Underwood ‘frustrated’ as Rebels are held by 10-man Havant

Slough Town FC: Rebels needed to be more 'ruthless' against Havant and Waterlooville, says Underwood

Slough Town joint boss Jon Underwood lamented another ‘fr ustrating’ outing for the Rebels who were forced to settle for a goalless stalemate with Havant and Waterlooville on Wednesday night.

Slough Town joint boss Jon Underwood lamented another ‘frustrating’ outing for the Rebels who were forced to settle for a goalless stalemate with Havant and Waterlooville on Wednesday night.

It was a game the Rebels could have, and probably should have, took maximum points from after their hosts were forced to play with 10 men for the majority of the game following

George McLennan’s dismissal in the 20th minute.

But, despite the Hawks being a man down for the most part, Slough struggled to capitalise and missed a number of chances against their hosts who looked well organised and content to take a point.

Matt Lench and Lee Togwell were both presented favourable opportunities in the game’s dying embers to snatch the Rebels a rare victory but the Hawks held on for a share of the spoils.

“We had the clearer chances in the game and I think whenever you find yourself playing against 10 men for a good chunk of the game, you always feel you should be snatching the win,” said Underwood.

“We just might have lacked that final pass, that final cross or that final shot. I think if we had been a little bit more ruthless, we could’ve got all three points so that was the real frustration.

“We actually played some of our better football in the game’s first 20 minutes when they had all 11 players on the pitch. In the second half, it looked like we were overthinking it and didn’t play with the freedom we needed to.

“We had two or three chances to get the goal to win the game at the end and we certainly should have done with the quality of players we have got in the side.

“We should be turning those opportunities into goals but unfortunately we weren’t able to do so.”

Slough have now gone six matches without tasting victory in the National League South. On Saturday, they drew 2-2 against Chippenham Town with Ben Harris and Lee Togwell both on the scoresheet.

This weekend, the Rebels travel to Hampton & Richmond Borough, a side currently flying high in fifth place. Slough, on the other hand, sit precariously in 16th.

“The team are desperate to be winning games and are desperate to be higher up the table,” said Underwood.

“We’re struggling to get a win at the moment but we’re trying to take that pressure of our players because it doesn’t help.

“Of course if we had won on Wednesday, we would’ve been on top of the world going into Saturday’s game against Hampton but it is what it is.

“Hampton will be a tough game and they are having a very good start to their season. They’ve been brilliant away from home and they’ve had a few defeats at their place.

“We won there 2-1 last year and there is never much in our games so it’ll be a real battle.

“We need a win and whether it’s Hampton or whoever we have to make sure we find it sooner rather than later.”