Saints come from behind to snatch win

Slough's poor recent form continued with a home defeat against St. Albans, who scored two second half goals to secure the three points.

Slough were looking to improve on their recent results, having only won once in the last eight games. Paul Holsgrove made his Slough debut in midfield and Mark Hall replaced Damien Markman up front. Chris Allen, Dave Timothy and Steve Mautone were all injured and Chris White was missing due to a wedding.

The game started quite evenly, but it was the Saints who had the first chance after a matter of minutes. Simpson was put through on goal after Pratt's through ball, but his first touch let him down.

One player who was standing out in the Slough side was Holsgrove. He had Slough's first chance when Hawthorne's corner fell to him on the edge of the box, but his shot went just over the bar.

Five minutes later St. Albans had the best chance of the game so far when Wall played the ball onto the head of Pratt, he in turn knocked the ball down to St. Albans' on-loan midfielder Danny Jones, but he shot over the bar.

On 23 minutes Slough produced the best move of the half and it almost resulted in a goal. Hall played a one-two with Lambert and if it was not for a last ditch tackle by Rooney, Hall would have been through on goal.

Ten minutes later Mark Hall was involved in another good Slough move. Lambert beat two players on the left and crossed the ball in to Hall, who produced tremendous skill to lift the ball over both Moran's and Evans' head and the ball fell invitingly for Marshall who saw his shot somehow saved by Hurst's feet in the Saints goal.

A lot of Slough's play seemed to involve Holsgrove, Lambert and Hall. The three combined again when Holsgrove played the ball to Lambert who ran at the St. Albans defence and laid the ball back to Hall, who saw his stabbed effort easily saved by Hurst.

The Rebels were not forced to wait too long for their opening and deserved goal though. Lambert curled a corner in from the right, which was flicked on by Townley for Marshall, who could not help but score from a couple of yards out.

The last real effort of the half came when the dangerous Pratt crossed the ball in from the right, only an excellent diving catch by Honey preventing Piper from equalising.

Even though it was St. Albans who started the second half much the better of the two sides, it was Slough who could have gone two goals in front. Lambert produced an excellent run, taking the ball past four City players, and his cross found Hall, but the forward's control let him down and the ball was hit against the Slough player's back by Saints goalkeeper Hurst and it flew over for a goal kick.

St. Albans had their first chance when Evans shot from the edge of the area, with no Slough player within ten yards. Luckily for the Rebels his drilled effort sailed well over the bar.

Soon after, Holsgrove almost capped an excellent display with a well taken goal, but his half volley from the edge of the area went just wide.

As City stepped up a gear in order to try and get an equaliser they bought on Junior Samuels. His introduction seemed to spark Chris Piper into life and he was looking more and more dangerous. Slough were given one warning of this when he shot over after good play by Jones.

With 64 minutes on the clock Slough were within inches of gaining a two goal lead. Hawthorne took a free kick in from the left, which evaded everybody and hit the post with Hurst well beaten.

Slough were left to rue that miss because on 73 minutes a corner was floated in from the left onto the head of White who headed towards goal and Samuels on the line made no mistake beating Honey with a glanced effort.

The goal seemed to give St. Albans more confidence and they were only denied another goal minutes later by an excellent tackle by McPherson after a tired looking Holsgrove gave the ball away in midfield.

A decision which could have swung the match either way occurred after 76 minutes. Markman used his pace to get away from the St. Albans defence with only Hurst to beat. He was pulled back by Moran for what was a clear goal scoring opportunity, but the referee only gave Moran a yellow card when it probably should have been red.

Two minutes later a tangle between Holsgrove and Townley resulted in a superb cross in by Jones for Piper, who arrived late in the box. His first time effort flew into the Slough net for the winner.