Rebels turn the tables on Tooting

At a quarter to five on Saturday, Slough Town walked off the pitch at Wexham Park to a standing ovation after some of the most brilliant football ever seen on a Slough ground, and certainly the best since the new ground was opened.

With 560 paying at the turnstiles the crowd could be judged to have been pretty good by current non-league standards, but in relation to the standard of play by these local youngsters on a perfect pitch anything below 1,000 spectators is less than sufficient.

On the previous Tuesday, Tooting had outplayed Wycombe Wanderers at Sandy Lane despite winning by the only goal, and as Slough had lost by the same margin there in the Hitachi Cup on August Bank Holiday a tight match was expected.

Slough kicked off with Rowan Dodds as substitute following an injury in the friendly match with Hounslow Town during the week - Gary Attrell retaining his place in the attack.

The Rebels went in search of revenge for their defeat from the kick-off, and within five minutes had taken the lead. A quick build-up on the left ended with a perfect cross from Keith White being met at the far post by Alan Paris who made no mistake.

Slough continued to play some sweet football, Attrell having a good effort cleared off the line, and a panicky backpass from Dave Juneman being saved at full stretch by his goalkeeper.

At the other end a well-taken free kick from John Daubney saw Frank Parsons save bravely at Kim Connett's feet. Keith White had a chance ten minutes before the interval, the Slough captain's shot passing just wide with Sullivan beaten.

It didn't matter a jot for within a minute a superb pass from Dylan Evans provided Gary Attrell with a chance to slip through the middle and plant the ball wide of Sullivan to settle into the net.

The Rebels now laid siege and forced several corners until one was needlessly conceded by Edwards on the left and Keith White's perfect flag kick was beautifully met by Dylan Evans to the delight of the home supporters.

After the interval Slough seemed to die a little as substitute Dave Busby began to cause some problems with his freshness on a humid afternoon, and for a while it seemed as though the visitors would regain their poise and come back into the match; but soon any misgivings were dispelled as Slough forced themselves back into the game and began to rip the Tooting defence apart.

Dylan Evans was within an ace of scoring three more, his first opportunity coming when the ball rebounded to him off Eric Young, and he hastily shot narrowly over the bar.

Within minutes he had shot narrowly past the post, and then, cleverly intercepting a back pass, his further effort bounced just clear of goal. From an isolated raid Parsons saved well at the feet of Connett, and the game appeared to be drifting quietly to a close when the Slough youngsters again stepped up their pace to demoralise Tooting in the final five minutes.

A brilliant solo run by Devon Petty from the halfway line provided Rowan Dodds, who had just replaced the injured Gary Attrell, with a chance to rocket the ball into the roof of the net, and before the crowd had settled down again Vaughan Powell had driven a swerving rocket of a shot past Sullivan.

The remaining three minutes saw Tooting hanging on desperately as Terry Reardon's young side utterly destroyed the highly rated Surrey team. Long standing Slough fans could not refrain from showing their enthusiasm, many believing that this could have been the most devastating display in the club's history.

Quite clearly there must be many within the town who could profitably turn their footsteps in the direction of Wexham Park rather than concern themselves with the trip to London in search of quality football.