McDonagh earns Puritans a third win on the spin

The Puritans returned from Kings Langley with all three premier division points and a sixth clean sheet following Saturday’s 1-0 success.

A confident United side soon got on top and a corner from Zac McEachran found Luke Carnell whose shot was saved by Xavi Comas.

United went on to dominate the rest of the first half but Kings Langley defended well and there were not many clear opportunities. The nearest United came to a goal was when McEachran’s shot from the edge of the area looked bound for the bottom corner before Comas got down to tip the ball away for a corner.

Despite United’s dominance they could have been behind just before the interval when former Puritan Ryan Plowright found himself through on goal but he shot well wide from the edge of the area.

Following an uneventful period after the restart United stepped up a gear and began to dominate proceedings once more. Excellent play by James Smith, only signed on Saturday morning on-loan from West Bromwich Albion, saw him put McDonagh through on the left but Comas again came to the home side’s rescue, diving to deflect the striker’s shot around the post.

But the Puritans made the all-important breakthrough in the 71st minute when McEachran put McDonagh through on the left, he took the ball forward to just inside the area before striking the ball across Comas into the far corner of the net.

Four minutes from time United went close to doubling their lead when Martin Asiedi Ofosu did well to take the ball to the left by-line before crossing into the centre where Smith’s shot was well saved by Comas, the loose ball rebounding to Jack self who shot over from 15 yards.

Kings Langley managed to ask a few questions of United in the remaining few minutes but caused a few concerns to the healthy Puritan following as United defended well to see the game out.