Slough Town, groundsharing with Windsor & Eton FC and
under new manager Eddie Denton secured a vital top-six finish and a place
in the Ryman Premier Division next season. Here's how it all happened:
With
many of last season's squad joining Boreham Wood under former Rebels
manager Steve Browne, new manager Eddie Denton had to pick a new squad
from scratch. Freddie Hyatt , Alan Foster (pictured below right), Glen
Harris, Matt Miller (pictured left), Danny Steer and others were amongst
those who joined the club either during or just after pre-season.
The
pre-season campaign began with a trip to last season's Division one North
champions Northwood on 26th July. The Rebels started well, and things
looked encouraging, but ten minutes into the second-half Northwood were
2-0 up. Ryan Spencer did pull one back from the spot after a Northwood
defender handled inside the area, but it wasn't enough to stop manager
Eddie Denton from losing his first match in charge.
The Rebels went on to hold Oxford City to a goalless draw at their
Court Place Farm ground on the 29th, before traveling to Canvey Island,
where we slumped to a 4-0 defeat. A trip to local rivals Maidenhead United
followed, again the Rebels lost, but it was a far closer affair this
time, 3-2 being the scoreline.
Slough
Town played their first match at their temporary new home at Stag Meadow,
home of Windsor & Eton FC in a middweek game against Conference new boys
Aldershot Town. Although the visitors fielded a reserve team because the
first-team were playing Accrington Stanley the following day, the Rebels
battled hard and maybe deserved more than a 4-2 defeat, Freddie Hyatt
(pictured left) scoring a Wayne Ronney type free-kick for Slough's second
goal.
The
start of the new league season began with a trip to Epsom & Ewell at
Merland Rise. It saw the welcome return of Tony Boot (pictured right), who
many Rebels fans thought would follow Steve Browne to Boreham Wood, or
else sign for a Football League club. Eddie Denton picked up his first
Rebels win here, with a comfortable 4-1 scoreline.
But the Rebels were brought back down to earth with an almighty crash
as they lost 2-1 at home to Marlow on Bank Holiday Monday. A draw with
Ashford Town (Mx) followed before the Rebels went on to beat Molesey 3-0
away, East Grinstead Town 5-0 in the FA Cup (pictured below left) and Leatherhead at home
3-1 in the league in the first match of September.
September
wasn't the best of months for the Rebels. A defeat away to Whyteleafe was
followed by a victory in the FA Cup, 2-0 to the Rebels at home against
Godalming & Guildford of the Combined Counties League, before the
Rebels lost away at Croydon Athletic 1-0. A 4-1 middweek home victory
against Bracknell Town kept us in touch with the top six, but the Rebels
went out of the FA Cup 4-1 in a replay against Welling
United after the Rebels had drawn the first match 1-1 at Stag Meadow, a
match where the Rebels were robbed right at the very end of the match due
to a mixture of very poor refereeing and dirty play from Welling United.
Another
defeat in the league followed, but this time it was a 4-0 away at
Hampton & Richmond Borough. The Rebels then went on to beat Tooting
& Mitcham United 2-0 at their Imperial Fields ground, where Ian Hodges
(pictured right) scored Slough's second on his 21st birthday, and then the
Corinthian-Casuals 2-1 at home, thanks to a 98th minute winner from
Danny Steer. Then Slough Town traveled to league leaders Lewes at the
Dripping Pan, which wasn't a very happy hunting ground for the Rebels as
they have been knocked out of the FA Cup and FA Trophy here in the
previous two years respectively. The Rebels weren't able to gain their
revenge either, despite going into a 2-0 lead during the first-half.
Banstead were beaten 5-1 at home before our FA Trophy (pictured below
left) clash with Bishops Stortford.
The
Rebels took Bishops Stortford to a replay having drawn 2-2 at Stag Meadow,
but weren't able to progress as they lost the replay 2-1 at Woodside Park.
A 2-2 draw at home to local rivals Staines Town followed. Tony Boot came
of the bench to score an equaliser in injury time from the penalty spot
after the Rebels had thrown away a 1-0 half-time lead. The Rebels went 2-0
up within the first 2 minutes of their match at home to Bromley. Slough
went on to win that match 4-2. A 4-1 win away at Horsham, a 4-1 home
defeat to Cheshunt in the Bryco League Cup, a 2-1 home league defeat to
Dulwich Hamlet and a 1-0 away defeat to Croydon followed.
December brought mixed league fortunes. It began with a 3-0 win at
home against the Metropolitan Police, before the reserves won the 02/03
Doxhill's Presidents Capital League Cup Final against Stevenage Borough,
7-0. Epsom & Ewell were dispatched with a 7-1 scoreline before a 0-0
draw at Marlow and a 2-1 win at Ashford Town (Mx) 2 days before Christmas.
Boxing Day brought the tenants-landlords local derby between Slough Town
and Windsor & Eton. Windsor goalkeeper Chuck Martini opened the
scoring for Slough before the Royalists hit back with 3 goals to win the
match 3-1.
Only
four games in January, more bad luck in the league but a Berks & Bucks
Cup (pictured left) victory against Maidenhead United at York Road turned
out to be the high point of the month. Walton
& Hersham beat us 3-1, the Rebels drew 1-1 against Hampton &
Richmond Borough and lost 2-0 away at Worthing before we progressed in the
Berks & Bucks Cup. The Tooting & Mitcham United game marked the
welcome return of Veli Hakki, who rejoined the Rebels from Boreham Wood.
He was brought on as a substitute for the last 20 minutes and his mere presence lifted
the team's spirits as they went on to win the match 2-0.
This was the start of a run of six straight league wins that won Eddie
Denton the Division One South Manager of the Month Award for February.
Those wins included: Bromley 4-0 away, Staines Town 3-1 away, Lewes
1-0 at home and Dulwich Hamlet 4-2 away. The Rebels ended the month with a
1-1 draw at home against Walton & Hersham.
Not for the first time during the season, but the Rebels were again
brought down to earth as they were thrashed 4-2 at Bracknell Town. But we
recovered well and beat Croydon Athletic 1-0 at home and Banstead 2-1 away
before the Corinthian-Casuals, who were bottom of the table at the time,
produced a shock result by beating a dismal Rebels team by 4 goal to 1. A
win against Egham Town (3-1 at home) and Leatherhead (3-2 away) followed
before the end of March.
The Rebels began April with a 3-1 success at home to Molesey before the
big local derby away at table-toppers Windsor & Eton. The Rebels
produced a much improved display from the Boxing Day encounter and Ian
Hodges scored a hatrick and Tony Boot netted the goal of the season,
lobbing the ball over Windsor 'keeper Chuck Martini from outside the area,
as the
Rebels beat their landlords 4-1. We were dumped out of the Berks &
Bucks Cup against Bracknell in a "not bothered" type of performance by 1
goal to 0. Whyteleafe, Egham Town and the Metropolitan Police were beaten
before the Rebels effectively sealed promotion with a 1-1 home draw
against Worthing.
The last day of the season saw the Rebels entertain Croydon knowing
that a point will make their promotion official. With Dulwich Hamlet needing
to hope Slough lose and to win by 16 goal themselves to prevent the
Rebels going up, we all knew that it didn't really matter about the
outcome, but Slough rounded off a good season with a 3-1 win. |