Eastleigh
0
Slough Town
4
Haddow (20, 31, 69), Harris (41)
League
Attendance: 372
Alex Haddow
Slough Town made the trip to the south coast in an attempt to get their season back on track. There was a sense of apprehension in the air, taking into account the defeat at Northwood earlier in the week and Eastleigh's league position, Rebels fans couldn't be blamed for fearing the worst.
However, the Rebels showed what they were all about by systematically dismantling the promotion hopefuls in dramatic fashion, and at the same time gaining revenge for the heavy defeat at Stag Meadow earlier in the season.
There were several changes to the side that went down to Northwood four days earlier; 17-year-old Michael Parkin replaced an injured Shaun Allaway in goal, Josias Carbon returned whilst Hakki was dropped to the bench.
Slough started brightly and the attacking mindset of Alex Haddow was visible as he swung in a decent cross, Slough strikers Ian Hodges and Matt Seedel were waiting but Eastleigh Goalkeeper Wayne Shaw was first to the ball and claimed possession.
Slough were unlucky not to open the scoring in the 10th minute, Harris shooting just over the bar after beating his marker. Harris had a further chance minutes later through a free kick, however Shaw did well and saved again.
However it soon became clear that only one team was going to score first. Alex Haddow made one of his unstoppable runs down the right wing, he cut in and beat the defender and shot straight past Shaw to give Slough a well deserved lead.
Eastleigh were struggling to show why they were second in the league, and ten minutes after Slough took the lead, they doubled it. Ian Hodges was brought down just outside the area and Slough were rightly awarded a free kick. Michael Murphy, in a great run of form, struck the ball into the wall but Alex Haddow was there to tuck the rebound home in a near identical manner to his first.
Eastleigh were becoming understandably frustrated. Every time they attempted an attack on goal they ran into the force that was the Slough defence, they looked unbeatable.
The Rebels all but wrapped up all three points just before half time. Glen Harris made light work of the Eastleigh defence before tapping the ball into the right hand corner of the goal.
The Rebels came out for the second half with an unchanged line up and continued to dominate from the outset. Ryan Spencer was unfortunate not to add his name to the score sheet when his low strike was parried away by Shaw.
Matt Seedel was even more unlucky not to score when his shot struck the cross bar and landed on the goal line before being cleared by a shell-shocked Eastleigh defence.
Michael Parkin was being tested for the first time, however just like his team mates he was in outstanding form. Parkin stood tall and made an outstanding save from a degenerated Andy Forbes.
However the afternoon belonged to Haddow. Glen Harris made a superb pass to the left winger, who ran at goal and once again struck past Shaw to round off his hat-trick and seal the three points for Slough.
Slough showed what they really can do with the performance of the season so far. The Rebels made a good Eastleigh side look distinctly average. No one player had a poor performance, they were all outstanding. Slough now host Cheshunt in the league this Saturday. The Hertfordshire side have had some problems on the pitch of late, but will still be a stern test for Slough. If the Rebels can keep this up then a play-off place is definitely not out of the question.
However, the Rebels showed what they were all about by systematically dismantling the promotion hopefuls in dramatic fashion, and at the same time gaining revenge for the heavy defeat at Stag Meadow earlier in the season.
There were several changes to the side that went down to Northwood four days earlier; 17-year-old Michael Parkin replaced an injured Shaun Allaway in goal, Josias Carbon returned whilst Hakki was dropped to the bench.
Slough started brightly and the attacking mindset of Alex Haddow was visible as he swung in a decent cross, Slough strikers Ian Hodges and Matt Seedel were waiting but Eastleigh Goalkeeper Wayne Shaw was first to the ball and claimed possession.
Slough were unlucky not to open the scoring in the 10th minute, Harris shooting just over the bar after beating his marker. Harris had a further chance minutes later through a free kick, however Shaw did well and saved again.
However it soon became clear that only one team was going to score first. Alex Haddow made one of his unstoppable runs down the right wing, he cut in and beat the defender and shot straight past Shaw to give Slough a well deserved lead.
Eastleigh were struggling to show why they were second in the league, and ten minutes after Slough took the lead, they doubled it. Ian Hodges was brought down just outside the area and Slough were rightly awarded a free kick. Michael Murphy, in a great run of form, struck the ball into the wall but Alex Haddow was there to tuck the rebound home in a near identical manner to his first.
Eastleigh were becoming understandably frustrated. Every time they attempted an attack on goal they ran into the force that was the Slough defence, they looked unbeatable.
The Rebels all but wrapped up all three points just before half time. Glen Harris made light work of the Eastleigh defence before tapping the ball into the right hand corner of the goal.
The Rebels came out for the second half with an unchanged line up and continued to dominate from the outset. Ryan Spencer was unfortunate not to add his name to the score sheet when his low strike was parried away by Shaw.
Matt Seedel was even more unlucky not to score when his shot struck the cross bar and landed on the goal line before being cleared by a shell-shocked Eastleigh defence.
Michael Parkin was being tested for the first time, however just like his team mates he was in outstanding form. Parkin stood tall and made an outstanding save from a degenerated Andy Forbes.
However the afternoon belonged to Haddow. Glen Harris made a superb pass to the left winger, who ran at goal and once again struck past Shaw to round off his hat-trick and seal the three points for Slough.
Slough showed what they really can do with the performance of the season so far. The Rebels made a good Eastleigh side look distinctly average. No one player had a poor performance, they were all outstanding. Slough now host Cheshunt in the league this Saturday. The Hertfordshire side have had some problems on the pitch of late, but will still be a stern test for Slough. If the Rebels can keep this up then a play-off place is definitely not out of the question.
Slough Town Lineup
- 1 Michael Parkin
- 2 Josias Carbon
- 3 Michael Murphy
- 4 Steve Daly
- 5 James Saulsbury
- 6 Alex Haddow
- 7 Ryan Spencer
- 8 Glen Harris
- 9 Ian Hodges
- 10 Matt Seedel
- 11 Christian Metcalfe
Substitutes
- 12 Nick Gyoury
- 14 Leigh Mason
- 15 Matt Miller
- 16 Danny Steer
- 17 Shaun Allaway