Slough Town's players dig deep for Bath City victory after a bruising few days

Johnny Goddard made a crucial goalline clearance in Slough’s win at Bath City. Photo: Zak Rana

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Slough Town have had to roll with the punches this week - and they’ve received some pretty big body blows over the past few days - to come out on top with a gritty, determined and deserved away win over Bath City.

The Rebels travelled west on Tuesday off the back of a bruising few days, both on and off the field, having lost the likes of Tyrese Dyce and Jacob Borgnis to injury in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home to Dover Athletic - an awful spectacle of a game.

They’d also received news of a seven-day approach having been put in for number one goalkeeper Adam Desbois from Gateshead, with manager Scott Davies and co having to facilitate that and look for a speedy replacement.

The Rebels weren’t particularly happy with the official’s management of the game on Saturday, which they felt left too many of their players vulnerable to Dover’s overly physical play.

Borgnis, on loan from Reading until the end of the season, is now likely to miss the remainder of the campaign with an ankle injury sustained following what assistant Tony Fontenelle called an ‘over the top of the ankle’ challenge in the centre of the field.

The prognosis is more encouraging on Dyce and Ruben Shakpoke, who also suffered knocks on Saturday.

Tyrique Clarke’s second half strike was cruelly - and undeservedly - cancelled out late on by Kiki Oshilaja’s own goal.

“I think what could have gone wrong, did go wrong in the Dover game,” said assistant boss Tony Fontenelle. “I think we had three injuries in the first half which is quite unprecedented. I must be careful about what I say, but I just felt the management of the game contributed to that as well.

“You can’t help injuries sometimes, but a lot was allowed to go on unpunished, and we were on the receiving end of some strong-arm tactics.

“We felt it was a poor game all round, but we managed to get our noses in front and looked to be in a comfortable enough position. But to concede the goal in the manner that we did, it left us feeling deflated.”

He added: “Over the course of the next few days it became clear Adam (Desbois) was moving on. We were down to the bare bones in terms of injuries.

“We always knew there was a possibility we could lose Adam over the course of the season. He wasn’t on contract and we gave him that opportunity as he’d had the season out before with a long-term injury. He did what was asked of him and when an opportunity came his way, it’s right that we didn’t stand in his way.

“Adam is a fantastic lad, one of the most hardworking players that I’ve seen, and it’s always been his dream to get back into full-time football. From a selfish point of view, ideally it would have been in the summer. And if we weren’t in the position we’re in, we might have had a different conversation with Adam. But he’s been phenomenal for 35 games, and he was also instrumental in our FA Cup run as well. He’s done what’s been asked of him so it’s only right we do what’s expected of us.”

Seven players missed Tuesday’s trip to Twerton Park through injury - including Davies, whose hamstring pull now looks a little more serious than first thought.

Having given Desbois his blessing to leave for Gateshead, Davies moved quickly to bring in Alfie Marriott on loan from EFL Watford FC, and he showed his potential and quality with a brilliant first half save against the Romans to keep the Rebels on level terms going into half-time.

The visitors went on to collect all three points thanks to an instinctive finish from striker Wiktor Makowski, who latched onto a hopeful ball over the top, judged the bounce much better than his marker and lifted a lovely lob over the head of the keeper and into the back of the net.

They had to dig deep to protect that lead in stoppage time though, with Bath City hitting the crossbar and going close in the dying seconds when Johnny Goddard cleared the ball off his own goal line, not once but twice.

On Marriott’s move to Arbour Park and his impact on Tuesday, Fontenelle added: “Scotty has been working relentlessly behind the scenes, and we’ve had conversations with various professional clubs. We spoke to Watford and they spoke very highly of their goalkeeper. It seemed like a no brainer to bring him in.

“But you’re going into the unknown because it can be hit and miss with loan goalkeepers. But I have to say, you can see from one of the saves that Alfie did in the first half. It was outstanding.

“That save gave the defence more confidence and it gave Alfie confidence as well and we grew into the game.

“We’d have settled for a point with all the changes that we had to make and all the pre-match disruptions.

“First half of the season and last season, we’d have probably come away with a 1-0 defeat. Especially away from home.

“It was a bit of a nothing ball that was pumped forward, and Wiktor managed to get on the end of it. The keeper got caught in no man’s land and the finish was fantastic. It gave us something to hold onto.

“We tried to make it difficult for Bath to break us down. Johnny Goddard, what he was doing there is beyond me, but he made two goal line clearances.

“They celebrated that as if it was a goal which shows what that meant to the lads.”

It is perhaps the gutsiest performance Slough have delivered all season, and it gives them a great chance of finishing the campaign in the top half of the National League South.

Ahead of Saturday’s daunting looking trip to second placed Hornchurch, they sit 15th in the table on 46 points, only nine points behind seventh placed Maidstone United with a game in hand on the Stones.

“To be where we are from Boxing Day is nothing short of fantastic,” said Fontenelle. “We’re not quite at our target but the lads have made it look more than achievable. It’s credit to the lads.

“If you speak to the neutral, it looks on paper like we’ll get nothing from the game at Worthing. But we’re a team that causes surprises and even with the injuries we have, we step up to the challenge and often get results when people least expect it.

“Hornchurch have had a fantastic season. They were top for a long stretch of it, but when you look at the teams at the top of the table, it’s a testament to what they’ve done. Darryl McMahon has done a brilliant job there and they’re almost a shoo-in for play-offs. I know the sort of manager Darryl is and they’re not going to take us lightly, so we’ll really have to be at the top end of our game to get something.”