Slough Stalemate

Somewhere between Sandy Lane on Saturday and Tuesday's opening Vauxhall-Opel League, Premier Division clash at Wexham Park, Slough Town got slightly diverted.

But although the Rebels never quite produced the same sparkle and imagination they had shown at Tooting, no one should be too disappointed with this result against Croydon.

Croydon who have signed almost the entire Epsom & Ewell side from last term are a good, solid outfit who will be no pushover for any team this season. However, on Tuesday night one always felt that if Slough could have just found one magic touch in front of goal they would have won this clash.

After Saturday's exciting win at Sandy Lane, the Slough fans clearly expected great things again from their side and Rebels boss Howard Kennedy, echoed their disappointment in his after match comments.

“I am disappointed that we have not showed the home crowd tonight how we can play, also if you don't live up to expectations people get disappointed. We didn't do anything different to Saturday and I am quite content with a 0-0 draw because the most important thing is we didn't lose. “

Kennedy continued: "It really didn't look as if either side were going to score. But I am pleased we kept a clean sheet with a makeshift back four and I thought young Paul Gardham did ever so well on his debut, considering he was marking a member of last season's England non-league squad. I was also quite pleased with the amount of effort which went into the side's performance. “ Kennedy added: “If we had won 1-0 tonight the fans would have thought we had played ever so well and would have forgotten the bits that went on beforehand. “

And patience certainly has to be a virtue with the supporters of any team because they can't expect sparkling displays from their side week in week out.

They must also show patience with players and those Slough fans who have taken it upon themselves to "get at" Andy Harman are doing more harm than good.

Harman may not be the most sparkling of ball players but his work rate is second to none and he has acquitted himself well in both of Slough's opening games, doing a lot of useful work which often goes unnoticed.

Tuesday's clash was a game full of bits and pieces with the ball spending far too much time in the air and both outfits lacking rhythm and constructive ideas to their play.

However, Slough looked in a mean mood for the opening ten minutes and Rowan Dodds, Dean Woodley and Kenny Wilson all looked lively.

Wilson, the goal hero on Saturday, went close on seven minutes with a scorching drive after some neat work by Woodley and then Jimmy Jacobs forced a good save out of Steve Dungey.

On 17 minutes a Dodds run down the right almost presented Woodley with an opening and it wasn't until the 37th minute that the impressive Tony Boorman forced the first real save out of John Granville.

With skipper Derek Harris outstanding in his new role as a central defender and young Gardham, on his debut, impressively keeping a tight rein on potential match winner Steve Milton the Slough defence again looked a solid force.

Unfortunately the second half was not much better than the first 45 minutes but it wasn't through lack of trying by both sides who just couldn't quite get their act together on the night.

Former Rebels striker Steve Hill, headed straight at Granville from 10 yards and later the big forward went desperately close with a lunging header which beat Granville and clipped the outside of the post.

Micky Kiely was sent on for Woodley with 25 minutes left and in the last 20 minutes it was Dodds who went closest to breaking the deadlock as the Rebels were urged on with Jimmy Jacobs having a tremendous game in midfield.

He embarked on several purposeful runs at the Croydon defence and just two minutes from time he weaved his way into a superb scoring position before shooting well wide with only a desperate looking Dungey to beat.