Understrength Rebels Ousted From Cup

An under strength Slough Town travelled to Welling for an F.A Cup match they should of really won the previous Saturday. Tony Boot, Nick Gyoury and Paul Barrowcliff were all missing and it would take a massive team effort to overcome the Dr Martens Premier league side.

Both sides started well but it was Slough keeper Alan Foster that had to show off his shot stopping skills first. Paul Booth made a blinding run and Foster had to be at his best to prevent the Rebels from conceding an early goal. Two minutes later Dean Standen issued Slough their second warning of the match as he fired the ball just wide of the post.

However despite the Wings making the stronger start it was Slough that broke the deadlock to gain the initial advantage. Danny Steer made a charge down the left wing and played it to Darren Wilkinson for him to shoot from the edge of the area. Welling goalkeeper Glen Knight followed the initial shot, but Matt Miller controlled the shot and with Knight wrong footed was able to sidefoot the ball into an unguarded net.

Slough continued to apply the pressure but just like the previous Saturday were unable to convert. The first of the chances once again fell to goal scorer Matt Miller. Miller found him self in some space and a timely pass from Haddow allowed him a shot on goal, unfortunately for the Rebels a magnificent save by Knight denied Miller his second.

The Rebels relentless attitude saw them go close again only a few minutes later as goal hungry Ian Hodge saw his ferocious shot fly inches wide of Knights left post.Matt Miller was on fire and his goal bound shot was dramatically cleared of the goal line to keep Welling in the match.

However the threat was always there and on 19 minutes Welling showed what they could do. Some slack defending from Slough allowed Paul Booth to feed the ball through to Dean Standen and fire past Alan Foster for the equaliser. Slough didn’t appear to be too fazed by the Welling leveller and nearly nudged themselves back in front, Anthony Howard made a lone charge and played it in for Ryan Spencer only for the midfielder to blast the ball over the bar.

Veteran Freddie Hyatt was next in line to have a shot on goal, however is effort was well saved by Knight, Haddow was there for the follow up but his reaction was not quite fast enough and the ball was scrambled away by a flustered defender. Both teams were desperate to get another goal before half time and it appeared Welling’s luck was not running out. A miss kicked clearance from Alex Haddow fell to Booth and the in form striker fired past Foster to give Welling the half time lead and totally deflate the Rebels.

They say football is a game of two half’s and who ever said that was very right. Slough came out for the second half a completely different side from who were playing in the first half. Slough’s desire to win seemed to disappear however Welling weren’t that much better. The game turned in to a passing session and neither side were upping there game. Slough were doing most of the defending but Welling still didn’t look like scoring. Things got a whole lot worse for Slough When Miller limped off injured. Eddie Denton went for one last gamble by bringing on Glen Harris and Andy Deaner. The Rebels hit the self destruct button with 10 minutes to go, confusion between Bartley and Foster allowed Booth to get his second with a simple tap in. Slough looked exhausted and Welling got a fourth before the 90 minutes were up. Beard ran the Slough defence ragged and finished off Slough’s F.A Cup dream for another season.

Looking back over the two games you can help thinking Slough had enough chances to finish Welling off, however it wasn’t meant to be. Slough can now focus on there main target of finishing in the top 6 of the league. Slough now have a break of a couple of weeks, time to refresh, regroup and start again.