COLLAPSE! Slough devastated after two-goal start

Slough Town

Slough Town

2
Skerritt (1-0), Dodds (20)
Dulwich Hamlet

Dulwich Hamlet

4
Richards (27, 48, 89), Palmer (57)
League Attendance: 320
Slough threw away a two goal lead then missed a penalty on a disastrous Tuesday night at Wexham Park. Yet Rebels boss Terry Reardon said he thoroughly enjoyed the match, even though it was his side's first defeat in six games.

"At this time of the season matches are very tight, often 0-0 draws, but the spectators saw excellent entertainment. I was disappointed with the result, but I enjoyed the game - as a spectator, and as a manager," said Reardon, whose team were dumped out of the FA Trophy by a similar Dulwich Hamlet fightback in January.

Slough started well, scoring two goals in 20 minutes. First Peter Skerritt arrived at the far post to follow up Howard Kennedy's long range free kick and crash the ball into the net off the upright. And Rowan Dodds slotted in a second after seizing onto a poor clearance by Dulwich full-back Martin Morgan.

Dulwich looked down and out until Frank Bruno lookalike Karl Richards dragged them back into the game with a goal in the 27th minute out of sheer effort. His explosive run from the half-way line took the Rebels defence completely by surprise as he raced onto a pass, bundling over Skerritt, as he nodded the ball on, and nipped past Eddie Hutchinson.

His shot was parried by Peter Rackley but he cracked in the rebound. Three minutes after the re-start the unmarked Richards scored again with a near-post header from a corner.

Dulwich took the lead in the 57th minute when they again exposed Slough's creaking defence- which had previously gone four matches without conceding a goal. Skerritt completely mistimed his jump for Morgan's free-kick, leaving John Palmer time to turn in the penalty box and score.

Slough had the perfect chance to level 10 minutes later when Dylan Evans' shot was handled on the line, but Kennedy put the penalty kick wide. As the Rebels pushed forward in the hope of an equaliser they began to look vulnerable at the back and a short pass by Francis Araguez to Rackley ended with farcical results.

Richards intercepted the pass before the ball had left the penalty area, but the referee failed to spot it and when Rackley brought down Richards, he promptly awarded a penalty.

But justice was done when Peter Kingston blasted the spot-kick wide. Richards completed his hat-trick a minute from time with the help of another dubious decision, running on unchallenged to beat the approaching Rackley with a low shot, after looking five yards offside when he received the ball.

Afterwards Rebels boss Terry Reardon said " It would be wrong to castigate the officials for the whole 90 minutes but Dulwich should never have had that penalty and their fourth goal was offside" . He added that the question of who takes Slough's future penalties will be "looked at" in training, following misses by White and Kennedy in successive games and a history of failures this season.

Dulwich Hamlet Lineup

Rebels

Slough Town FC is not responsible for content produced on external websites | Copyright Slough Town FC 2024