Rebels knocked out of Isuzu FA Trophy

A goal in the opening minute of the match proves enough for Bromley to progress at the expense of the Rebels.

An early Ryan Jones strike proved to be enough for Bromley to progress in the Isuzu FA Trophy, with the Rebels exiting the competition in the Third Round, writes Freddie Gatrell.

In what was a largely frustrating affair between National League side Bromley and the Rebels, it only took Andy Woodman’s Ravens a minute to punish the Slough defence. In what was an unfortunate turn of events, Matt Lench was caught in possession by Ryan Jones, who played the ball into the stride of Louis Dennis, who had caught Josh Jackman off guard. With acres of space to drive into, the winger returned the ball to an arriving Jones, who fired low and hard past Lincoln.

This early goal was a tough pill to swallow for the Rebels, who over the course of the 90 looked far the better of the two teams. Bromley appeared uninterested in scoring a second, with Slough dominating possession throughout the majority of the tie.

Slough had a chance to level the scores five minutes after Bromley’s opener, trickery from David Ogbonna left Besart Topalloj bamboozled, allowing the Rebels’ number 23 to cut inside and get in a strike which Teddy Sharman-Lowe got down low to palm away, but only into the path of Nathan Minhas – however as the striker calmly tucked the ball into the back of the net his celebrations were cut short by the linesman’s flag.

Slough’s biggest opportunity to find an equaliser came after a quarter of an hour, thanks to great combination play between Ogbonna and Josh Jackman. The young winger found space in behind the Ravens’ defence and found the feet of a bombarding Jackman, who struck the ball low and hard towards the bottom left corner. The strike looked certain to find the net with Teddy Sharman-Lowe merely a spectator as the ball fizzed past him, cannoning off the base of the post and away from Bromley’s goal.

This chance did not deter the Rebels, with Jackman’s luck nearly turning with his floated cross in the 24th minute sailing over a poorly positioned Sharman-Lowe and narrowly past the top left corner.

Just before the end of the first half, heroics from Dan Lincoln prevented a certain second for the hosts, with goal scorer Jones nearly becoming the provider with his driven cross finding the feet of Kido Taylor-Hart, whose effort was brilliantly saved by Lincoln’s outstretched legs.

The second 45 minutes was much the same as the first, with little to cheer about for either side. A scrambled effort in the 49th minute saw Sharman-Lowe push away a goal bound effort from Ogbonna in a tense goal-mouth scramble.

Chances from Jeanmal Prosper and Tyrese Dyce both went begging in the second half which was characterised by missed opportunities and a slice of poor luck for Scott Davies’ men. Slough’s best chance came on the hour mark, when Dyce’s low ball across the box fell to the feet of Lench, who unleashed a rocket towards goal – however the ball flew past the top right-hand corner of the Bromley goal.

The Rebels were unable to find the equalising goal in the remainder of the game, with Slough now solely focusing on the National League South for the remainder of the campaign. Next up for Scott Davies’ men is a clash against Farnborough at Arbour Park, with Slough hoping to continue their resurgent league form.