Slough Town
0
Aylesbury United
1
Melisi (80)
B&B Senior Cup
Richard Teale
SLOUGH TOWN'S caretaker manager Laurie Churchill was bitterly upset a fortnight ago when his side lost a friendly game. And on Tuesday night be found out what it is like to lose in earnest when Southern League Aylesbury outplayed the Rebels to book a place in the final of the Berks and Bucks Senior Cup.
It was Churchill's first competitive defeat as Slough manager and his side's display was not one he will care to remember, for had Aylesbury not missed a bundle of chances and seen goalkeeper Richard Teale make three fine saves, the margin of defeat would have been positively embarrassing.
Aylesbury's tactics of playing the early ball to the wings and crossing first time proved far more effective than Slough's usually abortive attempts to build up moves from the middle of the park. But it would be fairer to players and manager alike to regard this defeat as an unfortunate hiccup on their way to recovery, for they played well below the abilities shown in recent league games against Dagenham and Barking.
Sadly it means there will be no silverware on the Slough sideboard this season. The county senior cup may not be the most important thing in life, but what a baptism of fire it would have been for Churchill if he had won back the fine trophy which last graced the Wexham Park boardroom in 1977.
Slough's best spell came just before half time when Feely headed over from Yerby's cross and then Kiely hit a snapshot, which was beaten out by goalkeeper Mazurek.
Aylesbury stepped up the pace again in the second half and forced Richard Teale to make two fine saves before O'Reilly missed an open goal in the 75th minute.
The decisive score came five minutes later when Melisi latched on to a long clearance, outpaced the Slough defence and beat Teale with a stunning drive into the corner.
Although the appearance of substitute Trevor Roffe enlivened the Slough attack, Aylesbury's ability to defend was never seriously questioned.
Aylesbury fiercely contested every ball, often with a vigour that was not to the referee's liking, and they had David Jones, Chris Nash and Gary Harthill all booked for fouls, with Barry Friend of Slough also cautioned.
It was Churchill's first competitive defeat as Slough manager and his side's display was not one he will care to remember, for had Aylesbury not missed a bundle of chances and seen goalkeeper Richard Teale make three fine saves, the margin of defeat would have been positively embarrassing.
Aylesbury's tactics of playing the early ball to the wings and crossing first time proved far more effective than Slough's usually abortive attempts to build up moves from the middle of the park. But it would be fairer to players and manager alike to regard this defeat as an unfortunate hiccup on their way to recovery, for they played well below the abilities shown in recent league games against Dagenham and Barking.
Sadly it means there will be no silverware on the Slough sideboard this season. The county senior cup may not be the most important thing in life, but what a baptism of fire it would have been for Churchill if he had won back the fine trophy which last graced the Wexham Park boardroom in 1977.
Slough's best spell came just before half time when Feely headed over from Yerby's cross and then Kiely hit a snapshot, which was beaten out by goalkeeper Mazurek.
Aylesbury stepped up the pace again in the second half and forced Richard Teale to make two fine saves before O'Reilly missed an open goal in the 75th minute.
The decisive score came five minutes later when Melisi latched on to a long clearance, outpaced the Slough defence and beat Teale with a stunning drive into the corner.
Although the appearance of substitute Trevor Roffe enlivened the Slough attack, Aylesbury's ability to defend was never seriously questioned.
Aylesbury fiercely contested every ball, often with a vigour that was not to the referee's liking, and they had David Jones, Chris Nash and Gary Harthill all booked for fouls, with Barry Friend of Slough also cautioned.
Slough Town Lineup
- 1 Richard Teale
- 2 Dave Yerby
- 3 Roger Mackay
- 4 Terry Reardon
- 5 Eric Young
- 6 John Beyer
- 7 Dave Russell
- 8 Charlie Marks
- 9 Peter Feely
- 10 Barry Friend
- 11 Micky Kiely
Substitutes
- 12 Trevor Rolfe
- 14 Micky Cumber