the break approached, went close again as Turner put the ball just over the bar.

But the last action of the half was a Tom Winters shot from the hosts that shaved the upright and was to set the tone for the opening 10 minutes of the next period, as Banbury introduced Leam Howards, whose first touch was a one-on-one with Bennett. The keeper blocked the shot bravely and Macsen Fraser scrambled the rebound to safety, but the imposing figure of Luke Carnell, up for a corner, was unsettling the otherwise tight defence and Kings were lucky to escape when his header was headed off the line and onto the underside of the bar by Arjun Jung.

Kings rode the period of pressure and responded with Weiss curling a shot just wide, lose a one-on- one with Herdman and then see his header hit the post.

Then, with ten minutes to go, a Charlie Hawtin shot hit the woodwork and as Elliot Sandy went for the rebound, he was felled by Fraser. Sandy despatched the spot kick to put United in the driving seat.

It looked harsh on Kings.

Stevie Ward and Nikolay Minchev had been introduced after the penalty, but Kings seemed to be making little headway until the penultimate minute of four added, when Ward’s central run and forward chip saw Johnson throw himself in front of a defender and arc his header into the top corner to reward another never-say- die performance.

Kings remain in 21st place in the Southern League Premier league table and this Saturday they host 17th-ranked Biggleswade Town.