lnjury-hit Slough beat the leaders

UNPREDICTABLE Slough produced their best display of the season to defeat Isthmian League champions and current leaders Enfield in an exciting tussle at Wexham Park Stadium on Saturday.

But victory was at a price. Slough, already without injured forwards Barry Metcalfe and Paul Lee, were again hit by their injury jinx.

Centre-back Richard Strong, who had needed seven stitches in a cut head against Staines, suffered a similar cut which this time required nine stitches and he missed the whole of the second-half.

Mick Kiely, a target for the club's more critical fans since he had a manipulative operation on his ankle three weeks ago, silenced his critics by getting the winning goal. But in the closing stages he took a hard kick on the groin.

In the circumstances this was a courageous display by Slough and their non-stop endeavour on a hard and difficult pitch brought them the result they deserved; with Terry Reardon showing much of his old class in mid-field.

Slough should have taken the lead in the first minute when Dave Russell's cross found Roger Mackay a yard from goal but he completely missed his kick. The ball came to Strong whose shot was saved by keeper Terry Moore.

Enfield soon regained their composure and Keith Searle headed just wide from Howell's free-kick.
But in the 11th minute Enfield suffered an injury blow when ex-Slough player Micky O'Sullivan fractured his nose in a collision with Barry Friend. He went off to be replaced by veteran striker Tony Bass in a reshuffled side.

Slough then took up the running and Friend ended a fine run by forcing Moore to make a good save. Soon afterwards Kiely shot over as Slough kept up pressure. But on the stroke of half-time it was Town's turn to lose a key player when centre-half Strong gashed his head in a goalmouth collision.

In the second-half Slough had rearranged their side, with substitute Ian Cooke in midfield and Alan Gane switching to right-back so that Tim Turl could move to centre-half. Slough, far from being upset, produced some of their best football of the season and Feely sent a diving header just over.

Eventually, in the 64th minute, Slough took the lead. Ex-Enfield striker Feely turned sharply to go past three defenders and shot wide of stranded keeper Moore into the far left hand corner of the net.

This prompted Enfield to storm into the attack and they equalised five minutes later from the penalty spot. Friend, having lost possession, conceded a free-kick for obstruction, and following Jennings' free-kick Beyer pushed Searle to concede a penalty. Howell drove the spot kick into the right hand corner of the net.

As Howell retrieved the ball there appeared to be an angry exchange of words between him and keeper Teale, which led to a physical clash. Both players were booked by referee J. Barker.

Straight from the restart, Slough regained the lead in dramatic fashion. Feely forced his way through and as he was tackled the ball broke loose to Kiely who prodded it past Moore.

This completely shattered Enfield, and Slough almost scored again, with Russell beating Moore only to see his shot glance off the outside of the post.