Slough Edge Out Bedford

The Tommy Lawrence Cup magic returned to Slough Stadium on Saturday when Slough edged Southern League Premier Division Bedford Town out by the only goal of the match.

In a game that see-sawed from Slough to Bedford's favour and back the home side still struggled to find the form that made them such formidable cup fighters last season but despite playing well in spasms the goals just would not come although near misses by both sides were quite regular and Bedford manager Garvey made the miss of the match when he screwed the ball around the post in the 78th minute when it would have been far easier to score.

Slough's hero was without doubt Keith Meade the man who managed a total of one goal last season and is rarely seen in the vicinity of the opposing goal, but in this game he was often to be seen lurking by, the far post whenever Slough gained a corner and it was from this position that he scored the winner in the 66th minute when he out jumped the tall Bedford defence to head the ball just in-side the post.

Slough appeared to have overcome their defensive weakness with D'Arcy once again the outstanding player. This 37-year-old looks to have received a new lease of life and is certainly giving magnificent service to this Slough side. In midfield the Day-Reardon combination looks better than that which we have seen over the past few weeks, but Tottman and Chatterton are still not receiving the type of service needed.

For the first ten minutes of this game Bedford looked easily the better side and life was made much easier for them when Silagh's, clearances inevitably went straight to the Bedford defenders, the home side began to get back into the game in the 19th minute when a Hill cross saw both Tottman's and Chatterton's attempts at goal blocked and O'Sullivan blasted over.

One minute later Slough's first corner resulted in Chatterton volleying the ball against the post and Day just failed to connect with the rebound. Two more comers in the 21st minute saw the end of Slough's superiority for this period and the next ten minutes saw Bedford back in charge. Slough came back for the final minutes of the half, but neither side had scored by the interval.

The opening minutes of the second half were treated by Bedford more as a practice of shooting in than a serious game and things looked black for Slough until the 50th minute when the home side began to apply the pressure until the 66th minute when from Slough's seventh corner Day curled the ball around the defence from the right, and there was Meade to head home the winner.

After this desperation crept into the Bedford play and the D'Arcy-Wolstenholme duet did nothing to help calm this frustration and Slough could well have had a second goal in the 82nd minute.