Town Strikers Were Right Off Target

A share of the points was all that Slough could manage against the unbeaten Athenian League leaders at the Stadium on Saturday. Harwich and Parkeston, by maintaining their record, stay at the top of the table a point ahead of Slough but the Rebels have a game in hand. The Town turned in their worst display of the season yet still should have taken both points but their strikers were right off the target.

As is becoming the thing at Slough this season, long kicks from defence sailed harmlessly into the Harwich half to be easily picked up by the defenders or keeper whilst the Harwich attacks were made to look better than they were by the lack of speed of the Slough defence.

In midfield Slough were lacking in ideas and Reardon, having one of his best games of the season, looked an outcast as he made space for himself time and time again, but was not given the ball. One wonders why it is that this fine player has to search for the ball or wait until Day has possession before he becomes involved in the game.

Slough could well have had three goals in this game but this was not to be and it was the visitors who went in front in the 20th minute, seven minutes later Slough were on equal terms after a Reardon-Hill combination had produced a fine goal but there the game died.

Slough opened brightly and for the first five minutes played some really excellent football, spraying passes about, always finding their own players and looking like League Champions. In the 4th minute a cross from Eaton after a good build up found Hill and the resulting shot clipped the right and was pushed out for a corner, this was taken and pushed out for a second by a defender under pressure from Meade. With Harwich hardly in the game Slough seemed to relax and a bad back pass in the 7th let Cressall in to beat Wolstenholme but his shot from a narrow angle hit the crossbar and was cleared.

In the 16th came Slough's second chance, clever work led to Chatterton heading across goal, Hill headed back to an unmarked Tottman who blasted over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Four minutes later and Harwich were in front, a mistake by D'Arcy on the right and there was Cressall to flick the ball to Devaux standing unmarked on the penalty spot and he coolly picked his spot and gave Wolstenholme no chance.

Slough rallied after this and in the 26th gained two corners, from the second a good header by Hill was cleared off the line but one minute later the score was level. Reardon received the ball on the left, weaved past three defenders and hit the ball inside to Hill who made no mistake in slotting home a fine goal.

From this point the game became a long succession of corners at each end with only negative football in between and it was not until the 79th minute that Slough really had a shot at the Harwich goal when Tottman fired over. The only breach of the boredom was the strange decisions of Mr. Chester the referee who at one point without consulting either linesman or seeing any incident penalised Tottman for an imaginary offence on the word of a Harwich defender, this when play was at the other end of the field.