Crawley Town
0
Slough Town
0
FA Cup
Attendance: 1874
Brian Hammatt
Paul Wilkerson's heart was in his mouth on Tuesday night after almost handing an FA Cup victory to Crawley Town late in stoppage time. The otherwise solid keeper spilled a harmless cross from Simon Ullathorne in the third minute of injury-time, but somehow Slough managed to clear their lines, earning a deserved replay on Monday night.
It turned out to be a bizarre match at times, with the woodwork corning to the rescue of both sides on numerous occasions. A goalless scoreline was, on reflection, a fair result, and if Crawley had scored from Wilkerson's late error it would have been a cruel blow for the Rebels.
Slough started well against an anxious looking Reds side buoyed on by 1,874 fans at the £5 million Broadfield Stadium. Slough striker Brian Hammett almost caught out Crawley keeper Adrian Blake with an audacious lob and then the same player latched onto a short back pass by defender Andy Taylor only to see his shot deflected onto the crossbar.
Hammett always looked a danger in the first half and he forced Blake into a terrific reflex save, although the effort would have been ruled out for offside.
The Rebels had a lucky escape when Justin Gregory's long range shot deflected off teammate Victor Vicgas on to the post before trickling along the goal and wide with hot-shot striker Ben Abbey watching the chance pass him by.
In first half stoppage time assistant manager Steve Brown saw his cross sliced onto the bar by Reds defender Taylor. The second half saw the home side take control of proceedings as they dominated possession, but faced a Slough team that defended well in numbers.
Wilkerson kept his side level with a stunning save to deny John Mackie from a dangerous set-piece. Despite referee John Kasey adding on four minutes, neither side could break the deadlock, leaving Macclesfield still waiting to see who their opponents in the first round proper will be.
It turned out to be a bizarre match at times, with the woodwork corning to the rescue of both sides on numerous occasions. A goalless scoreline was, on reflection, a fair result, and if Crawley had scored from Wilkerson's late error it would have been a cruel blow for the Rebels.
Slough started well against an anxious looking Reds side buoyed on by 1,874 fans at the £5 million Broadfield Stadium. Slough striker Brian Hammett almost caught out Crawley keeper Adrian Blake with an audacious lob and then the same player latched onto a short back pass by defender Andy Taylor only to see his shot deflected onto the crossbar.
Hammett always looked a danger in the first half and he forced Blake into a terrific reflex save, although the effort would have been ruled out for offside.
The Rebels had a lucky escape when Justin Gregory's long range shot deflected off teammate Victor Vicgas on to the post before trickling along the goal and wide with hot-shot striker Ben Abbey watching the chance pass him by.
In first half stoppage time assistant manager Steve Brown saw his cross sliced onto the bar by Reds defender Taylor. The second half saw the home side take control of proceedings as they dominated possession, but faced a Slough team that defended well in numbers.
Wilkerson kept his side level with a stunning save to deny John Mackie from a dangerous set-piece. Despite referee John Kasey adding on four minutes, neither side could break the deadlock, leaving Macclesfield still waiting to see who their opponents in the first round proper will be.
Slough Town Lineup
- 1 Paul Wilkerson
- 2 Mark Holzman
- 3 Matthew Bicknell
- 4 Graham Roberts
- 5 Richard Peirson
- 6 Michael Thorp
- 7 Chris Seymour 12
- 8 Mark Fiore 14
- 9 Graham Kemp 17
- 10 Brian Hammatt
- 11 Steve Browne
Substitutes
- 12 Eddie Denton 7
- 14 Kenny Hughes 8
- 15 Simon Bochenski
- 16 Simon Line
- 17 Paul Hardyman 9