Slough Town
1
Yeboah (36)
Rugby Town
3
Keen (39), Wesley (41, 59)
League
Attendance: 266
Sam Bateman
Slough Town's poor recent form continued as two goals from Richard Wesley helped Rugby Town on their way to victory over the Rebels at Holloways Park.
With Slough missing the suspended Paul Coyne and the unavailable Stuart Swift, Slough lined up with a mixture of youth and experience in central midfield in Sammy Bateman and Steve Perkins – and the two combined well to set Danny Burnell clear of the Rugby defence early on, but Dave Clarke pushed the striker’s effort away fairly comfortably.
But the Rebels struggled to click into gear, and Rugby fired a warning shot over the bar from distance before Ricky Perks made a super save with his feet to deny winger Richard Wesley.
But Slough upped the tempo as the first half wore on, and began to dominate. Steve Sinclair jinked his way through and won a corner, from which Perkins saw a header somehow tipped away at full stretch by Clarke.
Great work on the ball from Bateman allowed him to make space for a shot 20 yards out, but the young midfielder saw his effort rebound back off the post.
Minutes later though, Slough found the breakthrough. After good work from Chris Seeby on the edge of the box, the ball was played in to Burnell. He turned his man on the right hand side of the box and drilled a low cross into the middle where Yeboah was there to finish easily from four yards out.
Slough almost added a second goal straight away, but Burnell's deflected cross shot was saved. But the goal seemed to spark Rugby into life and just three minutes after the opener, the Valley three minutes levelled through the in-form Luke Keen, who turned his man and fired past Perks from the edge of the box to notch his sixth goal in four games.
Another top save from Clarke denied Sippetts on the volley before the Valley shocked the hosts with a goal four minutes before half-time. A superb counter-attack saw Rugby break at pace, culminating in Ben Steane playing in Wesley, who was afforded too much time to strike low into the bottom corner of Perks’ goal.
There was still time for Clarke to deny Burnell twice in quick succession as Slough desperately sought a quick equaliser.
Rugby dominated large parts of the second half, and looked even more comfortable on the hour mark as they extended their lead, Wesley the scorer again. Again, the goal came from a swift counter-attack which the Rebels simply failed to deal with. Moments after making an important goal-line save as Sinclair tried to latch on to Seeby’s cross, Dave Clarke launched a long ball upfield, which was flicked on by Tyrone Fagan. With the Slough defenders running back and Ricky Perks committed to come out and meet the advancing Wesley, the midfielder slotted the ball home with ease.
Tails up, Rugby could and should have extended their lead as Slough huffed and puffed but failed to beat Clarke. Faced with a huge amount of space to work with, Steane crossed in for Keen, but Perks made a super block.
The introductions of Simon Martin and the formerly retired Roy Gumbs did little to inspire a desperate Slough side, and the Valley wasted another chance near the end as Tyrone Fagan cleared the bar with a woeful effort more suited to rugby, when it looked easier to slide the ball home.
With Slough missing the suspended Paul Coyne and the unavailable Stuart Swift, Slough lined up with a mixture of youth and experience in central midfield in Sammy Bateman and Steve Perkins – and the two combined well to set Danny Burnell clear of the Rugby defence early on, but Dave Clarke pushed the striker’s effort away fairly comfortably.
But the Rebels struggled to click into gear, and Rugby fired a warning shot over the bar from distance before Ricky Perks made a super save with his feet to deny winger Richard Wesley.
But Slough upped the tempo as the first half wore on, and began to dominate. Steve Sinclair jinked his way through and won a corner, from which Perkins saw a header somehow tipped away at full stretch by Clarke.
Great work on the ball from Bateman allowed him to make space for a shot 20 yards out, but the young midfielder saw his effort rebound back off the post.
Minutes later though, Slough found the breakthrough. After good work from Chris Seeby on the edge of the box, the ball was played in to Burnell. He turned his man on the right hand side of the box and drilled a low cross into the middle where Yeboah was there to finish easily from four yards out.
Slough almost added a second goal straight away, but Burnell's deflected cross shot was saved. But the goal seemed to spark Rugby into life and just three minutes after the opener, the Valley three minutes levelled through the in-form Luke Keen, who turned his man and fired past Perks from the edge of the box to notch his sixth goal in four games.
Another top save from Clarke denied Sippetts on the volley before the Valley shocked the hosts with a goal four minutes before half-time. A superb counter-attack saw Rugby break at pace, culminating in Ben Steane playing in Wesley, who was afforded too much time to strike low into the bottom corner of Perks’ goal.
There was still time for Clarke to deny Burnell twice in quick succession as Slough desperately sought a quick equaliser.
Rugby dominated large parts of the second half, and looked even more comfortable on the hour mark as they extended their lead, Wesley the scorer again. Again, the goal came from a swift counter-attack which the Rebels simply failed to deal with. Moments after making an important goal-line save as Sinclair tried to latch on to Seeby’s cross, Dave Clarke launched a long ball upfield, which was flicked on by Tyrone Fagan. With the Slough defenders running back and Ricky Perks committed to come out and meet the advancing Wesley, the midfielder slotted the ball home with ease.
Tails up, Rugby could and should have extended their lead as Slough huffed and puffed but failed to beat Clarke. Faced with a huge amount of space to work with, Steane crossed in for Keen, but Perks made a super block.
The introductions of Simon Martin and the formerly retired Roy Gumbs did little to inspire a desperate Slough side, and the Valley wasted another chance near the end as Tyrone Fagan cleared the bar with a woeful effort more suited to rugby, when it looked easier to slide the ball home.
Slough Town Lineup
- 1 Ricky Perks
- 2 Simon Sweeney
- 3 Danny Murphy
- 4 Yiadom Yeboah
- 5 Steve Perkins
- 6 Chris Seeby
- 7 Steve Sinclair
- 8 Sam Bateman
- 9 Danny Burnell
- 10 Sean Sonner
- 11 Garry Sippetts
Substitutes
- 12 Simon Martin
- 14 Adam Logie
- 15 Roy Gumbs
- 16 John Lawford
- 17 Jamie Jackson
Rugby Town Lineup
Clarke, Moran, Phipps-Hall, Preston (c), Gourlay, Gunderlach, Steane, Connolly, Keen (Hamilton), Fagan (Heath), Wesley (Sheppard). Subs not used: Charles, Alexander.