Oldaker spoils Slough dream
The FA Cup third round remains elusive for Slough Town, but the reaction of Steve Lovell, the Gillingham manager, to his side’s narrow victory confirmed how close the National League South team had come to extending their interest in this season’s competition.
Slough, who exited at the same stage last season when they lost to Rochdale, outplayed their League One opponents for long periods and were denied a memorable day by a combination of Darren Oldaker’s outstanding long-range effort at the start of the second half and their own failure to convert a succession of good chances.
The final disappointment came in added time when Gillingham survived a frantic goalmouth scramble, prompting feelings of relief among Lovell and his players.
“This was one of the hardest games we have had this season,” said Lovell. “I thought they were excellent and unlucky not to get a replay. But I would have taken a 1-0 win this morning.”
Lovell’s words were appreciated by Jon Underwood and Neil Baker, Slough’s joint-managers, but did little to dampen the sense of disappointment at failing to reach the third round for the first time in the sixth-tier club’s history. “That’s eight times the club has reached the second round, and twice for me and Neil,” Underwood said. “So, of course it hurts. I won’t watch the draw because I don’t think I will get too much pleasure from it.
“You dream of going to places like Old Trafford and Anfield and we had the chance to make that dream a reality. I thought at halftime this was going to be our day. But to beat a League One side you need things to fall your way, and they didn’t. But we were well beaten by Rochdale last year and ran Gillingham very close this time so that shows how far we have come. After half an hour, I think they would have been happy to take us back to their place.”
Gillingham were fortunate to reach half-time on level terms after Matt Stevens, Scott Davies and James Dobson had all come close to putting the home side ahead. Lovell admitted strong words were used at the interval, with Oldaker among those to find themselves on the receiving end. The midfielder’s response came three minutes after the restart when he struck a dipping shot from 30 yards to clinch the tie and win his way back into his manager’s good books.
“Darren was one of the ones I had a go at half-time,” said Lovell. “I told him I wanted him to stamp his authority on the game. That was what he did so he obviously listens.” Slough Town