Glynn's The Hero

Cup ties are ready-made for excitement and drama and this FA Trophy first round clash at Wexham Park on Monday evening took some beating.

In fact, the script could not have been written better for 'Roy of the Rovers' himself. And the 'Roy of the Rovers' for Slough Town was their new striker Terry Glynn. What a hero he proved to be and then seconds later he could have been the villain.

With 92 minutes gone and Slough's Trophy hopes destined to again finish early up popped Glynn to score the goal that gave the Rebels a second bite of the cherry and one they deserved.

Even then there was still time for yet more drama from this bruising encounter when Glynn and Harrow's Derek Doyle were involved in an ugly scuffle on the halfway line.

But referee Nevin, made one of his few good decisions of the night and let both players off with a stern warning.

This was certainly no game for the purist or fainthearted it was a hard, physical encounter which could quite easily have got out of hand mainly due to Mr. Nevin's failure to stamp his authority on the proceedings.

And when David Pearce cracked home an absolute scorcher of a goal on 76 minutes it looked as though Slough were going to be bustled out of the competition but then came Glynn's glorious saver.

“It was a great time to score a goal," said a relieved Howard Kennedy after the match. The Slough boss continued: "On the night a draw was a fair result. Harrow are a good side and were strong in the mud but I was exceptionally pleased with the way we battled and the character we showed in coming back to force a draw. At halftime we thought the match would be decided by one goal and the goal Harrow scored was good enough to win any cup tie. Harrow are one of the best nonleague sides in the country when it comes to cup ties and we did well to match them and were particularly solid in defence.”

Kennedy added: "I thought it was a great decision by the referee not to send Glynn and Doyle off because it was a heat of the moment incident at the end of a hard game.

Monday’s match was the fourth attempt to get this first round clash under way with the winners facing a home tie against Barking/Staines Town.

And the game was only made possible by the tremendous job done by Reg White and a team of volunteers throughout the day to turn the pitch into a near perfect playing surface.

Both sides looked eager after their recent period of inactivity and what a start we had to the match inside the first 12 minutes there could have been four goals.

With just three minutes gone Doyle and Pearce linked well but the athletic John Granville was quickly out to block Pearce's effort. Almost immediately Colin Tate broke for Slough and his low cross was met by Glynn bringing out a fine save from Andy Pape.

The action was fast and furious and Pearce went desperately close for Harrow and then Glynn scampered clear only for his final touch to let him down and Pape was able to save at the Slough striker's feet.

Harrow continued to look dangerous but the Slough defence were in masterly form with Eddie Hutchinson and Robbie Holland solid while Francis Araguez and Stuart Mitchell did well to contain the potential match winning skills of Borough wingers Steve Emmanuel and Clevere Forde.

As the game progressed so we saw less constructive football and more of the blood and thunder cup ties are renowned for. Continually the flow of the game was halted by Mr. Nevin who seemed more intent on penalising petty offences rather than a number of cynical tackles which were committed.

Harrow’s time wasting tactics did not help either but ironically they paid dearly for this because it was during the time Mr. Nevin added on that Slough were to grab their dramatic late saver.

There was one piece of Keith White magic to relish when in the 30th minute he sweetly turned to create a huge opening and then chipped his shot over the bar.

With 57 minutes gone the Rebels almost broke the deadlock when Rowan Dodds saw his far post header cleared off the line by Derek Harris and then a brilliant reaction save by Granville foiled Lawrence Holmes at the other end.

In one amazing goalmouth scramble Hutchinson, White and Dodds could have all scored for Slough and as the cup tie fever became even more gripping Emmanuel and Araguez both went close with well struck 20 yard blasters.

On 74 minutes the disappointing Dodds was replaced by Devon Petty and two minutes later came a quite brilliant Harrow goal.

Pape’s long clearance went over the Slough defence and Pearce ran onto the bouncing ball and cracked home a super show which gave Granville absolutely no chance.

It was a goal worthy of winning any game and that's exactly what it looked like doing. But then as Slough battled on and with 92 minutes gone came the moment which set Wexham Park alight.

Charlie Flaherty's cross was only cleared as far as Dave Alexander. From the edge of the penalty area he curled in a shot which itself looked a likely goal only, for Glynn to deceive everyone and send a glancing header into the opposite corner of the net.

There was time for still more drama when Rebels hero Glynn and Doyle started to scrap in the middle of the field following an off the ball incident. Players from both sides joined in the melee and when things were finally sorted out Mr. Nevin had the presence of mind not to take any drastic action.