Replay was in sight until... Slough's fatal five minutes

LESS than five minutes separated Slough from forcing Alliance Premier League side Yeovil to visit Wexham Park for a replay of Saturday's FA Cup tie and such a result would have been thoroughly deserved by the Rebels.

The famous slope of Huish Park, which has sent giants of the game like Arsenal and Sunderland crashing out of FA Cup ties, held no terrors for Slough.

They gave Yeovil the fright of their lives but fate was once more against them when Mark Williams snatched the winning goal for the Somerset side in the 85th minute, when rain was falling in torrents with the wind reaching gale force.

Yeovil have knocked thirteen clubs from the football league out of the FA Cup but were fortunate to get away with this one - just when Slough seemed certain to have achieved a replay that would have given them a possible home tie with Norwich City from the First Division.

There were only five minutes on the clock with Slough apparently in control when a long clearance went to Clive Green on the right. With John Beyer in hot pursuit, Green cut in from the right and shot low into the goalmouth. Teale dived to save and for the only time in the match failed to hold the ball and it rolled straight into the path of Williams who just could not miss.

The Slough defence, who had played wonderfully well all afternoon, slumped dejected into the mud as the green shirted Yeovil players celebrated, and despite spending the rest of the match in the Yeovil half they had not sufficient penetration to save the day.

The visitors showed little sign of cup nerves as they kicked off before the 5,000 crowd and were quickly into the attack, Barrie Friend sending a scorching shot narrowly wide in the tenth minute.

Five minutes later a tremendous shot from Russell was punched into the air by Parker, the ball dropping into the top of the net. Teale saved well from Williams at the other end, but with the back four playing well Yeovil looked dangerous only in bursts.

Slough produced their best efforts through Friend and Russell. Feely, looking a little sluggish in the hard going, achieved little and Paul Lee, to whom the best chances fell, looked well out of sorts.

Lee, in fact, missed a sitter from a few feet on the half hour when he shot into the crowd from the easiest of chances.

Just before the interval, Teale was cautioned for wasting time but Slough must have been more than happy with the half-time score.

Yeovil made great efforts to break down the Slough defence with Morrall prominent on the right flank, but Slough weathered the storm and started to play intelligent football.

Feely was out of luck when his shot stuck in the mud with an open goal yawning, and then Terry Reardon was also cautioned for wasting time when taking a free kick.

A quick Yeovil attack saw Teale save magnificently at the feet of Green and then Slough really began to take control of the match again with their suspect midfield looking surprisingly good. It was during this period of consolidation that Yeovil struck their vital blow that brought groans of despair from the many Slough supporters, words of sympathy from the home fans, and disappointment to many on the television screens in Slough.

“They battled well, didn’t they - if they had a really good centre forward they would have murdered us”, said one Yeovil supporter on his way out of the ground. No doubt the arrival of such a figure would be great Christmas present at Wexham Park - for this would be the keystone of Slough recovery in 1980.

Yeovil went on to suffer a 0-3 home defeat against Norwich City in the third round, in front of the BBC Match of the Day cameras.