Perrin Goal Enough For Blues

A single first half goal by Steve Perrin was enough to earn Wycombe Wanderers all three Rothmans Isthmian League points on Tuesday night against local rivals Slough Town. But despite their success, the champions were far from convincing winners.

Let's get it straight from the start. Wycombe were clearly the superior side, possession the better individual players. But Slough didn't stop running or working throughout the 90 minutes and successfully managed to put Wanderers out of their stride with their ceaseless harassing. It didn't make for particularly entertaining football but it was effective.

This sort of competitive spirit kept Slough in the game against Sutton on Saturday until the last six minute s when they went down 1-0. Although this was their second successive reverse in Division One, they look strong enough to stay up in the senior division. Their style of play, however, is unlikely to make them many friends.

The Blues midfield trio of Howard Kennedy, Terry Reardon and Mick Hollifield struggled to stamp their authority on Tuesday night's game and accordingly, service to the front runners was limited. Wycombe wanted too much time to setup their intricate attacks from midfield and Slough were not prepared to give it.

The Rebels midfielders, Alan and Barrie Davies and Trevor Williams were hounding them constantly, bustling and spoiling many potential raids. Fortunately for Wycombe, the Rebels made little use of their possession.

This was mainly due to another sound performance from the Blues defence, which looks more secure than last season, largely due to the form of Keith Mead and Paul Birdseye.

Due to the instability of midfield, the front runners were a little disappointing. Keith Searle had a quiet game while Perrin made the difficult things seem easy and the easy things difficult. However, Perrin hit the target for the second successive game while Tony Horseman was unlucky to see first a goalpost and then a defender rob him of a goal early on.

Birdseye's overlapping early in the first half gave Slough considerable headaches. In the fifth minute he planted a fine through ball just beyond Mick Cannon for Keith Searle to run on to, but the centre forward's angled shot hit the side netting.

Then in the 11th minute, Wycombe almost went ahead. Mick Holifield's long corner sailed to the far post. Horseman, despite being surrounded by three defenders, rose head and shoulders above them all to nod in a superb header only to see the ball hit the post and come down for Brendan O'Sullivan to clear off the line.

With Terry Reardon again spraying out some delightful passes, Wycombe dominated the first quarter,, forcing a total of five corners. The Rebels were in considerable difficulties from these dead ball situations, but thanks to their midfield trio they began to get into the game.

Dave Kemp, a lively centre forward, gave Maskell his first test after 24 minutes with a shot on the turn which the keeper saved well. Kemp's effort boosted the visitors considerably and with Wycombe bunching in midfield, they struggled to re-capture their early form. Then, in the 40th minute, Wanderers took the lead. From Holifield's accurate corner, Bullock rose well to head through to Perrin who flicked the ball past Peter Spittle. Once again, it showed the value of bringing up defenders for set pieces.

When Wanderers burst into attack, straight from the kick off in the second half, it seemed Slough could be in for a mauling. But after that first minute raid which finished with Horseman floating the ball just past the far port, the Blues failed to make any real impression int he later stages.

Once again there was too much bunching in the middle and no width to their play. Former Wanderer Geoff Anthony showed how to use the Loakes Park slope to advantage by hugging the top wing and finding plenty of space for himself. Wycombe did not follow his example and played too much down the middle. Too often, however, they found themselves deep in their own half.

The Rebels' best move of the match came in the 69th minute. A Wycombe attack was broken by the Town defence, full back Tim Turl sending Anthony away down the flank. He slipped the ball on for Kemp who turned it inside for Turl to volley in a shot which Maskell saved well.

Geoff Anthony, who had such a fine game against Wycombe in the Berks and Bucks Senior Cup final last terms, only came into his own in the second half, but in the main, he was well marked by Bullock, whose rapid tackling gave the Welshman precious little room in which to move.

There were few goalmouth incidents in the second half and much of the play was disputed in midfield. In the 74th minute, however, Perrin went close to a second goal. Once again it was Birdseye who supplied the pass. Perrin slipped the ball to Horseman who lost possession. The ball fell kindly for Perrin, however, who drove in a shot just wide. A clever free kick involving Reardon and Birdseye caused Slough some concern before they finally hacked the ball away in the 82nd minute and a minute later Spittle raced out of ais goal to whip the ball off Holifield's toes as the latter pushed the ball just too far in front of him when racing through the Town penalty area.

In the last five minutes, Slough fought back well and kept Wanderers encamped in their own half. There were some anxious moments too as Anthony and Kemp threatened to steal a share of the points but thanks to Maskell, who came out well to intercept Turl's through back for Anthony, Wycombe held out until the final whistle.