Rebels downed by Shots

Ten-man Slough lost out by a single goal to a title chasing Shots side, with former Rebel Gary Abbott notching the winning goal on his return to Wexham Park.

The hosts made three changes to the side that lost against Canvey at the weekend. Chris White and Steve Daly pulled out with injuries; James Lambert took a place on the bench and was replaced by Junior Haynes, with Mark Hall reverting to his preferred Midfield position.

Slough made a sloppy start to the game and the Rebels could have been a goal down after only two minutes. A long ball by Protheroe found Wayne Andrews, who outpaced Townley and Cramman, but he dragged his shot just wide.

The next two chances fell to former St. Albans striker Andrews again. The first was a 30 yard rocket which drifted wide and moments later he found himself with space in the area, only to be denied a goal by a great block by Cramman.

Twenty minutes elapsed, but Slough were not in the match at all. Blake, Crossley and Coll were comfortably dealing with both Haynes and Marshall and Andrews' pace was causing Slough all kinds of problems at the back.

On 22 minutes Slough nearly conceded a needless goal. There was a mix up between Timothy and Mautone, which resulted in the ball rolling towards the line with Andrews lurking; luckily for Slough Timothy got back in time to clear off the line to stop a certain goal.

Only five minutes later Aldershot should have capitalised on their possession advantage. Holsgrove crossed the ball into the box and former Slough marksman Abbott fired well over, when he should have given the Shots the lead.

Moments later though Slough had the best chance, and their only chance of the half. Cramman, who was impressive at left back, played a delightful ball forward to Marshall, who lobbed the ball over Coll's head and with only Pape to beat he shot straight at the veteran keeper.

Just as it looked like Slough were beginning to settle down and get their game flowing they received a blow. Dave Timothy was red carded after 40 minutes for two tackles from behind. In response, Slough replaced Mark Hall with Andy Deaner.

From the resulting free kick, Abbott had a header brilliantly saved by Mautone at his far post which saw Slough somehow go in level at the break.

Ten-man Slough looked a different side after the break and on 47 minutes they were only denied the lead by a fantastic save from Andy Pape when Phil Simpson shot from the edge of the area.

Slough had another half chance soon after. Some excellent play between Allen and Haynes resulted in Deaner producing an overhead kick which went wide.

Aldershot's first chance of the second half came after 57 minutes. Jason Chewins crossed the ball into the box, which Mautone failed to gather. The ball fell to Coll, who saw his goalbound effort cleared off the line by Townley for a corner.

From that corner Aldershot almost took the lead as Mautone almost dropped the ball into his own net, but somehow managed to gather the ball at the second attempt on the line, with the hundreds of Shots fans claiming that the ball had crossed the line.

On 67 minutes Aldershot took the lead, and it had to be that man Abbott, who scored his first goal from open play this season. One-time Slough target Simon Ullathorne crossed the ball into the box and Abbott somehow managed to steer the ball into the net under pressure from McPherson.

Slough almost equalised five minutes later though; Allen crossed the ball into the box for Haynes, who saw his right footed shot blocked, with what looked like an Aldershot defender's hand. Haynes' second effort was blocked again.

The second half developed into a much more even encounter, with Slough playing a lot better than they had in the first half, but they were getting caught out by Aldershot on the break. On one occasion Slough were left with two against two at the back. Andrews beat McPherson for pace and saw his first time effort brilliantly saved by Mautone for a corner.

Deep into injury time Slough almost stole a point. Markman, on for Simpson, won the ball and played the ball to Lambert, who seemed to take too long to shoot, but eventually got his shot in only to see Pape superbly push the ball just round the post.