Table topping Kings Langley hit five in Harefield rout

The clash started as a tactical encounter, with few chances at either end other than a 30-yard snapshot from Kings’ Dean Hitchcock which went just over and a close range effort from Alex Campana that was smothered.

However, the game burst into life four minutes from the break when Mitchell Weiss was felled in the area and Danny Hutchins fired home the resulting penalty with his usual confidence.

The Hares’ reaction to going behind was poor, and when Lee Burgoyne tackled Liam Hind minutes later, the latter’s reaction merited a straight red card – following which the visitors continued their complaints into the tunnel.

Kings reacted by keeping their cool, while Harefield channelled their energies into having the best of the opening 10 minutes of the second half.

But when Hutchins delivered a right wing cross to deep centre, Hitchcock blasted a low shot past Hares keeper Matt Elston-Bull to double Langley’s advantage.

Charlie Crowley was called into serious action on the hour mark to parry a fierce shot from Ben Gill, before Kieran Gradwell missed a point blank header.

However, the rising tide of home pressure saw the 10 men swamped by their goal-hungry hosts in the final 10 minutes of the game.

The third goal came when Nick Jackson delivered a ball to Hutchins wide on the right, and his first time strike with the outside of his foot was poetry in motion.

Weiss – who seemed to have been the centre of the away side’s attention since the penalty incident – found the perfect response when he back-heeled home a Campana cross and then rose to head a Tom Carter cross in off the underside of the bar in stoppage time to complete the scoring.