Three of the Best

Any hopes Wokingham harboured of ending their dismal record against Slough were shot to tatters as the table topping Rebels treated the crowd to three of the best goals likely to be seen at Wexham Park this season.

And to make matters worse for the visitors, it was former Wokingham players Neal Stanley and Wayne Wanklyn that grabbed the first two as Slough stretched their lead to five points at the top of the Vauxhall-Opel League on Saturday.

With Tony Dennis capping a fine display with their 90th minute third goal, the Rebels finished 3-0 victors from a thoroughly entertaining tussle that will have gone a long way in restoring the faith of the football purists among the 550 strong crowd.

The goals may not have been the most spectacular of strikes, but the clean-cut precision of each build-up would could have graced any Football League ground.

However, to be fair to Wokingham, the Rebels were a little flattered by the final margin of victory. The Rebels were well worth the three points, but Wokingham's enterprising performance deserved better than a three goal defeat. Slough manager Alan Davies was well aware of the
part the visitors played in making the game so entertaining and admitted that their style of play worked to the Rebels' advantage.

"Like ourselves they are a good footballing side," said Davies, "But the crunch comes when we play the Croydons and Barkings of is world."

Of the game itself, Davies was most pleased with his side's strike rate and said: "Scoring chances were few and far between. We had only four real chances, but put three of them away.
Davies was also thrilled with the performance of recent signing, Bobby Dell, who set up the first two goals.

Dell deserved every piece of praise for his best performance for the club to date. He took his time settling in at Slough, but Saturday's game would indicate that he is starting to strike up a good understanding with the rest of the midfield.

However, Dell's fine display was one of many in a quality all-round team performance. With John Watt unavailable through injury, Davies moved right-back Ray Duffy into midfield and brought assistant manager Trevor How in at full-back.

The experienced How ensured that the back four suffered no ill effects from the change. Tony Knight and Jeff Bateman were at their watertight best in the centre, while skipper Keith White took care of the left. Duffy, meanwhile, provided a little more pace on the right flank, balancing an often lopsided midfield that heaps responsibility on Tony Dennis.

Dennis, like Dell has suddenly tapped into a rich vein of form and with Gary Dodd also starting to fulfill his potential, the Rebels midfield finally looked like a well organised unit.

But it took 24 minutes for Slough to stamp their authority on the game with the opening goal.
It was was well worth the wait. Dennis did exceptionally well to head back Duffy's deep cross and Dell chipped a delicate pin-point cross into the centre for Stanley to send his diving header past former Reading keeper Gary Westwood.

Slough remained on top for the rest of the half, but the Wokingham threat was ever present, and Trevor Bunting had to save bravely at the feet of David Pearce to take Slough into the interval with their lead intact.

The Rebels suffered a blow when Gary Dodd went off with a pulled hamstring only four minutes into the second period, but transfer listed substitute Wayne Wanklyn showed his worth by netting Slough's 65th minute second goal.

Once again, Dell was the instigator. This time with a perceptive pass chipped through to Dennis on the corner of the area. Dennis deftly brought the ball under control and crossed behind Steve Thompson for unmarked Wanklyn to thump the ball home from 10 yards.

The visitors went onto the attack straight from the restart and were unlucky not to reduce the deficit as Knight made a superb tackle to stop the marauding Micky Spencer, and Dell headed from the line when Tony Carter headed past Bunting from an Andy Nunn corner.

However, Slough had the last word as Dennis cracked home the final goal finishing another fine move with a 10 yard strike from an acute angle.