Rebels Out Of Trophy

Dreams of a place in the FA Trophy final at Wembley in May were ended for Slough Town at Wexham Park on Tuesday evening when a goal in each half helped Scarborough to victory in an enthralling third round replay.

Having performed magnificently at Scarborough on Saturday and forced a replay, Slough were confident of winning a place in the last eight and an away tie at Enfield. But before one of the largest crowds at Wexham Park for several seasons two goals in the first 62 minutes virtually ended the Rebels' hopes.

And to add to Slough's disappointment they had central defender Joe Moloney, who had been outstanding in both matches, sent off for retaliation in the dying seconds of the game.

When Scarborough goalkeeper Peter Walters punched a Barry Friend corner into his own net after 73 minutes, and then seconds later limped off the field injured hopes of another dramatic Slough comeback were raised.

But in a frantic last 15 minute spell Slough could not find a way through Boro's well drilled defence, and replacement goalkeeper Mitch Cook became the real hero of the night making several superb saves to keep his side in the competition.

With full back Dave Yerby starting a two week ban manager Terry Reardon's already depleted squad was further reduced, and the Slough boss caused a major surprise by bringing John Beyer out of retirement to play in the back four.

However, despite not having played at this level for almost a year Beyer performed admirably as once again the Slough defence stiffled Scarborough's potentially lethal attack.

Slough started the game at a cracking pace and almost straight from the kick off put the Scarborough defence under pressure with Barry Friend, who had a marvellous game, sending over a series of searching crosses.

From one of these after four minutes, Moloney almost created a goal for Dylan Evans but the ball just eluded the Slough striker with the Scarborough defence stranded.

Four minutes later another Friend cross eventually fell to Rod Haider on the edge of the penalty area and the "veteran" Slough midfielder saw his shot rise just over the bar.

Slough continued, to dominate the action and after a fine run by Evans, Walters needed to react quickly to foil Rowan Dodds with 20 minutes gone.

However, showing more discipline and control than they had on Saturday Scarborough slowly started to threaten Slough, with Neil Sellars once again proving a major influence in midfield.

After 30 minutes a fine run and cross by Colin Williams ended with Ian Smith firing high over the bar from 10 yards out, and then five minutes later Smith headed straight at Parsons when in a good position following a long cross from Neil Parker.

However, two minutes later Boro went ahead when a corner from Sellars was headed home by Malcolm Wright, and then just before half time it took a fine save by Parsons to prevent John Watson from putting his side further ahead.

The second half started with the Rebels desperate to pull back the deficit and after 52 minutes Roy Butler replaced Haider to give the Slough attack some added power.

And then three minutes later only the woodwork prevented Slough from drawing level when a thunderous shot from all of 20 yards by White beat Walters only to hit the underside of the bar and bounce back into play. Had the Rebels' equalised at this stage there is no telling what the final result might have been, and at the end of the day it was certainly a lucky let off for Boro.

Slough continued to push forward, but always had to guard against Scarborough's dangerous breakaways and following one of these on the left the Alliance Premier League side scored a 'killer' second goal.

After Peter Howey had forced his way into the Slough penalty area the ball was only cleared as far as Watson and from just outside the penalty area he struck home a perfect shot into the corner of the net past a stranded Parsons.

Minutes later Butler missed a great chance for Slough but after 73 minutes the Rebels were back in the match when Walters could only push an inswinging corner from Friend, on the right, into his own net.

Walters, who only returned on Saturday from a lengthy injury and had been struggling throughout the match, immediately collapsed to the ground and was led off with a recurrance of a knee injury.

Defender Cook took over in goal and in a frantic last 15 minutes of Slough pressure pulled off several fine saves. First he foiled Russell at the far post after Dodds had flicked on a Friend cross and then in the 91st minute he somehow held onto a thunderous volley from Russell out on the right.

A superb cup-tie ended with Moloney being rather harshly sent off by referee Mr T. Mills of Barnsley in the 94th minute after he retaliated on Smith. Mr Mills also booked Russell and Wright, taking the total of players cautioned in the two matches to six.

During the two matches there was little to choose between the sides, with both teams having their chances to win the tie and at the end of 180 minutes of football it was a pity there had to be a loser.

Slough's performance at Scarborough will long be remembered and at the end of the day they were just a little unlucky not to progress into the last eight.

Speaking after the match Slough manager Terry Reardon said he was clearly disappointed with the defeat but added: "The team did well over the two matches and they should be proud of themselves."
Reardon continued: "It was a good cup-tie and we battled really well. We started the game well, and also defended well in the first half until they scored."

"I thought we were always in with a chance until the end but Scarborough controlled the game well and were always dangerous on the break."

Reardon commented that he thought the sending off of Moloney was rather a harsh decision, and he singled out the young Slough central defender as one of his side's outstanding players over the two matches.