Southall stunned (From Gazette Series)

Southall stunned

Southall Town 2 Slimbridge 3

A LATE flourish from hosts Southall Town was not enough to prevent Slimbridge coming home with a 3-2 win that very much kept them in the championship hunt.

The later news that overnight leaders Brackley Town had unexpectedly lost 2-0 at home to Fairford Town would appear to have thrown the title chase wide open again.

Slimbridge built up a 3-0 lead with goals from Fred Ward, Craig Cole and Matt Green and looked well in command until a defensive 'attack of the jitters' pervaded, for two goals from Ashley Keane to nearly undo a basically sound performance.

The first half saw no goals as both sides found difficulty with a brisk wind. Southall spurned two reasonable chances in the first 20 minutes, with former QPR striker Michael Meaker volleying over from 12 yards after he'd been put in by John Castagnette. Then, Carlton Mitchell headed over a Meaker corner when arriving late unchallenged.

At the other end, Mike Green fired over when a momentary lapse in the Southall defence was not capitalised on.

Julian Freeman then made a darting run into the area but scuffed his shot with only goalkeeper Ben Miles to beat.

Two minutes into the second half and Slimbridge took the lead. Some excellent interpassing between Steve Badham and John Cant saw the latter hook a cross over from the left-hand corner flag. A single bounce beat the central defence and Fred Ward was on hand to throw himself at the ball from some ten yards and saw his header go in off a post.

This stunned the home side and subsequently they lost composure for a while and in quick succession Matt Green had a shot go narrowly wide and Ross Casey, having a strong game, had a 16 yard effort whistle over.

On the hour Freeman limped off having only passed a late pre-match fitness test, to be replaced by Cole, whose fresh legs asked even more questions of the Southall defence.

The home side were finding it difficult to break through strong midfield covering, but did manage to string together one polished move in this period which ended with Meaker only just off target from inside the area.

Slimbridge doubled their lead when Mike Green found Cole in space on 72 minutes. Cole sped towards goal and Miles came rushing out, but a cool lob dropped just under the bar inside the post for an excellent finish.

It was no surprise when the lead was further extended five minutes later. Danny Thorpe missed his kick in front of goal but Miles anticipated a shot that never came. In stretching to kick clear, the ball rebounded off a closing Matt Green and into the net. This was Green's sixth goal in seven games, a hot run of scoring for the genial midfielder.

A goal six minutes from time somewhat against the run of play inspired Southall to throw caution to the wind. Ashley Keane broke through down the right after a missed tackle and managed to beat Ryan Chandler at his near post.

Of interest to statisticians, this was the first goal that Slimbridge had conceded in 898 minutes of first team action since conceding a penalty to Tuffley Rovers on February 24, a sequence that had included nine successive clean sheets.

In the 89th minute Keane got his second goal of the match when he drilled a loose ball through a mass of players from the edge of the area past an unsighted Chandler.

Slimbridge managed to negotiate four minutes of added-on time without further alarm upon the resumption of some qualified defending.

For such an important game it was pleasing to see proceedings carried out in a sporting manner. Sensible refereeing in difficult conditions and two teams wanting to play football no doubt helped a lot.

Slimbridge team: R Chandler, L Sterling, Matt Green, A Pritchett, A Thomas, Mike Green, E Ward, R Casey, J Freeman (C Cole 60), J Cant (D Thorpe 75), S Badham, G Marshall (83).

The Slimbridge Easter programme entails two home games. On Saturday (April 10) North Leigh are the visitors for a 3pm kick-off and on Tuesday (April 13) Pewsey Vale arrive for a 7.30pm kick-off.

North Leigh are sitting in mid-table having been champions in 2002 and 2003, but will no doubt be looking for some compensation as Slimbridge triumphed 2-0 in the reverse fixture last September.

Pewsey Vale have been improving of late although still very much in the relegation zone, and with both sides wanting the points from this game for different reasons, a difficult evening could be in store for Slimbridge if they are not on top of their game.