Exciting Second Half Earns Slough A Point

A rather ordinary and unimaginative first half, which saw Slough trailing by two goals at the interval, blossomed into a game full of pace and excitement as the Rebels fought back superbly to salvage a point at Bromley on Saturday.

And it was a valuable point for Slough taking them two points clear at the top of the Servowarm Isthmian League, Premier Division from challengers Worthing and Hendon, who both lost on Saturday.

The first half experiment of playing Devon Petty up front, with Micky Doherty playing deeper clearly unbalanced Slough and the reversal of this in the second half was the main reason for the Rebels change of fortune with leading scorer Doherty knocking in two goals in quick succession.

Both sides played cautiously in the first half with few chances being created up front but Bromley always looked the more dangerous. This was confirmed in the 12th minute when a long cross from Bromley winger Tony Booth was headed past Parsons by the tall figure of Lennie Dennis, who was left unmarked on the six-yard box.

Fortunately for Slough a carbon copy of the first goal was disallowed in the 29th minute for an infringement in the penalty area.

A minute before half time Bromley went two up when a teasing high ball was flicked on by Tomlin. Parsons charged off his line for a ball he could never reach and Terry Young was there before him to slot the ball into the open goal.

Manager Terry Reardon's half time pep-talk did the trick transforming Slough from a side merely going through the motions to a team full of fight and determination looking for the goal at every opportunity.

And they didn't have long to wait. In the 53rd minute a totally unnecessary handball from a Bromley defender, without any opposition player within yards of him, gave Slough a penalty. It was with trepidation that Keith White stepped up for the kick as the Rebels have missed their last two penalties. But he made no mistake hammering it past Colin Lewington, to put the Rebels back in the game.

Slough were now in full flow and equalised in the 60th minute when Rowan Dodds controlled a long pass, turning well and and knocking it through to Micky Doherty, who had beaten the offside trap, and had only the 'keeper to beat.

With the scores level Bromley came strongly on the attack and put the Slough defence under strong pressure. Eddie Hutchinson and Tony Doherty were superb at the back defusing difficult situations time and time again and it was ironic that Doherty gave away the free-kick on the edge of the box that put Bromley back in the lead in the 65th minute.

Billy Edwards tapped the ball to Mark Penfold, who curled the ball round the Slough wall in true "Brazilian" fashion into the top left hand corner and Parsons could only stand and watch.

It took the Rebels just three minutes to level the scores. A good run and lay off from Hutchinson found Dylan Evans, who took the ball to the bye line and knocked it hard and low across the face of the goal giving Micky Doherty a simple chance to score his 13th goal of the season.

Howard Kennedy, making his debut for Slough after signing for £500 from Wycombe Wanderers came close with a fierce 30 yard shot in the closing minutes but the final scoreline was a fair result.

Unfortunately the game which had been played in fine spirit ended in tragedy. A long ball from the Bromley defence in a desperate last chance attack led to a collision between the advancing Slough 'keeper Parsons and Bromley midfield player Steve Tomlin. Tomlin was stretchered off and taken to hospital where he was diagnosed as having fractured ribs. He will be out for six weeks.