IN THE battle of the villages in the Southern League Premier South, Hartley Wintney and Kings Langley played out a scoreless draw.

It is the Kings who will probably feel they should have returned to Hertfordshire with the points after being on top for most of the match.

After two minutes a long ball downfield found Mitchell Weiss free down the middle and man of the match Adam Desbois in the Row goal brought off a good save from the strikers parting shot.

On 14 minutes, Rene Howe managed to fathom a chance for himself coming in from the right.

His lob beat Desbois but Luke King cleared from in front of the goal.

The Kings remained in the ascendancy but Hartley registered a chance on 33 minutes.

A long free-kick from Josh Webb saw Jack Beadle almost get in at the back post.

The same pattern remained after the break and on 56 minutes Desbois showed good alertness to save after a long free-kick.

Kings applied further pressure and a series of brave blocks by the Row defenders kept the scoreline level.

A long throw from Kings Langley on 63 minutes saw a scramble in front of the Row goal before the ball was scrambled clear.

Almost immediately Hartley moved to the other end and Josh Webb set up Tyron Smith who shot past the post from 20 yards.

Kings Langley were unlucky not to take the lead on 69 minutes.

The effective Howe crossed from the left and found Callum Adebiyi whose header crashed off the crossbar.

Three minutes later at the other end a long throw from King found the head of Jack Ball who saw his effort pushed over the bar by Kings’ goalkeeper Matt Nolan.

On 79 minutes, Howe set Weiss free through the middle and under pressure he shot across the face of the goal.

On 86 minutes the Row were reduced to 10 men when Luke King received a second yellow card after a crude challenge.

In added time Howe and Weiss combined well in the Hartley area but a last-ditch challenge from Jack Ball saved the day for Hartley.

A match where the Row had to dig deep to scrape a point.

Over the past month the side has lost some form and confidence.

The club will be hoping that they can regain some of the sparkle from earlier in the season for next week’s FA Trophy match at home to Tiverton Town.

However, before this they are in Andover Senior Cup action away at Fleet Spurs on Tuesday night.