Fiore Flair Turns Tide

It took Slough nearly an hour to stamp their authority on Saturday's game but eventually stamp it they did and in emphatic fashion.

It should perhaps concern manager Dave Kemp that it needed the spur of visitors Macclesfield taking the lead to really encourage Slough to give vent to the full range of their attacking abilities, and claim their first win against the Silkmen at Wexham Park.

Until that stage there had been a strange lethargy about the home side, obviously missing Les Briley's bite and experience they struggled to carve out genuine openings and for a change the front two of Sayer and McKinnon had little to offer.

Most of the good things about Slough on Saturday stemmed from the left foot of Mark Fiore, who began the game at left back but ended it much further forward and scaled a classy performance with Slough's winning goal.

His low shot at full stretch and at the end of another incisive Slough move was a reward for the effort and desire Town had shown from the moment Alan Pluckrose headed into his own net on 55 minutes.

Within two minutes Slough have levelled, George Friel's howitzer left foot leaving Steve Farrelly groping from 25 yards. Friel is a real enigma, after missing a more than acceptable opportunity from eight yards out early on, his head seemed to drop somewhat and his contribution was sporadic. But given a sniff of goal on his left foot, he has a shot to match the former Leeds legend Peter Lorimer.

Macclesfield had gone ahead when poor Pluckrose, attempting to cut out Askey's cross planted a diving header comfortably beyond Bunting. It was just the ending Pluckrose didn't want to his personal feud with Askey which had threatened to boil over immediately prior to the goal.

However Slough's response was nothing if not dynamic. Scott's fierce drive was expertly palmed away by Farrelly who then reacted superbly to keep out Mark Foran's point blank header. The ball though wasn't properly cleared and Friel put Slough back on terms —the words kick and mule come to mind.

Scott had another go from range when Sayer and McKinnon combined to lay the ball back to him, but this time his shot was a little too high.

Scott though was clearly enjoying himself and after a quiet first 45 minutes and with his confidence seemingly fully restored, he took on the entire Macclesfield defence, beat them, drifted wide and cut the ball back into the six yard box where McKinnon was unable to apply the finishing touch that Scott's sublime effort deserved.

Dave Kemp's decision to replace George Friel with Darren Hancock on 71 minutes wasn't popular with the terrace masses but within seconds his side were in front and his switch had been forgotten.

Not that Hancock had much to do with the goal although his defensive attributes meant Fiore could at last get forward and fully exploit his obvious talents. And how.

Hazel and Scott created the opening but Fiore made himself the space to score and set Wexham Park alight. The loudest roar of the season greeted Fiore's strike, as if the 930 in attendance — the Slough one's at least sensed that they really do have a team to be proud of.

Even the Slough sceptics would have to marvel at the way Slough had stormed back on Saturday.

The game though wasn't yet won and when Stuart Bimson's shot beat Bunting, Scott — covering huge areas of the Wexham turf — had to dive in and divert the ball wide.

One thing that does come to mind though is that so often this season Slough have really turned on the style after the half time break, it would save a lot of unnecessary worrying if Kemp gave his interval team talk at ten to three!