Redditch United
0
Slough Town
4
Harris (7, 89), Barney (33), James (90+2)
League
Attendance: 410
Warren Harris
Slough Town remain in second place in the Southern League, Premier Division after an excellent team performance led to a resounding win at bogey side Redditch United.
The Rebels had been beaten by the Worcestershire side on each of their four previous meetings to date, but on this occasion, despite having six players unavailable – including striker Charlie Moone, who was injured in the warm-up – Slough showed their resilience and team spirit.
An early goal from Warren Harris – with the Rebels winger having what many feel was his finest game for the club on Redditch’s new 3G playing surface – settled the Rebels down. With just seven minutes on the clock, Harris struck the ball into the corner from 18 yards out following a cross by Gavin James, who recently returned from international duty with St Vincent & the Grenadines.
The game developed into an open contest, with Redditch trying to get back on level terms and Slough looking to extend their lead. The hosts looked comfortable in possession, but were not allowed to threaten the Slough goal too much.
Brad Hewitt found himself with a chance on 24 minutes, but despite making a good connection to a loose ball 10 yards out, his effort flew inches over the bar.
Slough continued to have the better of the play overall and doubled their lead on 33 minutes through Lee Barney. The striker capitalised on an under-hit back pass and nipped ahead of goalkeeper Bradley Catlow before walking the ball into an empty net.
And the Rebels could have had a third before half time as they kept the pressure on, but a speculative effort from James Dobson went over the bar.
Redditch made a triple substitution at the beginning of the second half as they looked to turn the game around, replacing their ineffective front three of Jazz Luckie, Danico Johnson and Javi Roberts, and whilst the hosts started the second half with a higher tempo, they struggled to make much progress into the Slough final third.
Gavin James flashed a low ball across the Redditch six-yard box, but agonisingly no blue-shirted Slough player was on hand to finish.
Redditch had much of the ball possession with Slough happy to play on the break and protect their two goal lead. With 73 minutes played, Redditch went as close as they had all game to scoring, with Michael Taylor’s bending effort coming back off a post and ricocheting across the goal and away to safety.
Slough began to dig in under increasing Redditch pressure, but two minutes from time, the Rebels breached the hosts’ defence for a third time to secure all three points. Warren Harris was the man on the scoresheet again, this time calmly slotting the ball under Catlow from just inside the area to cap a fine individual performance.
And the Rebels put a final bit of gloss on a great day with a fourth goal deep into stoppage time from James. He collected the ball on the edge of the box before cutting inside onto his left foot and curling the ball beautifully into the far corner.
The Rebels had been beaten by the Worcestershire side on each of their four previous meetings to date, but on this occasion, despite having six players unavailable – including striker Charlie Moone, who was injured in the warm-up – Slough showed their resilience and team spirit.
An early goal from Warren Harris – with the Rebels winger having what many feel was his finest game for the club on Redditch’s new 3G playing surface – settled the Rebels down. With just seven minutes on the clock, Harris struck the ball into the corner from 18 yards out following a cross by Gavin James, who recently returned from international duty with St Vincent & the Grenadines.
The game developed into an open contest, with Redditch trying to get back on level terms and Slough looking to extend their lead. The hosts looked comfortable in possession, but were not allowed to threaten the Slough goal too much.
Brad Hewitt found himself with a chance on 24 minutes, but despite making a good connection to a loose ball 10 yards out, his effort flew inches over the bar.
Slough continued to have the better of the play overall and doubled their lead on 33 minutes through Lee Barney. The striker capitalised on an under-hit back pass and nipped ahead of goalkeeper Bradley Catlow before walking the ball into an empty net.
And the Rebels could have had a third before half time as they kept the pressure on, but a speculative effort from James Dobson went over the bar.
Redditch made a triple substitution at the beginning of the second half as they looked to turn the game around, replacing their ineffective front three of Jazz Luckie, Danico Johnson and Javi Roberts, and whilst the hosts started the second half with a higher tempo, they struggled to make much progress into the Slough final third.
Gavin James flashed a low ball across the Redditch six-yard box, but agonisingly no blue-shirted Slough player was on hand to finish.
Redditch had much of the ball possession with Slough happy to play on the break and protect their two goal lead. With 73 minutes played, Redditch went as close as they had all game to scoring, with Michael Taylor’s bending effort coming back off a post and ricocheting across the goal and away to safety.
Slough began to dig in under increasing Redditch pressure, but two minutes from time, the Rebels breached the hosts’ defence for a third time to secure all three points. Warren Harris was the man on the scoresheet again, this time calmly slotting the ball under Catlow from just inside the area to cap a fine individual performance.
And the Rebels put a final bit of gloss on a great day with a fourth goal deep into stoppage time from James. He collected the ball on the edge of the box before cutting inside onto his left foot and curling the ball beautifully into the far corner.
Slough Town Lineup
- 1 Mark Scott
- 2 Sean Fraser
- 3 Paul Stonehouse
- 4 Brad Hewitt
- 5 Mark Nisbet
- 6 Daniel Hicks
- 7 James Dobson
- 8 Lee Togwell
- 9 Lee Barney
- 10 Gavin James
- 11 Warren Harris
Substitutes
- 12 Simon Dunn
- 14 Lewis Putman
- 15 Charlie Moone
- 16 Pritpal Raju
- 18 Adrian Sear
Redditch United Lineup
Bradley Catlow, Jordan Jones, Nat Kelly, Pavly Apostolopoulos, Clayton McDonald (c), Duane Courtney, Liam Spink, Reece Hewitt, Jazz Luckie, Danico Johnson, Javi Roberts. Subs: Michael Taylor, Trovarn Thompson, David McDermott, Eli Bako, Jordan Brown.