Slough Town
2
Stanley (44), Knight (51)
Bath City
0
League
Attendance: 816
John Sissons
Bath had no answer to Slough at Wexham Park on Saturday when two goals either side of the break kept them rooted firmly in the relegation battle, with the Rebels pulling slowly away.
Now occupying ninth place in the table, the position is probably beyond any of the club's expectations of last year with the primary aim to stay up. As yet no Chairman or sponsor, Slough have still looked every inch a Conference side without the cash host, and are currently building a platform which should keep them well out of danger come the panic period in March. Bath however, never had the flair or ability to break down a defence, despite a couple of early chances, and look prime candidates for one of the bottom places.
They hustled their way around but with the Rebels looking competent to hold them the game was reduced to a catalogue of free kicks by below par refereeing. Manager Alan Davies said after the game: "It's always nice to get three points but it was a hard game. "They tried to put us out of our stride and made it difficult to play how we wanted, but we controlled the second half and had more open chances," he added.
Bath nearly took a shock lead in the sixth minute when Trevor Bunting stretched to tip wide Mark MaIlinson's misjudged header. From the resulting corner John Freegard's header was saved at the near post. Mr Foreman of Strood then proceeded to baffle with strange decisions which chopped up the flow of football and the game entered a scrappy stage.
Freegard again found himself in space but wasted the effort, blasting the ball over the bar, but the Rebels began to go at Bath and Steve Thompson and Jon Sissons both found their pace too hot for the visitors' defence.
Alan Churchward fumbled a SIssons cross but Thompson’s follow up was weak and was hacked off the line by Chris Ranks, and the keeper pulled off a fine save from Thompson's point blank volley. Trevor How, who had an excellent game as sweeper and was well in command at the back, cleared Adie Ming's effort off the line after Slough had been caught pushing forward. But on the stroke of half time Neal Stanley notched his first goal for two months, just getting his foot to Sissons's cross with the ball flying into the net. The second half saw Slough on the rampage, dominating the midfield and penetrating the Bath defence, Sissons just unable to get on the end of Stanley’s cross.
But after 51 minutes it was all over for Bath, Mallinson weighting a lovely ball to Thompson who shot in behind the defence, crossed far post to Tony Knight who slotted the ball some for a rare goal. Mings and Underhill were booked for the visitors, Stacey picking up a caution after what seemed a fair challenge, but Gary Donnellan's name being taken was absurd.
The midfield man, back for Slough as he is cup tied for Wealdstone, slid in one footed to win the ball and was strangely penalised. After five minutes of mysterious injury time, the game was finished with Slough sealing a comfortable three points.
Now occupying ninth place in the table, the position is probably beyond any of the club's expectations of last year with the primary aim to stay up. As yet no Chairman or sponsor, Slough have still looked every inch a Conference side without the cash host, and are currently building a platform which should keep them well out of danger come the panic period in March. Bath however, never had the flair or ability to break down a defence, despite a couple of early chances, and look prime candidates for one of the bottom places.
They hustled their way around but with the Rebels looking competent to hold them the game was reduced to a catalogue of free kicks by below par refereeing. Manager Alan Davies said after the game: "It's always nice to get three points but it was a hard game. "They tried to put us out of our stride and made it difficult to play how we wanted, but we controlled the second half and had more open chances," he added.
Bath nearly took a shock lead in the sixth minute when Trevor Bunting stretched to tip wide Mark MaIlinson's misjudged header. From the resulting corner John Freegard's header was saved at the near post. Mr Foreman of Strood then proceeded to baffle with strange decisions which chopped up the flow of football and the game entered a scrappy stage.
Freegard again found himself in space but wasted the effort, blasting the ball over the bar, but the Rebels began to go at Bath and Steve Thompson and Jon Sissons both found their pace too hot for the visitors' defence.
Alan Churchward fumbled a SIssons cross but Thompson’s follow up was weak and was hacked off the line by Chris Ranks, and the keeper pulled off a fine save from Thompson's point blank volley. Trevor How, who had an excellent game as sweeper and was well in command at the back, cleared Adie Ming's effort off the line after Slough had been caught pushing forward. But on the stroke of half time Neal Stanley notched his first goal for two months, just getting his foot to Sissons's cross with the ball flying into the net. The second half saw Slough on the rampage, dominating the midfield and penetrating the Bath defence, Sissons just unable to get on the end of Stanley’s cross.
But after 51 minutes it was all over for Bath, Mallinson weighting a lovely ball to Thompson who shot in behind the defence, crossed far post to Tony Knight who slotted the ball some for a rare goal. Mings and Underhill were booked for the visitors, Stacey picking up a caution after what seemed a fair challenge, but Gary Donnellan's name being taken was absurd.
The midfield man, back for Slough as he is cup tied for Wealdstone, slid in one footed to win the ball and was strangely penalised. After five minutes of mysterious injury time, the game was finished with Slough sealing a comfortable three points.
Slough Town Lineup
- 1 Trevor Bunting
- 2 Trevor How
- 3 Mark Mallinson
- 4 Tony Knight
- 5 Darren Anderson
- 6 Mark Hill
- 7 Gary Donnellan
- 8 Neal Stanley
- 9 John Sissons
- 10 Steve Thompson
- 11 Phil Stacey
Substitutes
- 12 Barry Rake
- 14 Tony Dell