Chelmsford City
1
Alexander (pen 54)
Slough Town
1
Cook-Appiah (88)
League
Attendance: 1064
The Rebels claimed a hard-earned point in an eventful affair against high-flying Chelmsford City, writes Joey Gargini.
The game began slowly, with both sides having an even share of possession with chances at a premium. The deadlock could have been broken 16 minutes in, when the Rebels were awarded a penalty after Nathan Minhas was pulled down in the box. Johnny Goddard stepped up but was unable to convert, as his shot was parried away by Chelmsford City goalkeeper, Henry Gray.
Despite early disappointment, Slough came close once again in the 23rd minute. David Ogbonna danced his way through the Clarets defence from the right wing. He entered the area and squared a delicate low cross into the centre of the box which Nathan Minhas was able to latch onto, but his effort went wide of the goal.
The first impactful chance for the high-flying home side came in the 26th minute. A powerful run through the Rebels midfield from Charlie Ruff saw the midfielder unleash a powerful strike from distance. Aided by windy conditions, his strike clattered onto the woodwork and rebounded onto the goal line. Luckily for the Rebels, Jeanmal Prosper arrived and smashed the ball off the line.
Only a minute after the restart, Nathan Minhas came close to finding the opener. He found himself in a good central position and fired low and hard towards goal, only to be denied by the hand of goalkeeper Henry Gray.
Chelmsford began to threaten the Rebels, with Jermaine Francis firing just wide of Hugo Sobte’s goal on the 50th minute mark.
Only a minute later, the hosts won themselves a penalty, after Scott Davies brought down Francis in the box. Ex-Rebel, George Alexander converted the penalty to give the home side the lead, despite a touch from Sobte at full stretch.
The Rebels replied with a strong wave of pressure, which began with an effort from Leon Chambers-Parillon whose effort from distance forced a good save from Gray just past the hour mark.
Chelmsford’s luck appeared to be up, as they saw themselves down to 10 men in the 66th minute as Josh Castiglione received a straight red card after a crunching coming together between himself and Chambers-Parillon.
With the wind in their sails, the Rebels continued their search for an equaliser. Good wing play from David Ogbonna led to a chance for Goddard to make amends for his earlier penalty miss, but his close range header was narrowly off target.
Chelmsford’s luck went from bad to worse as they found themselves down to 9 men in the 80th minute with George Alexander’s clumsy challenge on the edge of the box seeing the forward receive his second yellow card of the afternoon.
With proceedings starting to look desperate, a flurry of Rebels attacks rained down on the Clarets backline. Five minutes from the end, another long-range effort from Chambers-Parillon flew just wide of the target.
The Rebels’ relentless pressure finally paid off in the 89th minute when substitute Trae Cook-Appiah’s goal brought the scores equal. After an excellent weaving run by Goddard unlocked the resilient Clarets defence, Cook-Appiah diverted the ball into the bottom corner, much to the relief of the Rebels support.
Goddard fired agonisingly wide deep into additional time, but it was not meant to be for Scott Davies’ men, who now look towards an away trip to Taunton on Thursday evening, where the aim will be to return to winning ways.
The game began slowly, with both sides having an even share of possession with chances at a premium. The deadlock could have been broken 16 minutes in, when the Rebels were awarded a penalty after Nathan Minhas was pulled down in the box. Johnny Goddard stepped up but was unable to convert, as his shot was parried away by Chelmsford City goalkeeper, Henry Gray.
Despite early disappointment, Slough came close once again in the 23rd minute. David Ogbonna danced his way through the Clarets defence from the right wing. He entered the area and squared a delicate low cross into the centre of the box which Nathan Minhas was able to latch onto, but his effort went wide of the goal.
The first impactful chance for the high-flying home side came in the 26th minute. A powerful run through the Rebels midfield from Charlie Ruff saw the midfielder unleash a powerful strike from distance. Aided by windy conditions, his strike clattered onto the woodwork and rebounded onto the goal line. Luckily for the Rebels, Jeanmal Prosper arrived and smashed the ball off the line.
Only a minute after the restart, Nathan Minhas came close to finding the opener. He found himself in a good central position and fired low and hard towards goal, only to be denied by the hand of goalkeeper Henry Gray.
Chelmsford began to threaten the Rebels, with Jermaine Francis firing just wide of Hugo Sobte’s goal on the 50th minute mark.
Only a minute later, the hosts won themselves a penalty, after Scott Davies brought down Francis in the box. Ex-Rebel, George Alexander converted the penalty to give the home side the lead, despite a touch from Sobte at full stretch.
The Rebels replied with a strong wave of pressure, which began with an effort from Leon Chambers-Parillon whose effort from distance forced a good save from Gray just past the hour mark.
Chelmsford’s luck appeared to be up, as they saw themselves down to 10 men in the 66th minute as Josh Castiglione received a straight red card after a crunching coming together between himself and Chambers-Parillon.
With the wind in their sails, the Rebels continued their search for an equaliser. Good wing play from David Ogbonna led to a chance for Goddard to make amends for his earlier penalty miss, but his close range header was narrowly off target.
Chelmsford’s luck went from bad to worse as they found themselves down to 9 men in the 80th minute with George Alexander’s clumsy challenge on the edge of the box seeing the forward receive his second yellow card of the afternoon.
With proceedings starting to look desperate, a flurry of Rebels attacks rained down on the Clarets backline. Five minutes from the end, another long-range effort from Chambers-Parillon flew just wide of the target.
The Rebels’ relentless pressure finally paid off in the 89th minute when substitute Trae Cook-Appiah’s goal brought the scores equal. After an excellent weaving run by Goddard unlocked the resilient Clarets defence, Cook-Appiah diverted the ball into the bottom corner, much to the relief of the Rebels support.
Goddard fired agonisingly wide deep into additional time, but it was not meant to be for Scott Davies’ men, who now look towards an away trip to Taunton on Thursday evening, where the aim will be to return to winning ways.
Slough Town Lineup
- 1 Hugo Sobte
- 2 Josh Jackman
- 3 Gabriel George 19
- 6 Jeanmal Prosper 7
- 8 Matthew Lench
- 9 Nathan Minhas
- 10 Johnny Goddard
- 12 Leon Chambers-Parillon
- 14 Scott Davies
- 16 Temi Eweka
- 23 David Ogbonna
Substitutes
- 4 Joe Dandy
- 7 Gary Abisogun 6
- 17 Tyrese Dyce
- 19 Trae Cook-Appiah 3
- 24 Slavi Spasov
Chelmsford City Lineup
Gray, Brookes, Winfield (c), Francis (Alfa 86), Alexander, Jenkins, Ruff (Hockey 86), Barnum-Bobb, Watts, Castiglione, Ochieng. Unused substitutes: Marsden, Dunne, Carruthers.