Rebels Drop Points To Harrow

The Rebels have only themselves to blame for failing to collect three points at Wexham Park on Tuesday evening against a Harrow Borough side which was reduced to ten men when Tony Doherty was sent off after just eight minutes and then secured a deserved point from the penalty spot with two minutes remaining.

Slough now occupy 11th position in the table and from their last three home matches have only collected two out of a possible nine points. And, unless they start winning these vital home matches their hopes of retaining the Berger Isthmian League Premier Division title will rapidly diminish.

The man in the centre of the action on Tuesday evening was certainly referee Mr E. Griffiths of North London. Within eight minutes of the match starting he had awarded The Rebels a controversial penalty and sent off Harrow defender Doherty.

It was in the fifth minute that the controversy started when Dave Yerby sent over a cross from the right into the edge of the Harrow penalty area. Much to the amazement of everyone Mr Griffiths stopped the game and awarded Slough a penalty after Eric Young had apparently been fouled off the ball by a Harrow defender.

The referee was besieged by angry Harrow players and Doherty was booked for dissent. It took a full two minutes before order was restored and Barry Friend could convert the stop kick past Les Currell.

And then three minutes later after Mr Griffiths had awarded Slough a free kick, Doherty responded by throwing the ball at the referee and received his marching orders.

However, in a way this incident proved to be the turning point of the game as Slough, after a bright and enterprising start, slowly, started to allow their opponents to take control of the match.

Both Vic Akers and Eggie James had good chances to increase the Rebels lead during the first half, while Eric Young hit the top of the crossbar with a header from Friend's corner after 20 minutes.

Within two minutes of the second half Dave Yerby limped off to be replaced by Steve Hardwick at left back, and for the remainder of the half Hardwick and his defensive colleagues were put under tremendous pressure by Harrow.

In fact the way the match developed it seemed as though the Rebels were playing with ten men rather than their opponents.

The midfield collapsed against the determined running and tackling of Harrow, and consequently the front three of Roy Butler, Friend and James received poor service and rarely threatened the Harrow defence.

Time and time again Slough needlessly gave away possession of the ball as Harrow, prompted by former Dagenham player Steve Jones, pushed for an equaliser.

With 83 minutes gone Keith White won a clearance in the air and sent Butler through and his powerful 20 yard effort was well saved by Currell, while at the other end a poor back pass by Les Barrett almost let Jones in.

However, with two minutes left it looked as though Slough would still collect the three points, which would have been a tribute to their defence in which Eric Young gave an immaculate performance and was well supported by Joe Moloney.

But perhaps it was fitting that Mr Griffiths should have the last word when he awarded Harrow a penalty after Jones was fouled by White on the right-hand side of the Slough area following a fine run by the Harrow striker.

George Duck stepped up and sent Parsons the wrong way to give his side a richly deserved draw and leave Slough thinking what should have been.