CHARACTER REFERENCE

Slough manager Alan Davies was left a little disappointed despite his side having come from behind twice to earn a draw with Yeovil at Wexham Park on Tuesday. "On the whole we deserved to win. Obviously we showed a bit of character coming back like that, but they had three good chances and scored twice, we had five or six good chances and scored twice," said Davies. "We lacked a little devilment in the box," he added, "If we had shown a little more determination in one on one situations with the keeper, we might have won it."

The Rebels certainly did miss a golden opportunity to go top of the league, and it is these tough games that a title chasing side is looking to win. In the opening stages, Slough seemed terrorised by the sheer pace of Yeovil's game. Gary Dodd had dropped into the defence for the injured Tony Knight, leaving Des McMahon with one of the toughest returns from injury.

It seemed only a matter of time before the visitors took the lead and they did just that in the 21st minute. To say there was an element of luck would be a gross understatement. John McGinlay made a fine run down the right before crossing to the near post where the unfortunate Dodd headed away powerfully away only to see the ball ricochet off the head of the totally bemused Gerry Pearson and back past keeper Trevor Bunting.

As Yeovil pushed for a second, Slough gradually came to terms with the pace of the game, and few reckless challenges from the visitors served only to fire them up a little more. The equaliser finally came in the 36th minute when Steve Rutter clattered into Wayne Wanklyn just outside the area. Keith White stepped up to take the free kick and rifled through Yeovil's rickety wall and past the unsighted keeper.

The goal proved just the tonic and suddenly it was Slough turning the screws. The visitors now looked more suspect at the back as the Rebels applied some late pressure in the closing stages of the half.
Jimmy Brown was put through in the 44th minute but with only the keeper to beat, didn't strike the ball cleanly and Bob Iles was able to turn the shot around the upright at full stretch.

Slough started the second period in much the same way as they had ended the first. However, with only 10 minutes gone, Andy Wallace latched onto a half clearance by Jeff Bateman and gave Bunting absolutely no chance with a ferocious first time shot from 25 yards.

But only seven minutes later, a touch of class from Paul Waites set up Slough's second equaliser. The tricky midfielder weaved his way past two defenders on the Yeovil byline before crossing to the near post. Kenny Wilson got the touch, Iles blocked it but the alert Wilson rose well to nod the rebound home from close range.

Wilson might have done better when he lost out to Iles in a race for a Brown through ball in the 68th minute but Brown will be kicking himself for not clinching victory 11 minutes later when he was put yards in the clear thanks to a clever dummy from Wanklyn. Iles was slow off his line, but the Rebels' top scorer's finish left a lot to be desired and the keeper saved.

However, Yeovil also had a chance to snatch victory when Paul Randall latched onto a poor back pass from White and shot goalwards from an acute angle. His effort beat Bunting at the near post but Bateman arrived late to add the faintest of touches to send the ball across the face of the goal and wide of the upright.