Langley

Langley FC is a non-league football club formed in 2010, representing the village of Langley which is sited a couple of miles east of Slough, which in turn is twenty miles west of central London.

Upon formation, the club became members of the East Berkshire Football League, playing their home games at Kedermister Park in Langley. Langley were crowned as champions of the competition in 2016-17 before finishing as runners-up twelve months later.

This led to promotion to Division Two East of the Hellenic League for the start of the 2018-19 campaign under manager Alan Paris as well as a move to become tenants to Holyport at their Summerleaze Village in the southern outskirts of Maidenhead.

Their debut season ended in promotion after finishing second, while the team struggled in Division One East in 2019-20 before play was abandoned owing to the Coronavirus pandemic. Langley moved back to Slough to share Arbour Park from June 2020 under joint managers Jock Mowatt and Scott Bright.

After a reshuffle following the pandemic, Langley were placed in Division One of the Combined Counties Football League for the 2021-22 season, where they finished in midtable. A takeover of Langley was completed by InGame Creative in the summer of 2022.

The playoffs were reached in 2022-23 with Berks County being seen off before Rayners Lane proved too strong in the final. Max Johnson was appointed as manager in June 2023, while the club moved from Slough to become tenants of Uxbridge Fc at Honeycroft.

The 2023-24 campaign saw Langley finish in eighth position.

Langley FC will play in the Combined Counties League Division One in the 2024-25 season.

My visit

Langley 3 Kidlington Reserves 3 (Friday 23^rd October 2020) Hellenic League Division One East (att: 133)

Having finished work with the weekend off I could have quite easily put my feet up and relaxed watching some football on TV, but the temptation of a free ride via TfL rail to Berkshire won the day, especially as fans weren’t allowed into Arbour Park for Slough Town games because of the Coronavirus regulations.

That decision in itself had fans scratching their heads. Because the Rebels played in what was classed as ‘elite football’ because the National League’s finished their truncated 2019-20 season via play-offs fans were not permitted to attend once 2020-21 kicked off, despite any tenants lower down the pecking order being allowed to welcome supporters.

After a nice meal I headed to Paddington in time for the ride of thirty minutes to Slough. It was just over ten minutes walk along Stoke Road to the ground. The gates were open with a gent inside by a table collecting £5 for admission and selling programmes for £1.50.

He was a friendly chap who had a chat about Scarborough when he saw my hat. He’d visited to watch Chelsea in the FA Cup and was a former non-league player with Slough, Windsor & Eton and Harrogate Railway Athletic as his job in the army sent him north.

He was expecting plenty of groundhoppers for the game. Indeed, the bloke in front of me was originally from Leeds and commented that only Great Yarmouth Town were staging a game along with Langley. I saw a few familiar faces throughout the evening.

The lower attendance offered opportunity of a good view from the seated stand, which I took up for most of the game as well as taking a wander around for photos. Arbour Park really was a fine arena of which additional photos can be viewed here on the Slough Town page.

The game got underway at a decent page with Langley midfielder Jamie Di Giuseppe immediately putting down his marker with creative play passing to wide men Levi Thackeray and Harry Farnan.

The visitors took the lead on eighteen minutes when Owen Cox finished well after being set up by forward Josh Patrick. Langley responded as a free kick made Kiddy keeper Max Dunmall make a comfortable save before starting an attack.

Home defender Mo Riaz committed a foul on the edge of the box which allowed Stefan Neilsen to send his free kick round the wall and past Langley keeper Bikramjit Khaira to double the advantage on twenty seven minutes.

It was noticeable that the Kidlington bench was rather less vociferous than their first team had been on my visit a couple of weeks previously, though their mood was no doubt darkened when a Thackeray cross was met by a diving header from Dean Papali to half the deficit just before half time.

At the interval I joined the queue at the top of the stand where a lady was selling hot drinks and snacks from a table against the door. A large disposable cup of tea for a quid was welcome as the chill began to bite.

Shortly after the restart Patrick missed a guilt edged chance to extent Kiddy’s lead before his teammate Cox put too much purchase on a volley to see the ball go just over the bar. The action saw play going from end to end with several errors but no end of effort.

Langley equalised with a goal that took on a comedic quality on fifty five minutes. Keeper Dunmall came for a ball that he flapped at and dropped. Thackeray remained unflustered and tried to chip the goalie who again flapped on deflected the ball towards goal where a defender helped it over the line when trying to volley clear.

Mo Riaz had impressed me throughout with his skilful play in Langley’s midfield. He created a great opportunity for Patrick who was clean in on goal but amazingly tried a showboating flick past Dunmall who saved easily rather than putting his foot through the ball.

The game opened up, with young Kiddy sub Archie Brew immediately causing problems for the Langely defence while at the other end Patrick shot straight at Dunmall when well placed.

However, the hosts took the lead with fifteen minutes left on the clock when Diaz passed to Di Giuseppe whose low shot from just outside the box found the corner of the net. The visitors went straight up the other end to restore parity when a poor defensive header fell to Aaron Morton who shot low across Khaira from the edge of the penalty area.

Both teams went for a winner in the closing stages, with half chances spurned at either end. I headed out into stoppage time to ensure I caught the 9.45 train back towards the capital, which I made quite easily.

I reflected on the journey home, which was split at Hayes & Harlington where I transferred to the 140 and then 183 buses, on an entertaining game that was great value for money with both teams giving their all in a match well refereed by Isaac Blakey.