Lucky Slough leave it late

On every good cup run there is a certain element of good luck - and Slough Town had plenty in this 90 minutes.

But if they can play as badly and win against opponents of such reputable quality then their prospects of doing well in the FA Trophy must be reasonably high.

In this Round One tie Slough took everything Enfield had to offer and then hit them with two late knock-out punches.

Paul Lee landed the first after 79 minutes. Kieran Somers arced his tall frame for an Alan Gane corner, nodded it down and Lee pounced to drive into the net.
Until then Lee had had a pretty ineffective afternoon, being well below his sharpest and not direct enough when openings offered themselves.

He played an important role in the second goal, though, two minutes later which was started by an aggressive run by Roy Davies, who had tried a similar inspired adventure not long before with some promise.

This time, instead of going for goal, Davies pushed the ball square across field to the supporting Tim Turl who fed Lee on the right touchline.

He sped off to the by-line, for once showing his true ability, got in behind the defence and when 'keeper Micky Lowe only blocked his powerful shot Gane was on hand to tidy up.

It was an unbelievable blow for Enfield who reached the semi-finals last season and looked the most likely to score in their first game in this year's competition.

Slough defended doggedly, but having broken up Enfield attacks then put themselves under pressure with careless clearances and depended on a fair slice of luck to see them through.

Their most remarkable let-off came after 13 minutes when Derek Baker raced clear after intercepting a poor pass from Turl. Baker slipped the ball sideways to Les Eason who only had to tap the ball into an empty net from six yards.

He tapped too lightly though and Trevor Porter dived back to catch the ball before it crossed the line.
Eason was later thwarted by Porter who saved at his feet. The ball rolled loose to John Bishop, however, but he also missed a begging Davies, who had tried a similar inspired adventure not long before with some promise.

Slough had started promisingly enough, with two corners in the first minute, but failed to find their rhythm on the sticky Southbury Road pitch.

They did have the ball in the net after 31 minutes when a corner from Gane curled over the head of Lowe and into the far corner.

Brown, however was adjudged to have fouled Lowe, although it was unlikely he could have saved it.

Anyway, Slough got their reward later, first from Lee and then Gane.

Before that Brian Wilson nodded a very good chance over the bar and Micky Cooper headed a good effort from Bishop off the line.

Despite all the let-offs this was a tremendous win for Slough at the home of the Isthmian League champions.

One has to consider how many games Slough have lost because they failed to turn pressure into goals. This time the boot was on the other foot!