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The National League U19 Alliance
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19pts

Slough beaten as Leighton snatch last-minute goal

Slough Town

Slough Town

0
Leighton Town

Leighton Town

1
Copson (90)
League Attendance: 244 Yiadom Yeboah
Slough were made to pay for missing a number of good second half chances as Jack Copson's last-gasp goal snatched all three points for Leighton Town at Holloways Park.

After a disappointing second half display in midweek, which saw the Rebels crash out of the FA Trophy at Chippenham, the injured Steve Sinclair was replaced in the side by Anthony Thomas, with Sean Sonner moving out to the right side of midfield.

However, in an even and largely uneventful first half, neither side looked like threatening the goalkeepers, and too often Slough’s long ball game was thwarted by the centre-back pairing of Grant Fryer and Sam Chapman for Leighton.

With most of the attacks coming down the right hand side, Sonner and Sweeney were able to put in a number of crosses into the heart of the penalty area, but none which either Burnell or the disappointing Thomas could work with.

A tactical rethink late in the first half saw Sonner join Burnell and Thomas in a three-pronged attack, but still Slough struggled to create chances.

The half time whistle signalled wholesale changes, with Thomas, Logie and Swift being replaced by Simon Martin, Shaun Byrne and Sam Bateman in a bold move by assistant manager Dave Anderson, deputising for the absent Steve Bateman.

The changes almost brought about an immediate effect as Slough looked a lot livelier at the beginning of the second half. First, Shaun Byrne’s shot took a slight deflection off Burnell, and with keeper Kevin Marsh grounded, a goal looked inevitable, but Marsh somehow got a touch on the ball to divert it over the bar.

Yeboah had a header saved from the resulting corner, but soon after a much clearer opportunity was spurned.

Sweeney's excellent cross found Martin sliding in four yards out, but the substitute put the ball over the bar – a glaring miss, but there were encouraging signs for a Slough side seemingly lacking in self-belief.

After that initial flurry of chances, the game became as flat as it had been in the first half. Whilst Slough were failing to create chances of their own, Leighton were barely causing a problem, and Slough’s centre half partnership of Yeboah and Seeby rarely had reason to worry.

It was therefore imperative that Slough took advantage by finding a goal, and one should have arrived from two further clear chances. The first arrived when Danny Burnell clipped a pass over the top for Byrne, who controlled the ball and tried to touch the ball over Marsh, but in doing so could only clear the crossbar.

Going into the last ten minutes, arguably Slough’s best chance was spurned as Burnell turned and stung the palms of Marsh. The ball fell to Sonner six yards out, but he could only return the ball agonisingly straight into Marsh’s arms.

With two minutes left, Leighton went close with just about their only effort of the game, and Danny Burnell fired just over the bar from 25 yards.

A frustrating and disappointing performance looked to be ending with a scoreless draw - but in the final minute of stoppage time, left sided midfielder Jack Copson found some space on the left side of the penalty area and fired an unstoppable shot past Perks to seal all three points for the Bedfordshire side.

Leighton Town Lineup

Marsh, Cunningham, Bewley, Fryer, Chapman, Deaton, Moulds (McBride), Silvestri, Gallant, Bishop, Copson. Subs not used: Darvall, McFarlane, Clifford, Hewitt.

Rebels

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