Sweets on Taunton

sloughtownfc.net spoke with Rebels manager Derek Sweetman today to get his thoughts on the magnificent display which led to the team's first win of the season at Wordsworth Drive last weekend.

"The whole team was man of the match." Sweetman said. "The preparation for the match was not the best as the team coach did not arrive until 2.25pm (compared to a normal arrival of 1.30pm) which left the team with little time to warm up for the game. With Evans being sent off after fifteen minutes, the boys dug in together and all worked their socks off. The end result shows they got their reward for the efforts they put in."

On the dismissal of Evans, Sweetman added "I felt the sending off was harsh. Evans had studs marks up his shin where he was also caught in the tackle and you can often judge a tackle by the reaction of the surrounding opposition players. You could see their players didn't react to indicate the tackle wasn't really a dismissal and should have been a yellow card at worst. Whilst their management team agreed with that, neither of us had the greatest view of the incident. Luke is extremely disappointed with the decision and none of us could believe it when the ref held up the red card. Luke is obviously gutted to be missing three games and he'll be missed."

Danny Jordan opened his Rebels scoring account at the weekend and Sweets was pleased for his number nine. "DJ had a few chances come his way but you thought it might not be his day, but as he has shown, he never gave up and the goal he scored shows the quality of the player that he is. It was a testament to him that the whole team came up to celebrate the goal with him, a real show that the team has been behind him, and proved what a quality striker he is."

"It was great to see Platty score again and Bubbsy was also involved in a lot of our attacking play. It was great to see the three of them linking up and causing problems for the Taunton defence."

Then there was special praise for the travelling Amber Army which contributed a healthy chunk of the 220 spectators. "The noise the supporters were making was a massive boost to the players, almost as if they were the 11th man for us after Luke's sending off. I think the reaction of the players at the final whistle, as we've seen in the photos (available at horshamrebel.co.uk), was a demonstration of their delight for the supporters who had made the journey and got behind the team all throughout the match."

Sweetman was also able to take in the second half of the U18's opening game win over Flackwell Heath last night. "I'm pleased they got their season off to a winning start. From what I saw last night, they have a good season ahead of them. They look comfortable on the ball and show plenty of promise. They've come a long way since I saw them last season and that is testament to Tony Thompson for his continued development of the side."

Sweets will also be providing a look ahead to the FA Cup match with Farnborough later this week as the Rebels look to move into the second qualifying round over their high flying Hampshire hosts on Saturday.