Robins Rocked As Rebels Progress

The Robins were well and truly shot down as the "little town" of Slough took a step nearer the big guns in the FA Cup on Saturday.

In the second qualifying round of this enormous competition, the Rebels travelled to a cold and grey Colston Avenue to try and progress to further rounds, in the hope of fame and glory.

And in the furthest reaches of the FA Cup, where so much passion and commitment goes unrecognised, Steve Thompson scored a goal that would grace any sunny May Cup Final.

The match was destined to be tight, with confident Carshalton beginning to find the form which saw them finish a strong fourth in the Vauxhall League last season and Slough riding on a crest of a wave after last week's superb victory.

But it became rapidly obvious that there was a gulf between the two sides, Carshalton having no reply for Steve Thompson's skill, Mark Adams' class and Trevor Bunting's agility.

Unchanged from last week, the Rebels were strong in every department, determined and a quality unit that many teams will be hard pushed to get a result from this season.

The Rebels started well, looking for Adams on the left wing to get round the home defence and provide a ball into the box. The classy winger provided just this service and his crossing was of the upmost quality, Stanley getting on to the end of the ball once and Langley just failing to meet a centre minutes later.

After 16 minutes, good work from Thompson and Adams set Tony Dell up to fire a rasping shot just past the post. The Rebels almost took the lead after 25 minutes, when Adams won the ball on the edge of the Carshalton box and nodded it into Langley's path.

But the big striker's effort ran past the keeper only to be cleared from the line at the last second.
Carshalton's only quality attack of the first half saw Bunting save Kane's excellent snapshot from the wing on the half hour.

With 42 minutes on the clock, Thompson took centre stage with an inspiring goal. Robbie Johnson's throw on the left found Langley, who waited for Thompson to arrive on the edge of the box, laid the ball off to him and the nippy midfielder flew past three defenders with the mini-mum of touches, before curling the ball home, a bemused Robins' back row left trailing in his wake.

Tommy Langley almost put the Rebels two up just before the break when his header was well saved, but within two minutes of the restart, Slough went further ahead. Stanley released Thompson and suddenly both he and Mark Hill were left with only the keeper to beat, Thompson squaring for the Slough captain to slot home.

The Carshalton tactics had been changed at half time and were as rough as the disgraceful playing surface. Every time Thompson got the ball, he was brought clattering to the ground and offered no protection by a poor referee.

Carshalton made a couple of substitutions to try and bring themselves back into the game and could have done so but for the agility of Bunting, who saved well from Warden.

Slough were denied a fair goal after 62 minutes, when Langley dummied Adams' corner and Stanley crashed the ball goalwards. With Riley taking the sting out of the shot, the ball crossed the line and Raffington cleared before it bounced, the linesman missing the obvious.

Langley had his effort cleared off the line by Richards later on in the half and Bunting produced a magnificent save when he sprung across his goal to tip over Wilgoss's header.

As the game became scrappy, three Carshalton players entered the book, but the home side were to remain frustrated as Slough won the match, to earn a home tie with Uxbridge in the next round.