Stratford Town
0
Slough Town
1
Coles (35)
League
Attendance: 314
Matthew Lench
Slough Town won their fourth match in the space of nine days and made it an incredible 18 points in the last 19 days with a narrow victory at Stratford Town.
Speaking after the match, joint manager Neil Baker praised his side for grinding out another win.
“It’s the type of performance we will have to put in at times. We weren’t at our best but deserved the win.
“We needed to come here and get a result, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. We were dogged without playing brilliantly.
“There were a few heavy legs out there, but they’ve gone from strength to strength and to win six of the last seven is incredible.
“It’s been a brilliant week – 12 points from 12 is absolutely fantastic, and it leaves us looking up rather than down.”
With such a packed fixture schedule, Slough rotated the squad again, with Sean Fraser, Matt Day and Lee Togwell dropping to the bench. Guy Hollis and Chris Flood were fit enough to take places on the bench after recovering from injury.
The hosts started the stronger, and striker Eli Bako found Justin Marsden, whose shot was well held by Jack Turner.
The game developed into a midfield battle with neither side particularly stamping their authority on it. There was little in the way of goalmouth action – James Dobson saw a goalbound effort deflected just wide in the Rebels’ first opening.
The decisive moment of the game arrived ten minutes before the interval with Perry Coles firing home his fifth goal for the Rebels. Matt Lench, who had an impressive game, drove at the Stratford defence before releasing George Wells down the left, and the full-back’s low cross was deflected into the path of Coles, who made no mistake.
In response, Bako forced a save from Turner and the keeper also comfortably dealt with an attempted lob from Edwin Ahenkorah.
Early in the second half Turner made a simple save from Charlie Evans at his near post and also got down low to save from Ahenkorah, but there was very little to choose between the two sides.
Slough missed a good chance to double their lead just before the hour mark, Scott Davies putting his effort well wide.
Stratford made changes late on to try and get back into the game, and wasted a good chance when Bako received the ball in lots of space, but his tame first-time effort was easily collected by Turner.
And with three minutes remaining a pass from Ben Stephens found both Mike Taylor and Charlie Evans closing in on goal, but they both wasted the chance to test Turner again.
Just before the final whistle, Taylor had one final chance to rescue a point for Stratford, but he lifted a shot high and wide of Turner’s goal with the keeper out of position.
Speaking after the match, joint manager Neil Baker praised his side for grinding out another win.
“It’s the type of performance we will have to put in at times. We weren’t at our best but deserved the win.
“We needed to come here and get a result, and that’s exactly what we’ve done. We were dogged without playing brilliantly.
“There were a few heavy legs out there, but they’ve gone from strength to strength and to win six of the last seven is incredible.
“It’s been a brilliant week – 12 points from 12 is absolutely fantastic, and it leaves us looking up rather than down.”
With such a packed fixture schedule, Slough rotated the squad again, with Sean Fraser, Matt Day and Lee Togwell dropping to the bench. Guy Hollis and Chris Flood were fit enough to take places on the bench after recovering from injury.
The hosts started the stronger, and striker Eli Bako found Justin Marsden, whose shot was well held by Jack Turner.
The game developed into a midfield battle with neither side particularly stamping their authority on it. There was little in the way of goalmouth action – James Dobson saw a goalbound effort deflected just wide in the Rebels’ first opening.
The decisive moment of the game arrived ten minutes before the interval with Perry Coles firing home his fifth goal for the Rebels. Matt Lench, who had an impressive game, drove at the Stratford defence before releasing George Wells down the left, and the full-back’s low cross was deflected into the path of Coles, who made no mistake.
In response, Bako forced a save from Turner and the keeper also comfortably dealt with an attempted lob from Edwin Ahenkorah.
Early in the second half Turner made a simple save from Charlie Evans at his near post and also got down low to save from Ahenkorah, but there was very little to choose between the two sides.
Slough missed a good chance to double their lead just before the hour mark, Scott Davies putting his effort well wide.
Stratford made changes late on to try and get back into the game, and wasted a good chance when Bako received the ball in lots of space, but his tame first-time effort was easily collected by Turner.
And with three minutes remaining a pass from Ben Stephens found both Mike Taylor and Charlie Evans closing in on goal, but they both wasted the chance to test Turner again.
Just before the final whistle, Taylor had one final chance to rescue a point for Stratford, but he lifted a shot high and wide of Turner’s goal with the keeper out of position.
Slough Town Lineup
- 1 Jack Turner
- 2 Josh Jackman
- 3 George Wells
- 4 Nathan Smart
- 5 Mark Nisbet
- 6 Scott Davies
- 7 James Dobson 16
- 8 Matthew Lench
- 9 Perry Coles
- 10 Manny Williams 18
- 11 Warren Harris
Substitutes
- 12 Sean Fraser
- 14 Guy Hollis
- 15 Matt Day
- 16 Lee Togwell 7
- 18 Chris Flood 10
Stratford Town Lineup
Louis Connor, James Fry (c), Lee Thomas, James Hancocks, Liam Francis, Andy Gallinagh, Jazz Luckie, Justin Marsden, Edwin Ahenkorah, Eli Bako, Charlie Evans. Substitutes: Dan Summerfield, Scott Martin, Ben Stephens, Mike Taylor, Loyiso Recci.