Slough victory sealed by dazzling Deaner show

Rebels striker Andrew Deaner turned in one of his best performances for the club as he struck the winner at home against Dulwich Hamlet on Saturday. Deaner, making only his second appearance this season, earned Slough a two-goal cushion when he lashed an unstoppable drive into the Dulwich net 12 minutes into the second half.

But the Rebels made heavy weather of securing all three points, playing without the injured Leon Townley for over 10 minutes and conceding a goal late on. Manager Graham Roberts' decision not to substitute Townley, who was bleeding after a clash of heads, made little sense as it left his side down to 10 men while the defender received lengthy treatment in the dressing room.Townley eventually reappeared to bolster the Rebels rearguard as they clung uncertainly onto their lead.

The confidence was flowing early on, though, with Youness Nabil causing the visitors problems flitting between flanks. A dangerous cross was glanced wide by Mark Hall and Nabil then played a one-two with Mark Hawthorne before firing over the bar. Soon afterwards, Nabil tricked the fullback once more and floated in a cross for Chris White, whose header was parried by Les Cleevely, but Hall put the rebound over from close range.

Slough went in front after 29 minutes, when Townley's volley was flicked into the six-yard box by Deaner. As each member of the Dulwich defence declined responsibility for clearing the ball, White rushed in to ram home his first goal of the season.

Hall then played Nabil through and the forward's cheeky lob dropped only just past Cleevely's left-hand post.

After the break Nabil carved through the visitors' defence once more and set up Deaner, whose first-time shot was neatly saved by the goalkeeper. But the striker made certain with his next effort on goal, as Graham Kemp played the ball out of defence to find Hawthorne and his crossfield pass was superbly controlled by Deaner, who swivelled inside and hammered the shot past Cleevely.

Nabil and substitute David Adekola went close to grabbing a third for Slough, but Townley's departure saw the balance of power start to swing for the first time. With 19 minutes to go, Danny Carroll stole in to head a corner into the roof of the Slough net.

Danny Honey, making his first league start after Paul Wilkerson's acrimonious departure two days earlier, was finally called into action. He smothered a shot at the feet of Dave Stevens and was then relieved to see the impressive Dave McEwen volley a shot into his arms.

Mark Hawthorne scooped a hopeful punt over the bar as Slough held on despite nearly six minutes of injury time.

REBELS boss Graham Roberts was delighted with the win which took his side to fourth in the Ryman League Premier Division table but was disappointed that they didn't win the game more comfortably. He said: "It was a pleasing win because they were fourth in the league. We created so many chances and played so well first half but let it slip away in the second half. We put out a side that we thought was good enough. The lads performed very well first half and should have been three or four goals up but we didn't really kill them off. At the end of day we were hanging on because they threw six or seven players up front and that was the disappointing aspect for me. But it would have been an injustice if we had lost or drawn."

Roberts had particular praise to give to stand-in wing back Paul Barrowcliff. He added: "We had a lot of injuries with Micky Engwell out, David Timothy out and Paul Wilkerson leaving the club, so we had a few niggly injuries about. We were a bit weak at wing back but Paul Barrowcliff stepped into the position and was a different class. He was the best player on the pitch. We made him captain and he led by example."