Kennedy Raps Ref

Howard Kennedy’s relief at seeing his side gain three points on Saturday was matched only by his dissatisfaction with the referee.

The Slough manager was pulling no punches after the game when he slammed Northwood official M. R. Higginson. "It annoys me when teams flagrantly cheat and the referees allow them to play by a different set of rules. It was a disgrace that we were the only side to have a player booked. They got away with many indiscretions.”

Several times the game threatened to boil over as in tackles progressed from niggly to dangerous. Yet the only caution was given to Steve Norman - his second in three matches - for a late, clumsy tackle on John Hales in the first half.

Carshalton’s Mark Dodman was the luckiest man of all to go unpunished when he tripped Colin Landeg from behind and sliced down Rowan Dodds in the space of a minute late in the game.

Kennedy, who himself was spoken to by the referee for his comments from the bench, at least had the enjoyment of seeing substitute Micky Kiely score a magnificent winner 10 minutes from time.

The Rebels had to fight hard for the win after going a goal behind straight after the break and seeing last week’s sharpshooter, Kenny Wilson, continue the long-standing Wexham Park penalty jinx by fluffing a spot-kick with the scores level. “I was very pleased to win, it was a great goal to win with. No game at this time of the season is easy. In six weeks’ time we could cope with Carshalton easily," said Kennedy.

Slough’s display went in fits and starts, beginning and ending, having a good spell somewhere in between. For the first 15 minutes they demonstrated some delightful approach work and almost took an early lead.

Fit again, Jeff Bateman's low shot was saved by Colin Oakley and Wilson's low right foot drive from a Keith White throw was deflected into the side netting.

But suddenly flowing football hit a dam. Their only other chance of the first half came in the 27th minute when Steve Norman's near post head from White's corner was diverted by the keeper’s hand
and then cleared off the line by Gary Mitchell.

Carshalton’s contribution to the attacking action was nil, and the man Slough had to thank for that was the bandaged Bateman. He gave a gigantic performance in the centre of defence, challenging unflinchingly for every ball when one bad blow would almost certainly have reopened his head wound.

His display made it even more surprising that the Surrey side took the lead within 50 seconds of the restart when Bradley Maltese was left all alone in the box with time to place the ball past John Granville.

But that proved to be just the spark Slough needed to re-ignite their play, and within two minutes they were level. White got the ball in the centre of a midfield melee and knocked a beautiful pass forward into the path of Jimmy Jacobs, who opted to outflank the keeper before shooting from a narrow angle for the goal his efforts throughout the match thoroughly deserved.

Six minutes later Slough were handed the chance to take the lead. White again did well to hook the ball over the defence for Dodds, who looked a good bet to score when he was hacked down in the box by John Raffington.

But Slough supporters have learned not to expect too much from penalties in the last couple of years. Wilson's poor effort, saved by Oakley diving to his right, was par for the course.

With that gift having gone unaccepted, Slough stumbled along uncertainly until gloriously bursting into full stride with 80 minutes gone. Norman slipped a neat pass down the right touchline for Wilson, who took the ball a few paces and angled a perfectly weighted cross into the box. Kiely, racing forward, rose from the turf and the ball flew into goal from his superbly directed header.