Rebels strengthen as Fermie signs

Rebels add to squad & Sweetman reflects on Uxbridge match.

Saturday 11 October 2008·4 min read

Slough Town have today confirmed the signature of defensive midfielder Chris Fermie from Uxbridge. The deal had been struck this week between the two sides to transfer the steely midfielder after today's game.

Fermie, 31, will add some steel to the middle of the Rebels midfield, something which manager Derek Sweetman feels has been lacking in recent weeks.

Sweetman commented on his latest acquisition, "It will be a major plus for our midfield with the introduction of Fermie. As we have seen with the introduction of Chopper (Glen Harris) today we are bringing a little bit more quality into the team. When we have the quality of attack that we have, Fermie, like Harris, will pick out those players with balls to feet to set up attacking situations.

"Fermie has been around a bit and knows his job and in this division he is one of the best at what he does. I am sure the fans will warm to him and he'll add that bit of steel into the side which I feel we have been lacking with all our flair players we have in the side."

Reflecting on the defeat today, Sweetman felt there were some positives to take from it. "We finished the game stronger, even with ten men, with Uxbridge panicking a bit. They introduced two defenders with thirty minutes to go in an effort not to give anything away.

"But, if you set your stall out badly as we did at North Leigh, you will get beat. Sides like Uxbridge who are very physical, strong and workmanlike with a few quality players are more than capable of upsetting you. As the second half wore on, I though we might get something out of the game and might have nicked a point, but it would have been a nick and over the 90 minutes, they deserved the points."

He continued to reflect on the match, "In the first half we were awful apart from the first five minutes where we did reasonably well and scored a good goal but from that moment on we switched off which was frustrating. At this level of football, you can't just pick and choose when you play football and so first half was instantly forgettable.

"We came out in the second half having made a few changes here and there and felt we were ok for a little while, but Uxbridge still had us on the rack for spell and I felt Carl (Dennison) did well for his first game for us with some good saves in the second half.

"The sending off was the talking point of the second half, but from then onwards I felt we were the better side. Had we started the game like that and maintained that we would have won the game today.

"It was a disjointed midfield, but we set up in that manner to allow Byron a free role but we didn't get the ball to him in dangerous positions enough where he could hurt the opposition. As a four in midfield, we were probably two yards off the pace in the first half but with the introduction of Harris we started to play the ball a bit more across the midfield and managed to link it together a bit better.

"We need to give our flair players the platform to play. We need to get the ball to our flair players in the right areas of the pitch so they can play, but if we put in the level of effort we did in the first half today, then it is not acceptable. They dug themselves out a little in the second half and I think the supporters will have been fairly happy with the second half performance, especially having been down to ten men, and we didn't crumble and lose by three or four."

Looking ahead to the big derby on Tuesday night as the Rebels travel to their old stomping ground, Sweets remained optimistic.

"Tuesday will be another tough game for us. We're in a run of about five games which are challenging for us and if we can come out of the run with a few more points on the board, it will be a major plus for us, especially given the fact defensively we are struggling for people. I am going to try and bring a couple in on loan to shore us up at the back to get us through the injuries and suspensions.