Slough Town v Darts (Sat 16th feb, 3pm)

[spike]

I'm not sure the squad has been strengthened Spike unless I failed to see the revolving door turn again! The one thing that was annoying about Saturday was the fact that we didn't really have options on the bench that could have changed a game. Luckily, by the time the subs were on the game was wrapped up. However, I will have to give credit where credit is due that one of our management team has come to the conclusion that the team is better with Ryan playing than sitting on the bench. I'm convinced that had some supporters not voiced their concerns about team selection, players playing out of position, poor signings and most importantly, leaving your best players on the bench we would still be in a muddle.

Anyway, hope that is behind us and our strongest starting eleven stay fit because Crook, Murphy and AP apart we are short. Maybe one of the managers will give the wheel of fortune another spin. At least things have settled down and I have more confidence about getting a result again. Long may it continue.

I get where you're coming from with regards to the bench Jonty. The 11 that started the last two games is very strong but with Crook, Onyemah and Pugh still injured, there's not much wiggle room on the bench. Nevertheless, when we've got our best players out there on the pitch I think we're a match for anyone in the division. For my money, Ben and Ryno are the most creative players we have and would have been my first picks all season. As I saw it, our main problem was finding an effective strike partner for Charlie. Roberts looked sluggish and lethargic in his first couple of games but I guess he was just a bit ring rusty as he's come on a bundle since then. Roberts and Charlie look a decent striking partnership and Crook looks a quality alternative for central midfield. So when I said the squad had been strengthened, I guess it was really only Crook and Roberts that I had in mind. I'm sure we all have our own opinions and if I'm honest, a couple of the players on our bench on Saturday wouldn't be there if I was picking the team. I hope we see the same starting eleven on Saturday as there's no doubt in my mind that our recent successes have been helped by having a bit of stability in team selection. You can get a Darts' victory at 9/2 on Paddy Power, a good bet I reckon.

[M1 South]

Slough lost 2.1 at home to Gloucester last night, so i think those odds might shorten Spike??

[Ozymandias]

Ring Rusty is not the word Spike. First time I saw Phil he hit the corner flag with his first effort. Saturday he didn't stop running the whole game and his last shot I saw was unstoppable.

[Skip]

Looking forward to revisiting Slough’s new stadium and hopefully leaving with the same result to our first visit their.

And for those who like a good sports quiz; can you name the two clubs whose first 4 fixtures against each other were played at 4 different venues?

Give up?

I suppose as it’s on this thread then it was obviously Dartford and Slough.

Game 1: Dartford v Slough 4-1 FAT at Watling Street 1981
Game 2: Slough v Dartford 1-2 FAC at Wexham Park 1988
Game 3: Slough v Dartford 2-3 FAC at Arbour Park 2016
Game 4: Dartford v Slough 1-1 NLS at Princes Park 2018

And here’s the link from the Slough site with some excellent match reports from all 4 previous fixtures. You might recognise a few of the players names mentioned in the 1981 match.

https://www.sloughtownfc.net/opposition/119/Dartford

[Jonty]

Very nostalgic Skip, can't believe Pat Morrissey was still playing after he left us, he never looked young and as for Steve Norman, he was one to forget as I recall. Slough have a similar history to us and I found their site very informative. What a great read.

[Lincoln exile]

Morrissey actually played for four more clubs after Slough, retiring at about forty years of age. Sadly he died at the age of fifty-six.

[Jonty]

That is indeed sad LE. What made me laugh was this on the Slough website - At Slough, Morrissey won a historic treble in 1980/81, the Isthmian League Championship and League Cup, as well as the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup. In the League Cup final against Walthamstow, Morrissey scored a hat-trick, all from the penalty spot. If I remember correctly, his penalty taking for us was very poor. I remember him plonking one into the garage over the road or was it the milk dairy next door.

[Taunton Dart]

According to Wikipedia Pat Morrissey only ever scored three goals for Slough...…

[Bacton Buoy]

Very nostalgic Skip, can't believe Pat Morrissey was still playing after he left us, he never looked young and as for Steve Norman, he was one to forget as I recall. Slough have a similar history to us and I found their site very informative. What a great read.

Pat Morrisey played for another 10 years after he left Dartford but I don't think that Steve Norman ever played for Dartford.

[Home And Away]

Hopefully we play the same team if so we should be to good for them 3/0 to the darts play offs here we come