Young Goal Sees Rebels Through

Hitachi Cup holders Slough Town successfully cleared the difficult hurdle of winning at the Royal Oak ground on Monday thanks to a headed goal from Eric Young midway through the first half in this first round tie.

With Harwich & Parkston sharing the lead with Windsor and Eton at the top of Division 2 and holding an unbeaten record they were a tough proposition from the start.

Furthermore, the pitch which was dry, bumpy and poorly grassed made good football difficult and consequently the game never became a classic.

This was Micky Kiely's last game for the club before his departure to America and before the kick off he was unofficially presented with a scarf signed by the supporters who had made the long trek to farthest Essex.

Manager Laurie Churchill brought in Peter Wesson for his debut in place of Steve Norman in midfield from the team which played Barking on Saturday.

The opening stages of the match saw Slough attack with the sea breeze behind them and they always looked capable of controlling the match, but Bobby Hanks in the Harwich goal was not much troubled with some wayward shooting.

The first period of the game will be remembered mainly for Slough supporters as the time when they were escaping from the vicious attacks of a band of skinheads who had burst into the ground and using boots, fists, and rocks had destroyed any hope of watching the match in peace.

Eventually the Slough fans made their way to the safety of the stand and hardly had they arrived when the Rebels scored in the 22nd minute following a free kick just outside the penalty area.

Micky O'Sullivan floated a perfect ball through the home defence and Young stooped low to head past Hanks.

This setback roused Harwich who are unused to trailing this season and Frank Parsons was forced to save from Gary Harvey. John Wallace began to give Slough some problems with some mazy touchline excursions but a quick break down the left by the Rebels allowed Eggie James a half chance which ended with Hanks colliding with the Slough striker.

The last word in the first half fell to Harwich as Harvey beat Parsons only for Les Barrett, who had a superb match, to clear the ball away from an unguarded net.

Within seconds of the second half starting Wesson had a good opportunity which Hanks saved, and then Joe Maloney foiled a Harwich attack after a fine run by Graham Fletcher.

A quick break by Slough allowed Young to beat two defenders and when clean through he squared the ball back to Kiely who, with only Hanks to beat, shot wide.

With 20 minutes left Wallace broke clear of the Slough defence, but as Parsons advanced he shot over the bar.

Steve Norman replaced Keith White whose ankle was being affected by the hard pitch and in the later stages Wesson began to suffer badly with cramp.

Parsons then saved well from Harvey as Harwich pressed for an equaliser and despite two late corners Slough held on for a deserved place in the second round.