Kettering Town
0
Slough Town
0
League
Attendance: 1379
Unknown
Is the bottle half empty or half full?
Slough Town's second goalless draw makes it almost four hours of football since they scored a goal. but almost five since they let one in.
No goals, only one offside decision, and six bookings sum up a scrappy game that was played out for the most part in the middle of the park. Fussily refereed and never allowed to flow.
But Slough battled well again, had plenty of possession and the best chances, plus striker Gary Abbott back in the side following a three match suspension.
And Mark Fiore followed up his outstanding performance against Macclesfield the week with another good game here.
In the 17th minute Fiore found himself one-on-one with the Kettering keeper Kevin Shoemake, following a good ball from Garry Smart, but his shot was saved.
And 20 minutes later he played a neat one-two with Gary Abbott to get a shot in front inside the box, but again it was blocked.
Mark Pye was the first Slough player to receive a yellow card, seemingly for dissent, after 20 minutes.
Cliff Hercules joined him in the book shortly before half-time for his reaction to a foul by Darien Harmon - a bit of pushing and shoving that hardly merited a caution.
Slough started the second halt much brighter. and looked very dangerous for a while. Pye was set up in the box by Abbott just two minutes in, but blasted his shot over from 12 yards.
And just three minutes later Abbott himself had a good chance as he managed a tight turn on the left-hand side of the area and had a shot on the volley that again went over.
Not to be outdone, Andy Clement hit probably the hardest shot of the day that had to he helped over the bar by Shoemake.
Abbott and Hercules were beginning to work well together up front. and both players had headers on target in the 67th minute following a cross from Smart, but both were blocked.
A minute later Hercules was the provider sending in a cross that Abbott met and headed into the side netting. With 20 minutes to go Abbott was taken off and replaced by the 19-year-old Michael Murphy, hut Slough seemed to have lost their momentum and not even a fresh pair of legs could swing the balance their way.
Fiore unleashed a thundering drive in the 77th minute that went over the bar, and Craig Gaunt put a header just wide for the home side minutes later, but there was little more left in this game.
Steve Bateman's booking five minutes from the end brought the number of yellow cards up to three per team.
Slough Town's second goalless draw makes it almost four hours of football since they scored a goal. but almost five since they let one in.
No goals, only one offside decision, and six bookings sum up a scrappy game that was played out for the most part in the middle of the park. Fussily refereed and never allowed to flow.
But Slough battled well again, had plenty of possession and the best chances, plus striker Gary Abbott back in the side following a three match suspension.
And Mark Fiore followed up his outstanding performance against Macclesfield the week with another good game here.
In the 17th minute Fiore found himself one-on-one with the Kettering keeper Kevin Shoemake, following a good ball from Garry Smart, but his shot was saved.
And 20 minutes later he played a neat one-two with Gary Abbott to get a shot in front inside the box, but again it was blocked.
Mark Pye was the first Slough player to receive a yellow card, seemingly for dissent, after 20 minutes.
Cliff Hercules joined him in the book shortly before half-time for his reaction to a foul by Darien Harmon - a bit of pushing and shoving that hardly merited a caution.
Slough started the second halt much brighter. and looked very dangerous for a while. Pye was set up in the box by Abbott just two minutes in, but blasted his shot over from 12 yards.
And just three minutes later Abbott himself had a good chance as he managed a tight turn on the left-hand side of the area and had a shot on the volley that again went over.
Not to be outdone, Andy Clement hit probably the hardest shot of the day that had to he helped over the bar by Shoemake.
Abbott and Hercules were beginning to work well together up front. and both players had headers on target in the 67th minute following a cross from Smart, but both were blocked.
A minute later Hercules was the provider sending in a cross that Abbott met and headed into the side netting. With 20 minutes to go Abbott was taken off and replaced by the 19-year-old Michael Murphy, hut Slough seemed to have lost their momentum and not even a fresh pair of legs could swing the balance their way.
Fiore unleashed a thundering drive in the 77th minute that went over the bar, and Craig Gaunt put a header just wide for the home side minutes later, but there was little more left in this game.
Steve Bateman's booking five minutes from the end brought the number of yellow cards up to three per team.
Slough Town Lineup
- 1 Paul Wilkerson
- 2 Garry Smart
- 3 Gary McGinnis
- 4 Steve Bateman
- 5 Andy Clement
- 6 Robert Smith
- 7 Mark Fiore
- 8 Mark Pye 12
- 9 Cliff Hercules
- 10 Gary Abbott 15
- 11 Derek Simpson
Substitutes
- 12 Simon Stapleton 8
- 14 Danny Bolt
- 15 Michael Murphy 10