Late equaliser denies Rebels first win

An equalising goal six minutes into second half injury-time denied Slough Town a first win of the season against Thatcham.

It was one of those strange games where both teams will have thought they were hard done by not to collect all three points yet both were probably quite happy with the one they received after ninety minutes.

Slough hosted Thatcham hoping to record their first win of the season. In a very different looking team John Gray partnered Jordan with Attrell replacing Gray on the left, McConigley continued to play in midfield and Lee Riddell replaced Steve Daly at the back.

After the frivolity of the Champions League line up - complete with rousing national anthem and party poppers - the game kicked off and Slough were soon dominating.

In the first ten minutes two good chances were carved out for John Gray (Pritchard being the catalyst for both), but unfortunately he put both wide, the first by barely a foot beating the keeper who was scrambling towards his far post.

Ironically it was after Thatcham’s first real spell of pressure that Slough opened the scoring. After a brilliant goal saving tackle from Harper and Jackson saving acrobatically from Nurse, Slough counter-attacked with speed and won a corner. The resulting far post cross was headed back into the danger area by Danny Jordan and Laurence Brown acrobatically finished the move with a scissor kick into the bottom left of Strudley’s goal in the 19th minute.

Slough, buoyed by the goal, continued to press with Eamonn McConigley shooting straight at the keeper from the edge of the box a couple of minutes later. Gray continued to harass the Thatcham defence and drew the first yellow card of the match for Thatcham Captain Rea as he sliced down Gray when the winger seemed clear of the defence in the 38th minute. Pritchard’s resulting free kick was unfortunately straight at ‘keeper Strudley.

Thatcham started to press for an equaliser and ended the half the stronger of the two teams. Laurence Brown’s last ditch tackle on the edge of the six yard box in the 41st minute meant Slough went in at half time leading.

Slough started the second half brightly with Attrell making some great runs and crosses from the left wing and constantly running at the Thatcham defence, unfortunately the Slough strikers were unable to widen the gap and the final thirty minutes of the match saw Thatcham dominate. Jamie Jackson pulled off a string of fine saves including an amazing double save, Riddell continued to battle at the back and managed to clear a Ryan Williams cross when a goal seemed inevitable.

Slough’s only chances fell to Brown and Roberts who both shot wide after promising runs. In the 75th minute Stanley Mugisha replaced John Gray to freshen up the Rebels attack.

Ironically, after the sub all the Slough players seemed to be getting injured, Jackson still seemed to be having problems with his hand and both Riddell and Pritchard were having lengthy medical attention after strong tackles.

Unfortunately for Slough, all these injuries came back to haunt them. Thatcham were well on top as the game drew to close with Jackson being forced to pull off more saves and having to watch helplessly as a shot bounced off his crossbar.

In the fifth minute of injury time Danny Jordan and Craig Roberts tried to play the ball into the corner, but unfortunately Jordan’s pass was misdirected and Thatcham attacked in numbers and after a deep low cross into the Slough area, Thatcham substitute Brown slotted the ball inside the far post past Jackson. Slough players surrounded the linesperson, convinced that Brown was offside. However it was not to be and within moments of the restart, the match was over.