Hercules rescue act comes to nothing

Halifax Town

Halifax Town

4
Worthington (46), Horner (54), Brown (85), Midwood (86)
Slough Town

Slough Town

1
Hercules (79)
League Attendance: 793 Cliff Hercules
Slough Town manager Brian McDermott last week warned that it would be foolish to expect his Rebels to have everything their own way this season, especially in a league as competitive as the Vauxhall Conference.

Having enjoyed the peaks of success in the opening two matches, the Rebels got a taste of the other side of life rather sooner than they had expected at Halifax on Saturday. The match turned in the twinkling of an eye immediately after the break. Up till then the Rebels had been on top, but passed up three gilt-edged chances to add to their tally of nine goals netted in the opening two games.

But when Gary Worthington struck in the 46th minute and then Noel Homer in the 54th, the Rebels were in it up to their ears. With 11 minutes left they hauled themselves back into the match through Cliff Hercules who dive bombed the defence from a comer.

From there the Rebels should have gone on to take a point, a reasonable enough target against a side who had a week before suffered a six-goal mauling in front of their own fans. But no one is perfect, as newly signed central defender Gary McGinnis acknowledged after the mistake that let the Shaymen get back on top.

The former St Johnstone skipper played himself into trouble when trying to clear the ball in the 85th minute. Wham, bam, thank you ma’am - and Jimmy Brown had the ball in the back of the net. With Slough still recoiling from this body blow, Michael Midwood went back down the other end and scored Halifax's fourth straight from the kick off.

The final scoreline flattered the opportunist Yorkshire side, but illustrated what can happen when you pay less than 100 percent attention.

"I had watched Conference games before I joined Slough, but I never thought it was going to be this tough," admitted McGinnis afterwards. In Scotland we like to get the ball on the ground at the back and play it forward. In Conference football there is a lot more of the high ball - and it is a lot more physical.

"From my experience, Slough play about the best football in the Conference. It sometimes takes time for that to show through, but it will in the end."

Halifax Town Lineup

Woods, Horner, Mudd, O'Regan, Trotter, Brown, Hendrick, Stoneman, Worthington, Brook, Davison. SUBS: Midwood (76, for Worthington), Cochrane (65, for Trotter), Brown (62, for Hendrick)

Rebels

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