Woeful Rebels Comfortably Beaten

Having waited two weeks to see their team in action, Rebels fans were subjected to a woeful display by their side at Hampton & Richmond in a contest which was over by halftime as the home team strolled into a three goal lead.

With the exception of last seasons leading scorer, Tony Boot, Slough took to the field with a full strength line up but they were made to look out of their depth as Alan Devonshire's side employed a simple game plan of early passing and quick movement.

Hampton & Richmond kicked off playing with the wind and almost took the lead even before the large Slough contingent had made their way to the far end of the ground as Richard O'Connor curled a free kick against the outside of the post.

The let off spurred Slough into action and although they enjoyed some decent possession in the early stages of the match they were often reduced to playing hopeful balls forward for Ian Hodges and Matt Miller to chase. Their first real chance of the match came just after the quarter hour when Hampton & Richmond captain Jamie Jarvis was slow to clear the ball from the edge of the area. Ian Hodges won the ball with a crunching tackle and as the ball ran free to Darren Wilkinson he spotted former Rebels keeper Adrian Blake off his line but was desperately unlucky to see his chip come back off the face of the crossbar with Blake scrambling to block the follow up shot from Hodges.

Five minutes later Slough fell behind to a penalty harshly awarded against Darren Wilkinson. A strong run down the right flank resulted in a cross being pulled back to the edge of the box to Lee Channell whose shot struck Wilkinson as he slid to cover the danger. The referee ruled both that it had hit the midfielders arm and was intentional and awarded the spot kick which Richard O'Connor struck low past Foster's right hand.

Having been knocked out of the FA Cup by Paulton Rovers a few days earlier the home side seemed keen to prove a point as they continued to cause Slough trouble with their quick movement. The Rebels defence and largely anonymous midfield struggled to keep up with their opponents and it was a surprise that Hampton took until the 32nd minute to extend their lead although Slough will be upset with the manner in which they conceded the second goal. An unchallenged run forward by Jarvis saw the ball laid off to O'Connor fully thirty yards from goal. In the absence of even a token challenge by a Rebels player he took one touch and struck the ball towards goal which Foster completely misjudged and allowed the ball to bounce over him as he dived to his left.

Although Foster partially redeemed himself five minutes later when he saved well from Lee Channell he was powerless to stop the third goal after 39 minutes. Yet another unchallenged run into the Rebels penalty area, this time by Marcello Fernandes, left the Hampton & Richmond debutant with time to look up and calmly place his shot into the top right hand corner. As a terrible first half showing drew to a close Chris Payne replaced Ryan Spencer who had been injured in a clash of heads minutes earlier.

Despite playing with the wind the second half followed a similar pattern to the first with almost every Rebels player second to the ball behind their Hampton & Richmond counterparts.

Even when Slough did come close to scoring after 56 minutes it was courtesy of a Hampton & Richmond defender who tried to head Alex Haddow's long cross back to his keeper but almost succeeded in placing the ball in the top corner before Blake got a hand to touch the ball over. A minute later the home side made it four as man of the match, Michael Curry, strolled through the pedestrian Slough defence to slot past the advancing Foster.

The game petered out at that point and for the remainder of the ninety minutes Hampton & Richmond were content to concede possession to the visitors knowing that the game was already safe. Slough had late chances to restore a modicum of pride through a Steve Daly header and shot by Ian Hodges but failed to give their loyal following anything to cheer.