Chelmsford City v Kings Langley Match Preview

Chelmsford City take a break from their Vanarama National League South campaign when we enter the Emirates FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round against Southern Premier Central outfit Kings Langley on Saturday 17th September (3pm kickoff).

The Clarets continued their good form at the start of the season with their 5th win out of 8 games this campaign with a late Ade Oluwo goal giving City a 1-0 win against normal bogey side Oxford City. The Clarets sit 4th in the Vanarama National League South after 8 games, with only 1 defeat so far and that was us coming out on the wrong side of a 7 goal thriller against Havant & Waterlooville.

The Clarets almost made the 1st round of the FA Cup last year but were beaten 4-2 by Southern League opposition in Harrow Borough. The Clarets were knocked out of all 3 cup competitions last season by lower division opposition so City need to wary of the challenge today.

The opposition

Kings Langley are 5th in the Southern Premier Central and have made a good start to the season. Kings have won 3, drawn 3 and lost 1 of their 7 league games and they won their only FA Cup game so far when they won 2-0 at fellow Essex side Harlow Town. Whilst Chelmsford are playing their 4th home game in a row, Kings Langley are playing their 4th consecutive away fixture. They have so far defeated away from home Redditch and Leiston, with 1 home win so far against Bedford. They have drawn against Mickleover, Stratford and Barwell with a solitary defeat away to St Ives Town.

In terms of players, in goal they have Hafed Al-Droubi who seems to be in good form going by his man of the match performance against Barwell last Monday. In defence they have former Hemel defender Jorell Johnson as well as former St Albans centre-half James Kaloczi who also crossed Hertfordshire to play for Hemel. In midfield they have former Claret James Mulley who played for City in the FA Cup in the 2010-11 season, appearing against Carshalton and Wycombe. Mulley, now 33, also had long spells in the National League with Braintree and Maidenhead. They also have much travelled midfielder Aryan Tajbakhsh who has spent time in the Football League at Crawley Town. They also have youngster Rio Deall who was signed in the summer from the MK Dons academy. In forward positions they have Harry Crawford, who appeared for Southend and Barnet in the Football League and had successful spells with a number of National League South sides including Dartford, Welling and Hampton & Richmond. They also have tall striker Bradley Wadkins who has appeared for Slough but probably their most experienced member of the squad is 36 year old player-coach Will Hoskins who played in the Football League for Rotherham, Watford, Nottingham Forest and Brighton to name just a few of his clubs.

Their manager is Chris Cummins who having started off as Academy Director of Watford and Luton, ended up in Major League Soccer in North America and was interim coach of Toronto FC in 2009. He was hired at Watford by Graham Taylor and was instrumental in the development of former Manchester United and England winger Ashley Young.

Previous meetings

This will be the first meeting between the two clubs.

Team News

An enforced 9 day break allowed Chelmsford City manager Robbie Simpson to get a few players back from injury. Cameron James started against Oxford after missing a couple of games and Jazzi Barnum-Bobb also returned which meant Henry Ochieng moved into midfield to cover the absence of now departed Devonte Aransibia. Khale DaCosta also started his first home game and on loan Cambridge United youngster Kai Yearn impressed off the bench so could be eyeing a start. Arsenal loanee keeper Ovie Ejeheri also started against Oxford after missing 3 games with concussion but impressed so will looking to keep his place ahead of Jacob Marsden in goal. Both managers have the option of naming 7 substitutes in the Emirates FA Cup, although only 3 can be used.

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