Early goals set up easy Berks & Bucks Cup glory

TWO goals in the opening 20 minutes sent Slough Town on their way to a comfortable victory over holders Milton Keynes City in the Berks and Bucks Senior Cup final at Aylesbury United on Monday.

This is the first time the Rebels have lifted the county cup in four seasons. The final scoreline did not reflect the way in which Slough virtually dominated this match from the start against their struggling Southern League (Midland Division) opponents. Had the Rebels been playing at their best they would certainly had crushed a poor Milton Keynes side, who gave the Slough defence one of their easiest afternoon's work this season.

Nevertheless Slough did more than enough to win manager Laurie Churchill a richly deserved first major success since he took over in January of last year, and also gave a much improved performance than their two previous league matches.

Skipper Micky O'Sullivan was ruled out with an instep injury received in the first half of Saturday's match with Hendon. To give the side some much needed width in their play Churchill brought in Barry Friend and Dave Russell with Steve Norman and Eggie James the two substitutes.

And the policy of playing Friend and Russell wide on both flanks certainly contributed to the way Slough dominated this match, as both players played key roles in the Rebels’ victory. On a hard, dusty and bumpy pitch both sides found it extremely difficult to play good football, especially with the bounce of the ball so unpredictable.

However within two minutes the lively Johnny Bishop, who combined well with Micky Kiely throughout, came close to putting Slough ahead. He found himself in space in the penalty area, but his shot was blocked by Chris Beard.

But the Rebels did not have to wait long for the goal they were already threatening to score. With 13 minutes gone a cross from Dave Russell was handled in the penalty area by Colin Bluck as he attempted a back pass to goalkeeper Laurie Cole.

The linesman - Mr M. Clifford from Maidenhead - immediately raised his flag and after a short discussion the referee Mr L. Archer awarded a penalty. Barry Friend stepped up and placed the spot kick wide of the diving Cole. This was just the start Slough required and within six minutes they scored again from one of the best moves of the match.

Friend picked up the ball on the left, and with Kiely making a clever decoy run, he slipped it through to the unmarked Keith White. With time and space he hit a well struck shot on the turn which Cole could only push away and Bishop was on hand to tuck the ball into the open net from three yards.

From this stage onwards it was clear that the Rebels were on their way to victory and Milton Keynes presented the defence with few problems.

Their best effort came five minutes before the interval when the hard working Dave Howitt, who is also player-manager, brought a smart save from Richard Teale with a well struck volley from about 20 yards.

After the interval Slough played some skilful football with Russell and the overlapping Dave Yerby a constant threat on the right and Friend and Vic Akers causing similar problems on the opposite flank.

Friend was just wide with a well driven shot after Russell had touched a free kick to him and a dangerous cross from Yerby was headed onto his own crossbar by a Milton Keynes defender. But despite several other near misses and virtual total domination in every department the Rebels could not score again so had to settle for a convincing if not comprehensive victory.

Acting skipper Vic Akers received the cup from Berks and Bucks president, Mr L. E. Gibbs amid scenes of jubilation from the large number of Slough supporters who travelled to Aylesbury.