White decked, Rebels robbed

A diabolical piece of refereeing, or more accurately, lack of refereeing, robbed Slough of a crucial two point from their Vauxhall-Opel League Premier Division tussle with Hayes on Tuesday evening.

The incident in question came just two minutes from full-time and left an insensed home crowd baying for Hayes' keeper Paul Hyde's blood, and Rebels' skipper Keith White dazed and concussed.
White followed in after a back pass to the Hayes' keeper who collected the ball and then ran four steps forward dropping his shoulder into the advancing White in American Football fashion.
Referee R. Bigger somehow managed not to spot the blatant infringement and waved play-on with White left horizontal and clearly in considerable pain on the edge of the Hayes' six yard box.

Rebels' manager Alan Davies could not understand the referee's decision and said: "It was definitely a foul and we should have had a penalty." Davies was also dismayed at the referee's performance throughout. "He booked four players for petty offences while players were getting away with dangerous tackles and elbows in the neck."

Nevertheless, the penalty would have made little difference has Slough not contrived to surrender the lead secured by White's splendid solo effort in the 73rd minute.

But if the truth be known, the Rebels could easily have finished the contest empty handed. However, the heroics of goalkeeper Trevor Bunting came to the rescue on several occasions.
Until the later stages, which produced the goals and Hyde's controversial "sucker punch", the game was a drab affair riddled with errors. Davies felt his side deserved victory and had done enough to earn it. "We played quite well at times. Keith hit a super goal and Jimmy Brown could have snatched it near the end but once again we made one silly mistake and paid the penalty," he said.
Just one mistake? A bit of an understatement perhaps, but to Slough's credit, they always tried to play constructive football. However, the visitors more direct long ball approach seemed more productive.

An early indication of the danger posed by Hayes' came after six minutes when Bunting was forced to make a diving punch to clear a dangerous centre driven towards the near post.

Then in the 17th minute a lofted through ball dropped onto the shoulder of Tony Kelly and fell nicely, allowing him to race through holding off Jeff Bateman to blast goalwards from 10 yards only to see Bunting make a tremendous save.

Slough had to wait until the 21st minute for their first chance when Neal Stanley slid a well judged cross to Jimmy Brown. Unfortunately for Brown, full-back Ian Bolton raced in to knock the ball behind for a corner.

Brown came desperately close from the resulting corner, heading Kenny Wilson's kick against the Hayes' bar. His frustration showed in the 29th minute when he kicked the ball away after conceding a free-kick and received a harsh booking for his troubles.

The tricky play of Stanley again nearly carved the opening goal when he followed his jinxing run past Gary Churchouse with a teasing centre aimed towards the far post. Brown, Wilson and Wayne Wanklyn all arrived a fraction too late to apply the final touch.

A powerful 30-yard shot from Chris Walton on the right forced another save from Bunting in the 40th minute. The keeper could only parry the effort but made a remarkable reflex save when former Burnham striker, Ray Knowles, followed up to shoot from point blank range.

Five minutes into the second period Bunting's services were required again. Mark Graves was released by a defence splitting 40-yard pass from Bolton but the keeper was off his line at speed to block Graves' shot and recover the rebound.

In the 61st minute, a long kick from Hyde was headed on by Kelly for Graves to lob the bouncing ball over Bunting but just wide of the upright. Gary Dodd should have done better than head straight at the keeper in the 67th minute when he rose well to meet a Jimmy Jacobs free-kick.

Three minutes later, Bunting was Slough's saviour again this time palming Knowles' angled 20-yard effort wide of the far post. The resulting corner saw the Rebels have a lucky escape with Dodd heading against the underside of his own bar.

But with 17 minutes remaining, Keith White broke the deadlock. He drifted lazily towards the edge of the Hayes area and sent a sweetly struck shot curling inside the post.

Dodd almost added a second three minutes later with a ferocious 20-yard effort that Hyde parried for a corner. Brown's golden opportunity to make the game safe came five minutes later when he controlled Waites' cross at the near post only to blast wide from close in.

Then disaster struck in the 87th minute Bolton's long free-kick found Kelly unchallenged on the left edge of the area. He headed in back across the area and with a sudden rush of blood, Bateman dived in and completely missed the ball as he attempted an extravagant clearance leaving Reg Leather to slam home from close range.

Hyde's disgraceful foul on White followed seconds later, and Hendon managed to hang on in a few frantic minutes of injury time.