SLOUGH Town are out of the FA Cup this season after a 1-0 second round defeat against Gillingham at Arbour Park on Sunday, writes Rob Stevens.

The Rebels were much the better side in the first-half with on-loan striker Matthew Stevens going close with an overhead kick that went narrowly over the crossbar.

James Dobson went close with a shot across goal and captain Mark Nisbet headed narrowly over as the home side failed to take their chances.

The deadlock was broken three minutes after half-time when Darren Oldaker produced a wonder strike from 30-yards that dipped on its way past out-stretched keeper Jack Turner and into the goal.

League One side Gillingham rarely threatened the Slough goal in the entire game and the Rebels pushed for an equaliser in front of a sell-out crowd at Arbour Park.

Substitute Manny Williams headed wide from a George Wells cross and Gills keeper Tomas Holy spilt a Scott Davies cross that caused a scramble in the box before the ball was eventually cleared.

Slough joint-manager Jon Underwood told the Observer: “We feel we should still be in the FA Cup and can’t ask for any more from our players. I thought they were magnificent from start to finish.

“I don’t quite know how we haven’t scored. I keep on seeing the shot-count so we have got to be proud to be able to do that against a League One side, but it hurts that we’re out to be honest because everyone dreams of the third round and this was such a good opportunity for us.

“Once we settled into the game we said after 30 minutes Gillingham would probably take a replay at this point. We were the dominant side and looked the more likely to score. I thought we were outstanding in the first-half.

“Gillingham got a goal out of the blue and there isn’t a lot we can do about it. It was a great strike and maybe that little bit of extra quality that we weren’t able to find.

“I thought we maybe wobbled a little bit and then got ourselves going again. We were knocking on the door time and time again at the end, but we lacked a little bit of physical presence in the box.

“We put some great balls into the box but it didn’t quite happen for us so I don’t quite now how we’re not in the draw to be honest.”

Grab a copy of the Observer this Friday for the full match report, pictures and more reaction.