Rebels thrashed in Stag Meadow horror show

A superb all-round performance from Windsor & Eton saw them defeat Slough Town 6-2 in the East Berkshire derby and move to the top of the Southern League Division 1 South & West.

Second half goals from Matthew Platt and Danny Jordan were mere consolation as the hosts ran riot in a humiliating evening for a depleted Rebels side.

Slough started off brightly enough with Romeo firing over from the edge of the area in the game’s first chance. The Rebels’ makeshift defence included two midfielders in Laurence Brown and Lee Riddell, and early on Windsor & Eton were keen to test them at every opportunity. Windsor's pace caused problems for Slough and a long ball through saw Chennells get in behind the Slough defence. Dennison saved well and Durrant scrambled the ball behind.

Minutes later, Dennison came to the edge of the area and put a poor header straight at the feet of Chennells, but the striker could not get any height on his attempted lob and Slough cleared.

Always a threat, Chennells was in the thick of the action again as his shot was blocked by Dean Harper, with Slough unable to break through on the counter-attack as Pritchard nearly fed Harris, but Bullivant collected easily.

That was as good as it got for Slough in the first half, and a Windsor goal was looking like a matter of when, not if. It duly arrived after 25 minutes in spectacular style. Paul Coyne, partnered in midfield by Matt Seedel, struck an absolute beauty from at least 35 yards into the top corner past Dennison’s desperate dive to put the home side one up and spark wild celebrations.

Twelve minutes later, poor Slough defending let in Windsor for a second on the counter-attack. Jake Parsons went past three Slough players who had committed themselves to tackles, before slotting into the bottom corner.

Just a minute later, Porter got in down the Windsor right and fired in a shot which Dennison did well to beat away. Chennells was played in, but Dennison came out quickly to cut the angle and saved for a corner.

Slough continued to struggle in midfield and the management were becoming increasingly frustrated as they gave the ball away too easily, with clearances being collected easily by the Windsor defence.

The game was all but wrapped up two minutes before half time as Porter cut in from the right wing and fired a curling shot into the bottom corner past Dennison. Slough's patched up defence were looking shaky with every attack and the home side’s confidence was sky high, as shown by their play.

The second half was to get even worse and a potential rout was on the cards as very early on, Porter forced Dennison into a magnificent save at full stretch after cutting in from the left.

But three minutes in, Windsor did extend their lead even further as a low cross from the right was missed by everyone else and bundled in by Chennells.

Bubb replaced Tom Attrell as Slough looked to try and get back into the game, but all the problems were at the other end as Windsor made it 5-0 with another unstoppable strike. Porter beat a challenge on the edge of the area and fired high into the goal from the edge with the outside of his right foot.

Windsor had looked every bit title contenders, and put some more gloss on the performance with just 69 minutes gone, scoring a sixth through Chennells. He got onto the end of a through ball after Coyne had dispossessed Durrant, rounded Dennison and slotted in from a very narrow angle.

Then, two goals in two minutes arrived for Slough, taking everybody by surprise. A short back pass was seized upon by substitute Matthew Platt, who finished very coolly over Bullivant for his seventh goal of the season.

Just a minute after that, Danny Jordan pulled another goal back with a fine header from a right wing cross, the ball beating the dive of Bullivant and nestling in the top corner.

The game settled down and Windsor were, mercifully, unable to score again. Roy Gumbs made a cameo appearance, slotting into the back line as he had done against Cirencester and Andover to good effect, but Slough’s misery was far from over as Lee Riddell picked up a second yellow card for foul and abusive language after reacting angrily to a challenge from Coyne moments before.

Slough will now look to put this disastrous evening behind them as soon as possible, and Saturday sees the Rebels take a break from league action, travelling to Thatcham Town in the FA Trophy.