Rebels Progress In County Cup

Buckingham Town came to Wexham Park on Monday and snarled at Slough, but their bark turned out to be much worse than their bite.
The Beazer Homes League side had more of the play, but failed to make it count in this Berks and Bucks Cup quarter final tie. They were aggressive, and hustled and bustled Slough, but couldn't stop the Rebels in front of goal.

The match was dour, with little goaImouth incident despite the final goal aggregate, as the Rebels did just what they were expected to do.

The Rebels were almost back full strength and Gary Dodd made a welcome return to the centre of defence, with Tony Knight pushing into midfield. The absence of Tommy Langley resulted in Steve Thompson pushing forward alongside Neal Stanley, and Mark Mallinson regained his place on the left because of the missing Mark Adams.

The scoreline was true to form on paper, top of the Vauxhall League taking on a top of the table Beazer Homes Southern Division side — but the storyline behind the score, as with so many matches, was different.

"It was a hard battle, they were a typical Beazer Homes League side," said Slough boss Alan Davies after the match. "I thought they flattered to deceive, they ran and tackled hard, they had a couple of half chances, and we had to be patient and take our time," he added.

Referring to Slough's performance he said: "We hadn't had a game for a week, so it was hard, but the injuries are clear ing up. Tommy Langley is just feeling his groin strain, Gary Lester is nearly fit and Mark Adams is the only player unavailable at the moment."

The game kicked off with one of the floodlights still down after the gales, but surprisingly it made little difference to the illumination of the pitch. The playing surface was also in good condition, and the elements were fine for a good game of football.

But sadly it never emerged as Slough were often clearing their ranks poorly, and allowing the visitors back at them. Buckingham struggled to put any flowing football together, and the game ended as a pin ball battle in the Rebel's half. When anything flowed, it came from the Slough side, but the final ball to the forwards was often in the air and the Buckingham central defence was troubled little.

Slough were denied after 14 minutes, Mark Mallinson, who had a good game, won the ball on the edge of the visitors box, found Steve Thompson to run in and chip goalwards, but the ball was handled out of Stanley's path, and the referee waved play on.

In fact, the official lacked inspiration, and played his part in spoiling the game as a spectacle. Far too much time was wasted when free kicks had to be pin pointed on the spot they occurred, whilst players were allowed to thump the ball away on hearing the whistle. Thompson was booked for dissent regarding the handball.

Trevor Bunting pulled off a fine string of saves midway through the first half, after the Buckingham forwards swarmed on an exposed Slough goal, but succeeded in doing as they did for much of the game, taking out Bunting, when the ball was gone; Draper booked for the infringement.

It came as a bit of a shock when the Rebels opened the scoring on 36 minutes. A corner at the other end was cleared to Stanley, who found Barry Rake with a fine ball. Rake ran on evading two tackles, and finished well. Sullivan was booked for a poor challenge on Slough's young goalscorer minutes later and the curtain, with some relief, fell on the first half.

The Rebels created more clear cut chances in the second half, and finally won their first corner after 56 minutes. Thompson was denied by a fine stop from Baker in the visitors goal, but the Rebels second came on the hour. Tony Knight won the ball on through the middle, and the cross was simple for Stanley to touch home.

Eight minutes later Buckingham had pulled a goal back, Sullivan's long ball releasing McGuiness to push the ball past Bunting and finish well from an acute angle. Buckingham had pushed four men forward at this stage. It didn't work. After 76 minutes it was 3-1.

Tony Knight headed a poorly cleared ball to Trevor How, who crossed and Thompson got a foot in to tip the ball home. Ten minutes later it was all over. Gary Dodd pushed forward, and as the ball was and into the path of Thompson. Thompson fired goalwards. Baker got his body in the way and the ball looped into the path of Tony Knight for a simple finish.