Feely earns reprieve with 2-goal blast

Slough Town

Slough Town

3
Feely (2, 46), Kiely (69)
Crawley Town

Crawley Town

0
FA Cup Peter Feely
PETER Feely, the striker whose poor form had caused manager Joe Arpino to consider transferring him, gratefully accepted his 'last chance' when recalled to the side on Tuesday by scoring two goals as Crawley were outclassed in this F.A. Cup preliminary round replay.

Feely, the former Chelsea and Gillingham forward, gave his best display of the season until he faded in the second-half but by then he had already earned Slough a visit to Hayes in the next round on October 6.

Asked afterwards if he had been told by Mr. Arpino that he was in danger of going on the transfer list, Feely said: "Joe and I get along fine". He added jokingly: "But it is true I'm turning down the club's pay offer to me - it's so excessive my conscience wouldn't allow me to accept it."

But although Feely and his team mates demonstrated that they had regained their confidence following their disastrous early season results, they got a 'rocket' from manager Arpino afterwards.

Coach Terry Reardon explained: "We felt the players gave away possession far too easily and lacked discipline in the second-half when they should have crucified Crawley."

Slough certainly had their faults, but they also showed several encouraging signs. The midfield looked far more convincing than of late, with Barrie Friend and the recalled Dave Russell making some good runs down the flanks and Alan Gane producing more shots than I have ever seen from him in one match before.

Feely, recalled in place of Rowan Dodds, got Slough off to the best possible start. With only two minutes gone, Kiely nodded Friend's cross over to Feely who drove the ball in from close range.

Feely continued to look sharp and after bringing a smart save from keeper Burton, he laid the ball back for Gane to get in a thunderbolt of a drive which Burton somehow tipped over.

Gane, determined to shoot on sight, was inches off target with two other viciously struck drives, while the fit-again Russell produced a carefully measured shot which brought a diving save from Burton in the 42nd minute. Crawley's only dangerous first-half effort was a low shot by Smith which flashed just past the far post with keeper Teale beaten.

With the second-half only one minute old, Feely killed off Crawley's hopes with his second goal. Kiely again provided the pass and Feely shot home from 10 yards.

Crawley persisted in making a series of crude tackles which brought only mild rebukes from referee J. Hill of Redhill. But Slough piled on the pressure and were rewarded with a superb third goal in the 69th minute. Friend pushed the ball into the path of Maloney who knocked it out to the right where Kiely slammed a low shot into the far corner of the net.

Town became sloppy in the last 20 minutes but Crawley were not good enough to punish them, and Kiely and Friend were only inches away from making it 4-0.

Crawley Town Lineup

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