Gosport Borough
1
Przespolewski (49)
Slough Town
5
Lench (5), Flood (27, pen 53), Jackman (77), Dobson (90+3)
League
Attendance: 382
Nathan Webb
After the disappointment of Saturday’s opening day defeat at the hands of Kettering, the Rebels bounced back in style and claimed their first points of the season with an emphatic win at Gosport Borough.
With the defeat came a change in formation – reverting to a 4-4-2 – and four changes to the starting line-up, with Josh Jackman, Lee Togwell, James Dobson and Manny Williams brought in to replace Sean Fraser, Nathan Smart, Simon Dunn and Warren Harris, all of whom took a place on the bench alongside Gavin James.
Gosport, having also lost their opening day fixture, were looking for a change in fortunes but suffered a setback as early as the fifth minute as Matt Lench scored his first Rebels goal.
The hosts failed to clear from a free kick and after Williams seized upon a blocked Togwell shot, goalkeeper Sam Grey blocked, but the ball ran loose to Lench, who poked it beyond the grounded number one.
Slough started to turn the screw and Gosport found it increasingly difficult to live with the Rebels’ free-flowing attacks. Williams almost added a second goal on 16 minutes but saw his strike beaten away by Grey, with Flood’s weak follow-up attempt also saved.
Gosport’s first attempt on target came from striker Alek Przespolewski, and Jack Turner needed to be alert to turn the ball away to deny him the equaliser.
Just three minutes later, Slough punished Gosport for slack marking at corner kick, with Chris Flood rising unchallenged to power a header past Grey from Lench’s delivery.
Slough looked a threat from set-pieces time and time again with Gosport struggling to deal with corner kicks. Flood almost added a second headed goal and another corner fell to Mark Nisbet, whose strike was saved by Grey.
The visitors really could have been out of sight at the interval, and Nathan Webb spurned a glorious chance to add third goal, but he side footed wide with the goal gaping.
Gosport emerged energized at the start of the second half, and surprised Slough by pulling a goal back. George Wells failed to get enough on his clearance and the ball fell for Przespolewski, who managed to control the ball and thump it past Grey.
But Gosport’s goal proved to be an anomaly as within four minutes, Slough won a penalty kick after Guy Hollis was brought down in the box at another corner kick. Flood stepped up and made no mistake, sending Grey the wrong way from 12 yards to restore the two goal cushion.
There followed a long period of dominance from Slough, who missed a glut of chances after cutting the home defence apart time and time again.
Flood sent a firm header wide from a corner and shot just wide after hard work from Webb to win possession and find him in the box.
The striker then turned provider and tried to find Dobson, but the winger’s attempted flick went wide.
Manny Williams saw a near post effort turned away and half-volleyed narrowly wide, whilst Lench also bicycle-kicked wide after a long throw into the box. Grey was then called into action to make a fine save, tipping over a deflected strike from Dobson which almost looped over him.
But Slough finally added a fourth goal on 77 minutes, with Jackman getting in on the act to score his first for the club. Flood, who moments earlier had seen a header cleared off the line, unselfishly pulled the ball back into the middle of the box where the defender finished easily.
That was the cue for Slough to make changes, with Dunn and James introduced, and the pace of the game dropped – but there was still time for Dobson to add a fifth Slough goal on the stroke of full time as he cut inside from the right wing and smashed a shot past Grey from 25 yards.
With the defeat came a change in formation – reverting to a 4-4-2 – and four changes to the starting line-up, with Josh Jackman, Lee Togwell, James Dobson and Manny Williams brought in to replace Sean Fraser, Nathan Smart, Simon Dunn and Warren Harris, all of whom took a place on the bench alongside Gavin James.
Gosport, having also lost their opening day fixture, were looking for a change in fortunes but suffered a setback as early as the fifth minute as Matt Lench scored his first Rebels goal.
The hosts failed to clear from a free kick and after Williams seized upon a blocked Togwell shot, goalkeeper Sam Grey blocked, but the ball ran loose to Lench, who poked it beyond the grounded number one.
Slough started to turn the screw and Gosport found it increasingly difficult to live with the Rebels’ free-flowing attacks. Williams almost added a second goal on 16 minutes but saw his strike beaten away by Grey, with Flood’s weak follow-up attempt also saved.
Gosport’s first attempt on target came from striker Alek Przespolewski, and Jack Turner needed to be alert to turn the ball away to deny him the equaliser.
Just three minutes later, Slough punished Gosport for slack marking at corner kick, with Chris Flood rising unchallenged to power a header past Grey from Lench’s delivery.
Slough looked a threat from set-pieces time and time again with Gosport struggling to deal with corner kicks. Flood almost added a second headed goal and another corner fell to Mark Nisbet, whose strike was saved by Grey.
The visitors really could have been out of sight at the interval, and Nathan Webb spurned a glorious chance to add third goal, but he side footed wide with the goal gaping.
Gosport emerged energized at the start of the second half, and surprised Slough by pulling a goal back. George Wells failed to get enough on his clearance and the ball fell for Przespolewski, who managed to control the ball and thump it past Grey.
But Gosport’s goal proved to be an anomaly as within four minutes, Slough won a penalty kick after Guy Hollis was brought down in the box at another corner kick. Flood stepped up and made no mistake, sending Grey the wrong way from 12 yards to restore the two goal cushion.
There followed a long period of dominance from Slough, who missed a glut of chances after cutting the home defence apart time and time again.
Flood sent a firm header wide from a corner and shot just wide after hard work from Webb to win possession and find him in the box.
The striker then turned provider and tried to find Dobson, but the winger’s attempted flick went wide.
Manny Williams saw a near post effort turned away and half-volleyed narrowly wide, whilst Lench also bicycle-kicked wide after a long throw into the box. Grey was then called into action to make a fine save, tipping over a deflected strike from Dobson which almost looped over him.
But Slough finally added a fourth goal on 77 minutes, with Jackman getting in on the act to score his first for the club. Flood, who moments earlier had seen a header cleared off the line, unselfishly pulled the ball back into the middle of the box where the defender finished easily.
That was the cue for Slough to make changes, with Dunn and James introduced, and the pace of the game dropped – but there was still time for Dobson to add a fifth Slough goal on the stroke of full time as he cut inside from the right wing and smashed a shot past Grey from 25 yards.
Slough Town Lineup
- 1 Jack Turner
- 2 Josh Jackman
- 3 George Wells 12
- 4 Guy Hollis
- 5 Mark Nisbet
- 6 Lee Togwell
- 7 James Dobson
- 8 Nathan Webb 15
- 9 Manny Williams 18
- 10 Chris Flood
- 11 Matthew Lench
Substitutes
- 12 Sean Fraser 3
- 14 Nathan Smart
- 15 Simon Dunn 8
- 16 Warren Harris
- 18 Gavin James 9
Gosport Borough Lineup
Sam Gray, Jack Breed, Ashton Leigh, Aaron Dawson (c), Harry Medway, Declan McCarthy, Matt Buse, James Granger, Alex Przespolewski, Tyrell Mitford, Chinedu Vine. Substitutes: Matt Smith, Alfie Lis, Tyler Roache, Liam Kimber, Ousman Saidy.