Slough Stunner

Slough Town almost hit rock bottom on Tuesday evening as they crashed out of the Hitachi Cup with this stunning defeat against Staines Town.

Wexham Park was a sombre place to be if you were a Slough supporter, as the Rebels inflicted upon their fans another night of total frustration.

And no one could deny Staines now an average Division One side their moment of glory which was all made possible by Phil Unwin's 80th minute goal.

It was the same old story for Slough, they had more than enough possession to have won this match comfortably but once the expected early goal failed to materialise, so frustration crept in and their game deteriorated.

“Of course I was very disappointed with the result but I felt we did not play badly. We had 80 per cent of the game but in the end got frustrated with ourselves because the goals would not come. When you have that much of a match you feel entitled to win it. In the first half we had several good chances and if one of those had gone in we could have ended up scoring four or five goals. We played reasonably good football but lacked punch and I suppose the longer it went on you always felt Staines might win, although really they were there to be taken," said Rebels' boss Terry Reardon.

Generally, however, the Rebels looked uneasy throughout this match against a Staines side who were not particularly brilliant but showed enough conviction and commitment to deserve victory.

Midfield lacked imagination Once again the Slough and aggression at vital times while up front apart from the odd occasion the Rebels simply did not look like scoring. Even Rowan Dodds had an "off" night being totally shut out by Kevin Fiddler and Chris Wheatley and with the Rebels' leading marksman out of touch there was no one else who looked likely to take over the goalscoring role.

For all their first half possession Slough still showed a lack of composure, rhythm and balance as the game progressed in somewhat hectic fashion.

But they did have the chances to take a confidence boosting lead. Dylan Evans saw a close range shot scrambled away by Paul Allies after 25 minutes and on 41 minutes a delightful Devon Petty cross was narrowly
glanced wide by Dodds.

And things did not improve after the interval as the Rebels seemed to leave their shooting boots behind in the dressing room. Evans fired high over the bar when perfectly positioned after 47 minutes and both Eddie Hutchinson and David O'Flaherty were guilty of similar misses.

The longer things went on the more confident Staines became and they gave the Rebels two warnings of their intentions before actually clinching this first round tie.

First Steve Flack shot narrowly wide and then only a super save by Peter Rackley foiled Unwin after a disastrous error by Steve Proctor.

And then ten minutes from time came the goal that completed Slough's night of misery. Flack swept past
Hutchinson on the right and completed a speedy 40 yard run by crossing for the always impressive Unwin to bundle the ball home although there was a suspicion that he had used his arm to guide it into the net.

To complete the misery Keith White became the first Slough player to be booked this campaign while Dave Jordan of Staines was also cautioned.