What A Corker!

Slough Town

Slough Town

4
Dell (18 pen), Stanley (46), Dodd (68), Adams (90+1)
St Albans City

St Albans City

3
Gurney (40), Fletcher (66), Johnson (86 pen)
League Attendance: 496 Steve Thompson
Mark Adams' injury time winner was the climax to a vibrant 90 minutes of non-league football....probably the best you will see all season.

It had everything: goal-mouth incident, gaping goalscoring chances, seven goals, two penalties, a booking, a dodgy linesman and a large crowd that went home thinking it was money well spent.

A crowd of 500 witnessed one of the Rebels most inspired performances of the season after St Albans equalised three times before being edged out at the death.

Adams scored his first goal in a Slough shirt in the 91st minute after the match was sparked into life through a thumping Bobby Dell penalty in the 18th minute.

The irrepressible Steve Thompson had galloped into the penalty area only to be dragged down by Graham Coles....the flaying arms in the main stand said it all. To their credit, St Albans played well above their five victories and lowly 12th spot in the VOL and their 'keeper did even better, denying Slough at least three certain goals in the first half hour.

But the Rebels were kicking themselves for it being level pegging at half time. " I'm not really worried if we win in the 89th minute, but if we had taken our early chances, it would have been delightful to watch." said a rather satisfied Davies at the end of 90 minutes.

" I thought we looked strongest going forward and the game could have been ours- letting three goals in is just not our style of play at all" he said. Although Davies thought Slough should have wrapped the game up in the first 20 minutes, he did concede that it was a " good all round team performance".

He added " Two players that don't catch your eye I thought played exceptionally well today....Bobby Dell and Gary Dodd. Dodd's ball through to Thompson for the second goal was superb" he said. Shots rained in on the visitors goal, most notably when Stanley produced a weak drive straight into the 'keepers arms and a Thompson blast was saved at point blank range.

But Saints' Martin Gurney hit back with a 40th minute equaliser, but it took just 50 seconds of the second half for the Rebels to take the lead again. Thompson weaved his way down the left flank after the Dodd through ball and floated in a delicate cross for Neal Stanley to nod home, making up for his glaring miss in the first half.

However, it was sub Noel Fletcher that pulled City back into the game with a 66th minute strike just a minute after he had stepped onto the pitch. Amazingly, the Saints were dominating the game after the break but as always Tony Knight and Jeff Bateman proved the sticking point.

Then, just two minutes later, it was Thompson again who supplied the pass for Gary Dodd to take the ball in his stride and strike majestically home from inside the box. In the fast and furious play that followed Goodchild was booked for fouling Thompson who was by now leading the Slough charge again, but it was the delightful one-touch play from the left flank that caught the eye.

One move saw Adams feed Stanley who took it cleverly on his chest, raced down the flank and crossed only to see Priddle head over his own crossbar. But four minutes from time, Saints' equalised again when Priddle appeared at the other end, splitting the Slough defence for Coles to speed into the box and be brought down by Dodd.

Nigel Johnson calmly tucked home the penalty and it was all square again with seconds remaining. It was drama all the way with both sides finishing the game on a high, determined to score yet another...but fittingly it was Slough who came out on top to regain the top spot in the Vauxhall Opel League when Mark Adams took up the running from Steve Thompson to blast home the winner in the 91st minute.

St Albans City Lineup

Rebels

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