Slough Town
1
Friend
Hitchin Town
4
Whishaw (40), Watson (48, pen 49), Gane o.g.
League
Paul Lee
In many ways this defeat was Slough's worst result of the season, for Hitchin were by no means an outstanding combination and should never have been allowed to build up a 4-1 superiority.
Slough were without Beal, and Underwood was sub, but they had Somers and Cooke back on duty. The first half produced nothing very spectacular from either side, the Slough attacks were often badly put together and the loss of goal scoring hunger by the front runners is there for all to see.
Hitchin's attacks grew in intensity as their confidence developed but it was not until five minutes before half time that they took the lead.
Somers headed out of a packed Slough goalmouth but there was no Rebel player on hand to complete the clearance and Whishaw collected the ball and shot through a forest of legs to beat the unhappy Porter.
Within minutes of the restart, Hitchin grabbed two more goals, both scored by Watson. The first came when Porter failed to reach a right wing cross and the Hitchin winger was able to head into an unguarded net.
A minute later Reardon bundled Whishaw over in the penalty area with the ball yards away. Watson took the kick and gave Porter no chance.
Hitchin were by this time on the rampage but Slough slowly got back into the game and Lee gave the home supporters something to cheer about when he flicked the ball to Friend who scored.
After this Town had several good chances to further reduce the arrears but their efforts faded out when Somers was taken off and Underwood substituted. To take off an attacking player and bring on a defender at this stage of the game was a strange tactical move.
Turl, dallying with the ball, lost it to Scott and Gane, trying to intercept the Hitchin man’s shot, only succeeded in steering it into his own net.
Hitchin threw away three more good scoring chances before the final whistle brought relief to the frustrated Slough side.
Slough were without Beal, and Underwood was sub, but they had Somers and Cooke back on duty. The first half produced nothing very spectacular from either side, the Slough attacks were often badly put together and the loss of goal scoring hunger by the front runners is there for all to see.
Hitchin's attacks grew in intensity as their confidence developed but it was not until five minutes before half time that they took the lead.
Somers headed out of a packed Slough goalmouth but there was no Rebel player on hand to complete the clearance and Whishaw collected the ball and shot through a forest of legs to beat the unhappy Porter.
Within minutes of the restart, Hitchin grabbed two more goals, both scored by Watson. The first came when Porter failed to reach a right wing cross and the Hitchin winger was able to head into an unguarded net.
A minute later Reardon bundled Whishaw over in the penalty area with the ball yards away. Watson took the kick and gave Porter no chance.
Hitchin were by this time on the rampage but Slough slowly got back into the game and Lee gave the home supporters something to cheer about when he flicked the ball to Friend who scored.
After this Town had several good chances to further reduce the arrears but their efforts faded out when Somers was taken off and Underwood substituted. To take off an attacking player and bring on a defender at this stage of the game was a strange tactical move.
Turl, dallying with the ball, lost it to Scott and Gane, trying to intercept the Hitchin man’s shot, only succeeded in steering it into his own net.
Hitchin threw away three more good scoring chances before the final whistle brought relief to the frustrated Slough side.
Slough Town Lineup
- 1 Trevor Porter
- 2 Bob Horastead
- 3 Alan Gane
- 4 Terry Reardon
- 5 Tim Turl
- 6 Ian Cooke
- 7 Dave Russell
- 8 Tony White
- 9 Paul Lee
- 10 Barry Friend
- 11 Kieron Somers 12
Substitutes
- 12 Bob Underwood 11