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A red card for Town keeper Dan Lavercombe inside the opening twenty minutes proved pivotal as Slough eased to a convincing win. After two impressive draws on the road, the Peacocks badly needed a victory on home turf against their mid-table visitors to allay fears of the drop back to the Southern Premier, but any such notions went out the window once reduced to ten men as the Rebels went on to control affairs.

There were two changes for the hosts from the game at Braintree two days previously, loanee Ben Acey and Jay Murray coming in whilst Nat Jarvis and Marcus Day reverted to the bench, as they began their attempts to secure a first victory in nine games. The Berkshire visitors themselves were on a seven match winless run but started the better, earning a couple of early corners, one of which saw Leon Chambers-Parillon’s downward header travel across goal and out. Lloyd James then lost the ball in the middle, allowing David Ogbonna to break free and feed Trae Cook-Appiah whose angled shot had the sting taken out of it by Lavercombe and was cleared by Dan Ball.

A Josh Jackman header was clutched on his line by Lavercombe following a corner from Matt Lench before the hosts posted their first meaningful effort after winning their opening corner, Slough keeper Dan Lincoln palming away a Cameron Evans header which bounced off the turf. Slough were looking the sharper though, not entirely surprising given the rigours of Taunton’s trip to Essex two nights earlier, with Lavercombe forced into another save after tipping over Gary Abisogun’s effort from the edge of the box.

The Town shotstopper then saw his involvement in proceedings brought to a premature halt when he was shown a straight red card on 18 minutes after bringing down Nathan Minhas who had profited from Evans’ rebounded clearance. Marcus Day eventually came off the bench to assume the No 1 role with Jay Murray retiring, but the new keeper, despite getting his foot to the ball, was unable to prevent Minhas’ penalty from finding the bottom left-hand corner with 23 minutes played.

The reduction to ten men knocked the stuffing out of Town who were forced to play second fiddle for the rest of the half. Gabe George’s free kick curled narrowly past the far post before the woodwork felt the force of Cook-Appiah’s strike who broke free to drive off the crossbar. The Peacocks managed to test Lincoln during the final stages of the half, firstly Acey moving inside to see his shot pushed wide before Rabby Tabu Minzamba fed Zac Bell whose strike was pushed wide by the Slough custodian.

Aspirations of a second half Taunton turnaround against the odds were soon diminished when Slough doubled their lead after 49 minutes. A cross from the right wasn’t dealt with and half time substitute Johnny Goddard picked out Minhas at the far post who could hardly miss. The Peacocks made a double switch soon after, with Evander Grubb and Seb Bolton replacing Ross Stearn and Lloyd James but the visitors remained in control. Day did superbly to block Cook-Appiah’s shot but could not prevent the same player from adding a third on 61 minutes, Slough breaking the length of the pitch via Abisogun and Goddard for Cook-Appiah to slant his strike across Day into the far corner.

Temi Eweka’s header was cancelled out for an infringement, but this was scant consolation as the Rebels jabbed away at will. Day held a low shot from Minhas and Goddard curled a strike wide of the far post while Evans cleared another Minhas effort off the line, with the visitors at times lining up in the box awaiting their turn. The Peacocks, despite their numerical disadvantage and comparative inexperience, never gave up. Grubb and Bolton had shots safely gathered by Dan Lincoln in the Slough goal while Grubb lofted an effort past the post after good work from Minzamba before goal number four was added three minutes from time, pressure kept on following a corner for Cook-Appiah to execute a lovely overhead kick beyond Day into the bottom corner.

An Acey free kick struck the wall before the whistle came as a blessed relief in a game where the outcome was essentially decided twenty minutes in. Special mention to Day who showed guts to take on the goalkeeping duties and was duly named the Man Of The Match, but the Peacocks know time is running out as they prepare for their final four matches of a painful season.

Line-Ups

Taunton: Dan Lavercombe, Zac Bell, Dan Ball, Jay Murray (Marcus Day 21), Ollie Chamberlain, Lloyd James (captain) (Seb Bolton 56), Ben Acey, Rabby Tabu Minzamba, Ross Stearn (Evander Grubb 56), Cameron Evans, Callum Dolman. Unused subs: Nat Jarvis, Jaden Brown

Slough: Dan Lincoln, Josh Jackman, Gabe George (Josh Stranks 67), Joe Dandy, Gary Abisogun, Matt Lench, Nathan Minhas, Leon Chambers-Parillon (Alfie Tucker 67), Temi Eweka, Trae Cook-Appiah, David Ogbonna (Johnny Goddard 45). Unused subs: Ryan North, Scott Davies

Officials

Referee: Constantine Hatzidakis (London)
Referee’s Assistant 1: Thomas Hales (Derby)
Referee’s Assistant 2: Bailey Walker (Barnstaple)

Attendance

684

Reaction

” Very proud of the lads how they acquitted themselves on a very difficult pitch with ten men………..” watch Rob Dray’s match reaction on Peacocks TV HERE

Highlights

Match highlights can be seen on Peacocks TV HERE

Photos

Match photos from club photographers Debbie Gould can be viewed HERE and Darren Harris HERE

Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance MOM

Marcus Day receives the Taunton Town Man Of The Match award from Peacocks’ supporter Sophie Harris

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