Rebels Scrape Home

Despite bagging the 3 points, Slough struggled to break down bottom of the League strugglers Corinthian Casuals. Two Penalties and a sending off were all featured in a scrappy game that on paper, the home side should have won comfortably.

Danny Steer was quick to make his impression on the game. Only two minutes had passed when his juicy looking effort flew over the cross bar. In-form Ian Hodges was also sniffing around the box early on but his long-range effort was also wide of the mark. It was Ian Hodge minutes later that set up a wonderful chance, his shot was rebounded by Nathan Jupp but Matt Miller's headed effort somehow crept past the wrong side of the post.

Slough Skipper Steve Daly also wanted to be noticed early on, he used his pace up the right wing and delivered a lovely weighted cross to Alex Haddow, whose volley flew back across goal but Corinthians Simon Shergold deflected the effort narrowly wide.

The Casuals waited till midway through the half to create their first dangerous effort, Tony Blunts corner was headed goal-ward, Nick Gyoury dealt with it on the post but the following drive from Justin Georgiou caused most concern with Alan Foster pulling off a good save.

Corinthian continued to dominate the half and looked very dangerous against a lethargic looking Slough defence. Iain Waghorn and Gavin Cartwright both had good chances for the visiting team but Alan Foster denying them on each occasion. Corinthian Casuals looked the better team going in at the interval, in a very scrappy first half, which saw Slough struggle to play football. With Slough struggling against the bottom side, the fans remained frustrated at their teams lack of clear goal scoring chances in the first half.

Corinthian Casuals didn't hang about after the break and were hungry to take the lead, and they didn't have to wait too long. On 50 minutes Slough's new boy Michael Murphy took down Justin Georgiou in the box in a clean looking tackle. But despite the protests John Eldred stepped up and sent Foster the wrong way and put the visitors into the lead.

Slough seemed to struggle on after this point and continued creating very few chances, which forced Manager Eddie Denton to make some changes. Slough debutant Matt Seedel replaced the seemingly uninterested Matt Miller and Freddie Hyatt also gave way to Glen Harris. With 20 minutes to go, it seemed to pay off.

Slough started to show some fight about them and then a break through came to the relief of the home fans massed behind the goal. Danny Steer proved too skilful for the Casuals defence and was taken down inside the area from a desperate tackle by Dave Roberts. Ryan Spencer stepped up to take the penalty kick, but the keeper guessed correctly and denied Spencer the equaliser. But the ball was still in play and Ian Hodges drilled it into the back of the net. Yet during the celebrations the referee blew up and gave Corinthian's a free kick outside the opposite end of the area. Slough still trailed. The home fans frustrations increased.

But this setback appeared to fire the Rebels up and they stepped up the tempo. It wasn't long before the ball was in the net again. After a succession of Alex Haddow corners Steve Daly managed to lunge himself at one and hammer home a magnificent headed goal, his second in two games, a proud feat for the defender!

Slough were back in the hunt, much to the relief of the frustrated fans, and the players were still hungry and looking more enthusiastic and spirited in their attempts to gain a win. Corinthians Nick Brown took down Matt Seedel with few minutes left in a nasty looking challenge. The expected red card was raised through a second yellow card and despite verbal protests from the visiting team Brown was on his way. Slough continued to break down the defence and after a number of grass cutting and sliced efforts, Slough celebrated a second right on the Whistle.

Danny Steer made a confident run from his defensive post and laid a lovely ball to Seedel. His cross was half cleared by Andy Gibbins but the ball fell back to Steer's feet and he made no mistake of placing the ball with a great deal of precision into the bottom corner of the net to gain three vital points for the home team.

Despite gaining the win, Slough need to improve drastically for the tricky away trip to Lewes on Saturday, otherwise a heavy defeat will surely confront them. Lets hope the players can pay back the loyal fans for the bad string of performances recently and play the football we know their capable of.