Champs outplayed at the Dolphin

The most critical of Slough Town supporters must have gone home happy on Saturday, after the Rebels great 4-0 win over Bishop's Stortford, last season's league champions.

It was a fine all round display of power football backed up by skill and speed. The only surprising thing was the team did not collect a hatful of goals after shattering the Bishops with three in the first 20 minutes.

The only person who did not seem satisfied with the display was Tommy Lawrence, the Town manager who was a little unhappy that his team slipped back into second gear during the second half. He remarked after the match; " Our supporters come here to be entertained, and one way of doing this is to prove your superiority by scoring more goals-double figures if possible-that's what we are here for."

But if Slough's performance on Saturday is anything to go by, Tommy has little to fear either in his bid for the league championship or from lack of support, and the 1,100 gate for this match will soon reach the 2,000-plus mark.

But it was a great day for Slough's outside-right Joe Adams, always the danger man in the forward line. In the fifth minute a corner taken by Adams was cleared only for him to run in and slam home an unstoppable shot.

Stunned by the tenacity of Slough's attack, Bishop's Stortford quickly retaliated and Slough were soon defending, but an ineffective lobbed shot by Allaway sailed over the bar.

But within seconds, the Rebels were back in business again with some precision passing by the forwards giving Bishop's Stortford defence a worrying time. Again Joe Adams was to figure in Slough's second goal in the 17th minute when his pass from the right wing was pushed home by Roger Connell.

Bishop's Stortford, still reeling from the previous Rebels' goal, gave away another corner which was taken by Terry Reardon, then deflected by Alf D'Arcy for Roger Connell to storm in and slam home the ball in the top left-hand corner of the net in the 19th minute.

Slough looked certain for a goal-scoring spree with their opportunist shots leaving goalkeeper Cherry completely bewildered. One such shot was just cleared by a Bishop's Stortford defender, taken up again by Terry Reardon, only to see his volley caught by the goalkeeper. Perhaps it was just a little complacency on Slough's part, for Bishop's Stortford only on very few occasions looked as if they could put up a fighting show. They appeared to be resolved in defeat.

Time and again the visitors defence left the Slough forwards to move exactly as they had planned. Opportunist Roger Connell often found and took space to seek goal and gain his hat-trick, and only hard luck stopped him from making the score 4-0 just before the half-time whistle when his right wing shot went wide.

On resumption, Slough appeared happy by their first half lead, surrendered a corner from a ball which Reardon had tried to clear from the Slough goal area. But the corner was well taken by Wolstenholme and finally resolved by the referee as a goal kick. Slough still having very much of their own way in the game, resumed their pressure, but eventually the pace began to slow down on a heavy pitch that had been soaked by a drenching rain just before the start of the match.

John Connell, although not in the scoring department on this day, showed his undoubted class throughout, and as the minutes ticked by without Slough adding to their score, he livened up the match when snapping up a through ball, he slipped past the Bishop's Stortford defenders to see his great shot just go wide of the bar.

Finally, in the 84th minute and after seeing many previous attempts frustrated, Slough found their way to goal again. A great cross shot by Gamblin from the left wing was rammed home by Swain, who although not mentioned in the programme, made sure his name was on the goal-scoring list.

Man of the match was Joe Adams, who appeared to be enjoying himself for the whole 90 minutes, with special mention to goalkeeper Wolstenholme, an excellent general in marshalling his defence in the goal area.