Five Star Rebels Begin Cup Campaign With A Win

Slough Town kicked off their F.A Cup campaign is style with an impressive 5-0 victory over Sussex County League outfit East Grinstead Town.

On paper the Rebels starting line up looked a bit thin on theground, with Tony Boot arriving late and Alex Haddow unavailable, and Steve Daly and Andrew Deaner joining the growing injury list the potential banana skin was getting more slippery by the minute. After watching the first half performance there was indeed cause for concern.

Slough started the stronger of the two teams, and East Grinstead were finding it difficult to cope with Slough's attacking style of play. There were a number of early chances falling to both Ryan Spencer and Matt Miller however both fell victim to East Grinstead's off-side trap. Slough were exhibiting some nice football but they were unable to infiltrate Grinstead's
defence.

East Grinstead's first chance of the game came in the 10th minute, the away team looked set to score but the first of many superb saves from Alan Foster denied the Sussex team and kept Slough on level terms. Slough would come close on a number of occasions but strikes from Payne, Harris and Hyatt all missed the target.

Grinstead now had their tales up and it was Slough's turn to do the defending. Great tackles from Browne, Bartley and Hyatt stopped Grinstead in their tracks. Grinstead's attack seemed to awaken the 'home' side and Slough finally forced the break through they needed. An accurate pass from Steer found the feet of Harris, he beat the Grinstead resistance and crossed it for Ian Hodges to head home Slough's first goal of the afternoon. Both teams would apply more pressure for the remainder of the half but to no avail.

Even though Slough went in to the break one up they needed to improve if they were going to shake off East Grinstead Town and progress to the next round.

Slough came out for the second half with all guns blazing and there is no doubt about it, East Grinstead were blown away. A wonderful passing exhibition resulted in a

Hyatt-Harris 1-2, Hyatt's shot just going over the bar. Slough's dominance would continue and another Harris cross found Ian Hodge but his shot bounced off the post.

The crowd of 400+ (with complimentary tickets) would not have to wait long for another goal, a low cross from Ryan Spencer found the head of Ian Hodge and the ball crept into the bottom corner of the goal. Slough continued to apply the pressure and further efforts from Spencer and Harris both went wide.

An unfortunate own goal from Garret would finish off East Grinstead. A Spencer cross from the wing ended up parrying off the Grinstead Defender and bouncing over his own goal keeper. East Grinstead may have been down, but they weren't out. Striker Banks made a solo run but his fierce effort was well saved by the leg of Alan Foster. Eddie Denton decided to freshen things up and made three substitutions on the 80 minute mark. It was a frantic last five minutes and Grinstead were getting desperate.

Ryan Spencer topped off a good personal performance with a goal, he struck the ball to the right of Grinstead Keeper Tidey to make it 4-0. Defender Hearne made a rash tackle on Freddie Hyatt and was deservedly sent off for a second bookable offence. In the final Minutes of the Game Slough were awarded a penalty for a push on Glen Harris in the box. Ian Hodge stepped up and converted the penalty kick to score his first hat-trick in a Slough shirt.

Slough made up for a poor first half performance with four second half goals, East Grinstead battled hard but in the end were out performed by a better team. Slough will have to continue to improve if they want to do well in the league this season as they encounter tougher opposition in the weeks to come, but on the whole an encouraging performance by an under strength team.

Slough will now go on to play Godalming & Guildford in the first qualifying round of the F.A Cup.