Rebels tough it out for a well earned point against Worthing
Visitors put their bodies on the line to thwart hosts after Minhas profits from early error
Worthing 1, Slough Town 1
Slough Town gritted their teeth and toughed it out for a hard-earned point on the road at Worthing on Tuesday night after Nathan Minhas fired the Rebels ahead in the first minute.
Slough came into the game off the back of Saturday's morale-boosting 2-1 win over promotion chasers Maidstone United, while player manager Scott Davies also put pen to paper on a contract extension that will see him remain as Rebels boss until June 2026.
As one of the division's form teams there was also plenty of optimism heading into the game against the National League South's second placed side, and the visitors gave themselves a lead to protect in the first minute through Minhas.
The goal came about in rather bizarre circumstances, as a Matt Lench cross swirled in the wind, was dropped by Jeffries in the Worthing goal and Minhas cashed in to put the Rebels 1-0 in front.
It may have been a bit of a fluke, and the blustery conditions almost certainly played their part, but the Rebels weren't complaining, and they valiantly held onto that advantage until the 64th minute when Ollie Pierce grabbed a scrappy equaliser for the home side.
The early goal from Minhas spurred the Rebels on though, and they were slightly unfortunate not to double their advantage in the first half.
Davies almost added to his collection of belting free-kicks this season when he curled one just over the frame of the goal in the 11th minute.
Johnny Goddard was the next Rebels player to go close when he rattled the post with a venomous low drive in the 15th minute. The wind was certainly playing its part, and for the first 45 minutes it was with the visitors. Minhas was looking sharp, in the 23rd minute he rolled his marker on the edge of the area and whipped in a cross that no one was able to get on the end of. While five minutes before the break, Slavi Spasov latched onto a ball from Lench and fired goalwards, only to see Jeffries keep it out with his midriff.
The second half was laced with controversy, with Slough coming out on the right side of a few contentious decisions.
First in the 49th minute, Dan Bayliss was shown a straight red card following a challenge on Pierce, however, after consulting with the linesman, the referee reversed his decision, causing much frustration among the Worthing ranks.
Pierce grabbed his equaliser for Worthing just after the hour mark to ease a few of those frustrations, and a final half hour onslaught followed that Slough just about survived. In the 68th minute Bayliss made a goal saving block on the line to keep the scores level while the Rebels continued to show great resilience with Temi
Eweka getting his head in the way of another goal bound shot with 20 minutes to play.
The home side continued to press but were thwarted by their stubborn visitors who saw out an incredibly tense final few minutes - and six minutes of stoppage time - to come away with a hard-earned point.
The result sees them slip a place to 12th in the table, and they're now five points off the play-off places, but this is one of the toughest trips in the calendar and the Rebels came out of it with an excellent result.
They'll look to maintain their good form when they visit bottom of the table Dover Athletic on Saturday.