Rowan's on the spot - but it's a struggle

Two penalties from Rowan Dodds, one in each half, kept Slough Town's hopes of a lucrative FA Cup run this season alive at Wexham Park on Tuesday evening, when with a far from convincing display they overcame a battling Basingstoke side in this second qualifying round replay.

The Rebels reward is a home tie in the next round against Western League leaders Frome Town on October 16, and although on paper this should give Slough an easy passage into the next round, in the FA Cup there is no such thing as a certainty.

Having narrowly avoided defeat at Basingstoke on Saturday the Rebels again struggled throughout this match never really finding any real rhythm or pattern to their play, and had their Southern League opponents finishing been sharper then Slough's cup hopes could now be dead and buried for another season.

In fact, over the two games Basingstoke could justifiably feel that they were probably the better side, and will certainly be disappointed that they did not make better use of the overall domination they enjoyed in both matches.

Speaking afterwards Rebels manager Terry Reardon said he was disappointed with Slough's performance, and relieved that they were still in the competition. "We never played much at all, and a lot of players are currently not playing up to their ability" said Reardon. And he added: "I thought we would get a grip of the game in the second half, but like on Saturday we encouraged Basingstoke back into the match".

Following their disappointing displays on Saturday, Reardon dropped the talented Alan Paris and Devon Petty with Dave Yerby coming into the midfield and Dave Russell also returning to the side. Slough started brightly enough but as the first half progressed they gradually began to lose their way, and once again Basingstoke's tactics of using the long ball began to spell trouble for the Rebels defence.

Just as it looked as though there was no way past a well organised and marshalled Basingstoke defence, Slough got the vital breakthrough after 43 minutes. Vaughan Powell's free kick was headed on by Dodds and found Russell unmarked five yards from goal.

As the Slough striker prepared to shoot he was brought down from behind by Terry Davies....and the perfectly placed Mr Grady had no hesitation in awarding a penalty. From the spot kick Dodds, who had missed at Woking with his last effort, sent Jim Greenwood the wrong way to give Slough the breakthrough they so desperately wanted.

Minutes later Dodds tore through the Basingstoke defence with a superb solo run, but having created the chance to score what would have been a remarkable goal his final effort was way off target.

With the pressure now lifted one expected a much more relaxed and controlled second half performance from the Rebels but this never materialised. Again they lost control of the midfield, and for long periods were put under heavy pressure by Basingstoke as their play became frantic and undisciplined.

However, despite their general domination of the half Basingstoke created few actual chances, and when they did have a golden opportunity to draw level after 55 minutes Frank Parsons pulled out a marvellous point blank save to foil their goalscoring hero from Saturday, Dave Eddie.

With Dylan Evans again working tirelessly and courageously up front there was always the hint that Slough would grab a second goal and make the game safe, and with 80 minutes gone this happened. Joe Moloney sent a powerful header downfield which fell to Basingstoke's Tony Doherty, and then disaster struck for the former Harrow Borough player. He hit a short back pass to Greenwood, White just got to the ball first and in the ensuing struggle he was pulled down by the Basingstoke goalkeeper.

Again Mr Grady was in no doubt about awarding a penalty, and for the second time Dodds sent Greenwood the wrong way to net his eighth goal this season.

In the closing stages the hardworking Powell went clean through but his effort was foiled by Greenwood, while earlier in the half Evans created a fine chance for himself only to hit his final effort well wide of the target.