SLOUGH Town extended their unbeaten run at Arbour Park in the National League South to 10 matches after a 1-0 win against Braintree Town on Saturday, writes Rob Stevens.

The Rebels have not been beaten at home in the league since the opening day of the season and their latest victory moves them back up to second position in the table.

The home team were unfortunate not to break the deadlock in the second half when Ben Harris saw a shot rebound back off the post after captain Sam Togwell had headed a long throw from Guy Hollis back into the box.

Slough scored the only goal in the game as substitute Francis Amartey showed good footwork to move into the box and shot to the far post. His effort was saved by Braintree keeper Michael Johnson but Matthew Lench was on hand to score from close range in the 83rd minute.

Rebels joint-manager Jon Underwood told the Observer: “I’m relieved but thought we deserved to win. I just started to wonder if that goal was ever going to come.

“We were very dominant in the first half and caused them a lot of problems. We put a lot of balls into the box and created five or six half-chances, not absolute sitters but decent half-chances, but we didn’t take them.

“We probably went a little bit too direct at times in the second half. I don’t think we dominated the game as much.

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Matthew Lench scored the only goal of the game for Slough Town in the 83rd minute.

“Braintree looked like they started to have a little bit of belief that they might nick one, but to be fair they didn’t create a chance in the game that I can remember.

“It looked like maybe our chance to win it had gone. We tried lots of different things and were about to throw on Ryan Bird up top for the last 10 minutes, and as he was getting ready, we got the goal. All you can do is keep trying to make positive changes.

“We did deserve to win based on chances, but Braintree defended well, they threw their bodies on the line and the keeper had a very good game.

“They came here with five at the back and looked to be defensive, and we would’ve done the same in their position.

“I’m just relieved that we got the win and you look at the other results and it ends up being a good day for us. We’re back up to second and gained the two points on Wealdstone that we dropped last week.

“It keeps us in amongst it, so it was vital we got the win because we’ve got some really tough games coming up in the next month. It ended up being a tough game as well on Saturday.

“We just need to keep getting regular wins on the board. It sounds like an obvious thing to say but a lot of teams in this league will win one, draw one and then lose one, so if you can keep winning fairly regularly like we have done it puts you in a strong position and that’s what has taken us to second in the league.

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Warren Harris failed to score with two good headed chances.

He continued: “The young boys came on and Francis Amartey made an impact. He was very direct with strong running and it was his shot that got pushed out for Matthew Lench to tap in.

“We still can improve, and the goals have dried up a little. It could’ve been three goalless draws in a row.

“We’re relying on Ben Harris and he has scored a good number of goals this year.

“Daniel Roberts had a fantastic start to the season but maybe has just gone off the boil, as you get with young players. Not through doing anything different or not working hard, but maybe things just aren’t quite happening for him around the box at the minute.

“That will change because he is a very good player and the same with Francis. I would say his season hasn’t really started yet. He’s been on loan and did well but he’s still looking to nail down a place with us.

“There are a few question marks at the top end of the pitch but they’re all trying to make it happen. Sometimes as goal scorers you have little spells where it doesn’t go in but luckily, we’re not reliant on one player.

“We’ve scored goals from wide areas and from defenders at set pieces so we’re not a team that just relies on one player.

In the end it doesn’t matter who gets a goal or how many you win by you’ve just got to keep on getting the three points.

“We will take that and have obviously got a really tough game on Wednesday down at Havant, which is another reason why it was really important to get a win on Saturday because if you can get a point down there it makes it a really good week.”

Slough make the trip to third-placed Havant & Waterlooville this Wednesday night (7.45pm).