Taunton Town
0
Slough Town
4
Minhas (pen 21, 49), Cook-Appiah (61, 87)
League
Attendance: 684
Braces from Nathan Minhas and Trae Cook-Appiah – including an acrobatic effort late in the game – sealed a comprehensive victory for Slough Town against 10-man Taunton Town, writes Freddie Gatrell.
In what was a dominant display against relegation-threatened Taunton Town, it was a Minhas and Cook-Appiah masterclass up top that sealed a comfortable victory in Somerset.
Minhas broke the deadlock from the penalty spot after a crashing challenge from goalkeeper, Dan Lavercombe resulted in an early shower for him and a spot kick for the Rebels. With no goalkeeper on the bench, it was winger Marcus Day who stepped up to play the remainder of the game.
After a long delay while Taunton worked out who would take the gloves, Minhas stepped up and drove his penalty low into the bottom corner, with the out of position Day unable to prevent the ball from finding the back of the net on 21 minutes.
With a man advantage, Slough pressed for a second, with Gabe George’s in-swinging free kick narrowly flying wide of the top left corner.
On the half hour mark, Cook-Appiah burst through the Peacock’s backline and rattled a curling effort onto the crossbar.
The second half began well for the Rebels, with the tired and outnumbered hosts unable to control their frustrations, with the yellow cards stacking up. A half time swap saw David Ogbonna make way for Johnny Goddard, who proved to be at his troublesome best.
Goddard was front and centre in creating a Slough second, with a neat, unselfish pass finding Minhas unmarked at the back post, and he had a simple finish past Day marking his 17th goal of the season in the 49th minute.
Just after the hour mark, Cook-Appiah added to the scoresheet, with a ruthless Rebels counterattack orchestrated by Goddard and Gary Abisogun releasing Cook-Appiah, who fired low and hard into the bottom left corner.
With 15 minutes to play, a flurry of chances was squandered by Slough with Temi Eweka and Goddard both missing opportunities to make the scoreline look even more flattering.
In what proved to be the pick of the bunch, Cook-Appiah rounded off the scoring in the 87th minute with a goal of the season contender. A whipped Lench corner found the head of Minhas, who nodded the ball upwards, with Cook-Appiah rising highest and meeting the ball with a stunning acrobatic effort which looped over the head of Day to make it four goals with no reply.
Scott Davies - watching from the sidelines for this game - was also able to introduce EDS talents Josh Stranks and Alfie Tucker from the bench in the second half, handing both their National League South debuts.
This important win, the first since Bath City at the beginning of March, moves Scott Davies’ men up to 10th place on goals scored with 64 points, and will fill the Rebels with confidence going into this weekend’s penultimate league match against Hemel Hempstead Town.
In what was a dominant display against relegation-threatened Taunton Town, it was a Minhas and Cook-Appiah masterclass up top that sealed a comfortable victory in Somerset.
Minhas broke the deadlock from the penalty spot after a crashing challenge from goalkeeper, Dan Lavercombe resulted in an early shower for him and a spot kick for the Rebels. With no goalkeeper on the bench, it was winger Marcus Day who stepped up to play the remainder of the game.
After a long delay while Taunton worked out who would take the gloves, Minhas stepped up and drove his penalty low into the bottom corner, with the out of position Day unable to prevent the ball from finding the back of the net on 21 minutes.
With a man advantage, Slough pressed for a second, with Gabe George’s in-swinging free kick narrowly flying wide of the top left corner.
On the half hour mark, Cook-Appiah burst through the Peacock’s backline and rattled a curling effort onto the crossbar.
The second half began well for the Rebels, with the tired and outnumbered hosts unable to control their frustrations, with the yellow cards stacking up. A half time swap saw David Ogbonna make way for Johnny Goddard, who proved to be at his troublesome best.
Goddard was front and centre in creating a Slough second, with a neat, unselfish pass finding Minhas unmarked at the back post, and he had a simple finish past Day marking his 17th goal of the season in the 49th minute.
Just after the hour mark, Cook-Appiah added to the scoresheet, with a ruthless Rebels counterattack orchestrated by Goddard and Gary Abisogun releasing Cook-Appiah, who fired low and hard into the bottom left corner.
With 15 minutes to play, a flurry of chances was squandered by Slough with Temi Eweka and Goddard both missing opportunities to make the scoreline look even more flattering.
In what proved to be the pick of the bunch, Cook-Appiah rounded off the scoring in the 87th minute with a goal of the season contender. A whipped Lench corner found the head of Minhas, who nodded the ball upwards, with Cook-Appiah rising highest and meeting the ball with a stunning acrobatic effort which looped over the head of Day to make it four goals with no reply.
Scott Davies - watching from the sidelines for this game - was also able to introduce EDS talents Josh Stranks and Alfie Tucker from the bench in the second half, handing both their National League South debuts.
This important win, the first since Bath City at the beginning of March, moves Scott Davies’ men up to 10th place on goals scored with 64 points, and will fill the Rebels with confidence going into this weekend’s penultimate league match against Hemel Hempstead Town.
Slough Town Lineup
- 1 Dan Lincoln
- 2 Josh Jackman
- 3 Gabriel George 13
- 4 Joe Dandy
- 7 Gary Abisogun
- 8 Matthew Lench
- 9 Nathan Minhas
- 12 Leon Chambers-Parillon 15
- 16 Temi Eweka
- 19 Trae Cook-Appiah
- 23 David Ogbonna 10
Substitutes
- 10 Johnny Goddard 23
- 13 Josh Stranks 3
- 14 Scott Davies
- 15 Alfie Tucker 12
- 30 Ryan North
Taunton Town Lineup
Lavercombe, Bell, Ball, Murray (Day 20), Chamberlain, James (c) (Bolton 56), Acey, Tabu-Minzamba, Stearn (Grubb 56), Evans, Dolman. Unused substitutes: Jarvis, Brown.