injury time goal denies Rebels a point

A last-minute goal from Windsor & Eton's Michael Chennels won the Boxing Day derby against former tenants Slough Town in a game in which the defences of both sides were largely on top.

The Royalists were the form team going into Keith Scott’s first game in charge, after four wins and a heavy defeat at Didcot. Slough on the other hand had previously suffered a defeat against Marlow after the initial flurry of positive results from Mark Betts and Darren Barnard’s time in charge of team affairs.

Barnard himself was missing in the Slough goal due to other commitments, and so Carl Dennison continued for the Rebels. Veteran Steve Daly made a return to the team and Lee Charles took the place of Rico Grimm in the starting line-up as the Rebels continued with a 5-3-2 formation. Windsor meanwhile paired former Rebel Matt Seedel with top-scorer Michael Chennels, back from an injury lay-off.

Anyone missing the first nine minutes would have been kicking themselves as the only goals in the first-half came during this spell. Only two minutes were on the clock when Ben Porter broke down the right and forced a good save from Dennison from an angle. The rebound fell to Matt Seedel, who bagged the goal he wanted against his former club to give Windsor & Eton an early lead.

Slough looked for an equaliser immediately and were rewarded for a spell of pressure with a goal in the ninth minute. A superbly whipped corner kick from Chris Robinson caused panic in the box, the ball appearing to hit a Windsor defender with Steve Daly in close attendance, and dribbling over the line with Lee Charles ready to pounce. The goal was credited to Daly amongst considerable doubt over who had actually touched the ball.

The remainder of the first half was a fairly dull affair, with Windsor having the better of it. Soon after the equaliser, Dave Kendall went close for the hosts with a header from a corner, and Chennels shot well wide under pressure from outside the box.

Windsor’s best effort came from Ben Porter, who fired in a curling left-footed effort from 25 yards, which was pushed just wide by Carl Dennison, at full stretch.

Slough’s midfield was doing well to break up attacks, with Meddie Nsubuga instrumental in the middle and Lee Riddell using his vision to set up attacks. The Rebels were repeatedly thwarted by the offside flag as Lee Charles and Jermaine Gumbs looked to break away. Charles was doing his best to hold the ball up for Gumbs and others, but Slough were again shot-shy and did not seriously trouble Seb Brown in goal.

Slough came out looking stronger in the second half and looked for another goal when Lee Riddell whipped in a free kick from a central position. Gumbs was just unable to get full contact on the ball, which was eventually blocked and scrambled away by the home defence.

Steve Daly was booked for a late tackle on Porter on the left. The resulting free kick was floated in and headed across goal by substitute Jon Case, but just wide.

The away side had a glorious chance when a ball in from Robinson was missed horribly by the unmarked Lee Rendell at the far post, who tried a left-footed effort first time, but dragged it well wide.

Nervy moments followed at the other end, when firstly Matt Seedel narrowly missed a cross from Craig O’Connor at the far post, and soon after Chennels saw a header cleared from almost on the line.

Rico Grimm replaced Charles for Slough as the Rebels pressed on, and Grimm had a great chance to give Slough a late lead. A free kick was floated in, and Steve Daly flicked on for Gumbs in the middle. The striker forced a good save from Brown. The rebound eventually fell to substitute Rhys Price, whose effort on goal was blocked by Brown’s outstretched leg. The rebound was picked up by Rendell on the left who crossed for Grimm in the middle, but the striker’s header at goal was weak and straight at Brown.

Slough were made to pay a heavy price for that missed opportunity as Windsor grabbed a last-minute winner. Chris Robinson tried to set up an attack on the right, but lost possession to leave himself out of position and Chennels was able to race through the Slough defence and poke the ball past Dennison at his near post to seal the victory.