Thompson winner at Moss Rose

Slough's star attraction Steve Thompson continued his magnificent start to the season when he scored to snatch victory from under Macclesfield Town's noses.

Thompson has been enjoying a new role in the Rebel's forward line and has come through with flying colours and looked incredibly dangerous in front of goal. His goal ensured Slough came away with the ideal Vauxhall Conference win in Cheshire.

Macclesfield basing reorganised their side from last season were always going to prove a threat in their first home match of the season. They showed some ominous signs when they provided some flowing football and caned out some neat chances early on.

The Rebels retained the same side that won against Kidderminster the week previous but they found themselves under the cosh. Paul Clayton should have finished an easy chance when two of the home players were free on the near post from a free kick after just five minutes.

Trevor Bunting was then called upon to make a fine save to deny Steve Hanlon and from the resultant corner Colin Lambert hit the crossbar. Macclesfield swarmed forward and Slough were under a tremendous barrage.
The Silkmen moved the ball around neatly and looked for the opening to exploit.

Bunting was again in superb form when be denied Elfyn Edwards who found himself in space with the Rebel's defence asleep but after early worries Slough's back four gradually tightened up and got to grips with their task.

It was to set the standard for the rest of the game. Slough broke dangerously to worry a tight Macclesfield defence and had to soak up large chunks of pressure and ride their luck with some gutsy defending throughout.

There were two harsh bookings from the referee on Slough players, with Mr Barry firstly taking Gary Donnellan's name after he had the ball kicked against his back from a drop kick and then Alan Pluckrose had his name taken for a hard tackle in the second period.

Phil Stacey had to produce a timely tackle to deny Jason Dawson who was released through defence. The Rebels managed to get forward but couldn't get round behind the home defence to send in crosses which were
dangerous or accurate enough.

They came close just before half time though when Colin Fielder's freekick was deflected off the wall and with the keeper wrong footed rolled against the upright and out.

The match carried on where it had left off after the break with Macclesfield forcing the pace and Slough sucking in as much pressure and counterattacking with speed and accuracy.

Hanlon was just wide after a quick break from a corner and then the Silkmen should have taken the lead after Mick Putnam, who was powerful and dominant in the air but prone to the odd slip, left Bunting stranded with a back header but Dawson could only hit the post with his chip.

Slough were troubled by Macclesfield banging in deep balls to the far post and at times the home side had men queuing up but Boating was in excellent form and the Rebels battled away at the back.

The home side upped the pace and went at the Rebels, who did their best to take the sting out of the game by slowing the speed down - much to the annoyance of the Macclesfield fans.

But it was the ideal way to frustrate the home side, who were missing out from a total lack of ability to score.
Stacey made a vital tackle which denied Dawson and as the game wore on the Rebels broke with more regularity and held the ball for longer.

Thompson was a permanent threat but the home side had him marshalled with some tight marking to blunt the edge of the Rebel's counterattack.

A fine move almost put Slough in for the lead when Fielder picked oat Thompson to shoot just wide at the near post.

Slough then began to dominate proceedings with Macclesfield running out of ideas but the home side still managing to carve out some dangerous attacks.

Bunting made another fine save to deny the Silkmean but despite all their efforts, the game was slowly slipping away from them as their inability to finish took its toll.

With 79 minutes gone, it was Thompson who set up and executed the Rebel's win. He tackled John Askey and fed Eammon O'Connor, who held onto the ball as he ran into the Macclesfield box and allowed Thompson to make up ground, passed the ball into his path and Thompson pushed it over the line with his shin.

Thompson then combined well with McKinnon but shot just wide. Macclesfield then took off Shepherd and introduced Farrelly to throw bodies forward and salvage something from the dying minutes. It almost worked!

Stacey made a dramatic goal line clearance after Bunting had been beaten and then Lambert hit the bar from the resultant corner before Slough were able to steal the points and go to the top of the Conference table.