Late drama sees Slough beaten at Hampton

Slough Town suffered a third consecutive defeat to begin their National League South campaign as a remarkable second-half contest ended in a 5-3 defeat to Hampton & Richmond Borough at Beveree Stadium.

The Rebels recovered from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 with seven minutes remaining, but Hampton levelled almost immediately before two goals in stoppage time condemned Slough to defeat in another extraordinary away match.

The result leaves Slough 23rd in the early league table, with Folkestone Invicta next up at Arbour Park next Saturday.

There were two changes to the side that started Tuesday's defeat to Farnham Town, with Johnny Goddard and Ruben Shakpoke coming into the starting XI in place of Keenan Quansah and Luke Holness.

Hampton were playing their first home match of the season after improvements to Beveree Stadium, including the installation of a new artificial pitch, had delayed their return to their home ground.

The hosts had the first opportunity after five minutes when Theo Widdrington slipped a ball through towards Ashley Akpan. The forward elected to square rather than shoot, however, and the chance went begging.

Slough responded by pouncing on a loose pass in midfield before playing the ball through to Shakpoke, although the striker was closed down before he could get a shot away.

Hampton then came close in the 20th minute. Hayden Barrett switched the ball out to Akpan, whose touch took him inside before he found Sakariya Siziba. The winger beat his man and cut inside before drilling a shot just past the post, with the effort taking a slight deflection on its way through before the resulting corner was cleared.

Barrett was forced off with an injury five minutes later, with Wesley Fonguck replacing him.

Slough's task became more difficult in the 39th minute when Hampton were awarded a penalty after the ball struck Shay Spencer's hand inside the area. Tobi Sho-Silva made no mistake from the spot to put the hosts ahead.

The Rebels were dealt another blow shortly afterwards when Josh McNamara was forced off with a hip problem, with Michael Edegbe coming on in his place.

Slough looked for a response before half time and came close to creating an opening when Hampton struggled to clear a dangerous ball from their box in stoppage time. The ball eventually rolled just wide of the left post, with the resulting corner also failing to produce an equaliser.

Alan Julian admitted afterwards that he was unhappy with aspects of Slough's first-half performance, particularly their use of possession.

"We should have moved the ball a lot quicker in the first half," he said. "I felt we were going back to front too much."

The Slough manager wanted his side to build through the thirds rather than rely on Shakpoke to compete for long balls, adding: "We want to build through the thirds. Like we did second half away at Dover, like we did for large periods against Farnham and like we did second half."

There was a tactical change at the break, with Luke Holness replacing Jared Myers, and Slough began the second half with greater purpose.

A good press led to a powerful Drakes-Thomas effort flying just over the crossbar in the 55th minute, while the Rebels also appealed for a penalty six minutes later following a collision inside the Hampton box during a corner, but nothing was given.

Instead, Hampton doubled their advantage in the 62nd minute.

A long ball forward from on-loan goalkeeper Marco Underwood dropped into the path of Widdrington, who beat a defender inside the box before lashing a powerful finish into the far corner from close range.

Slough responded with a double change in the 70th minute, introducing Godlove Oppong and Latrell Humphrey-Ewers for Shakpoke and Drakes-Thomas.

Hampton then came within inches of adding a third when Siziba struck the inside of the bar. Sho-Silva did well to delay before finding Fonguck, who played the ball into the winger's path, but his strike cannoned back off the inside of the frame and bounced to safety.

That proved to be a major turning point, as Slough immediately launched a remarkable comeback.

Kyle Brooks gave the Rebels hope in the 76th minute with an excellent curled finish from inside the box, reducing the deficit to one.

Just three minutes later, Slough were level.

A strike towards goal ricocheted kindly into the path of Holness, who kept his composure to find the net and complete the comeback from 2-0 down.

The momentum was now firmly with the Rebels and, in the 83rd minute, Slough completed the turnaround.

Spencer was brought down just inside the Hampton penalty area to win a spot-kick, and Goddard stepped up to calmly bury the penalty and put Slough 3-2 ahead.

Having appeared to be heading for defeat just moments earlier, the Rebels were now in front, but Hampton responded almost immediately.

Siziba cut in from the left in the 85th minute, found a gap in the Slough defence and fired a low finish into the bottom-left corner to make it 3-3.

Holness required treatment for a head injury in the 88th minute, while Quansah replaced Spencer in stoppage time as Slough looked to see out the final moments.

The decisive moment arrived in the first minute of added time.

Grego-Cox's ball into the box was flicked on by Hampton captain Will De Havilland towards the back post, where Mather's effort was saved by Edegbe. The substitute goalkeeper could only palm the ball away, however, and Luis Fernandez was on hand to slide the rebound into the net from close range and restore Hampton's lead.

Slough pushed forward in search of another equaliser and committed players forward for a late corner, but the hosts cleared and launched a counter-attack.

With Edegbe also having gone forward, Fonguck raced towards an empty Slough goal with nobody between him and the line. He won the sprint to the other end and tapped the ball into an unguarded net in the seventh minute of added time to complete a 5-3 victory for Hampton.

Julian admitted the late turnaround was particularly painful given the character his side had shown to recover.

"We've got a little habit at the moment of throwing points away," he said. "We were playing so well and then we're just giving it away."

The manager acknowledged the decision to bring Quansah on after Slough moved into the lead was made with protecting a point in mind, but Hampton's equaliser came from a long throw at the back post.

"We were 2-0 down in the game, and we've come back to 3-2 up, 3-all, and we think let's take a point," Julian explained. "We give away a goal at the back stick there which is poor from a long throw."

Slough almost responded again when Quansah had a chance to equalise, but his header went wide from close range.

The fifth goal came as Slough committed players forward, with Julian accepting that the decision to chase the game carried a risk.

The defeat was all the more frustrating given the similarities to last weekend's 5-3 loss at Dover Athletic. On that occasion, Slough recovered from 3-0 down at half time to level the scores with three goals in 11 minutes before conceding twice late on. At Hampton, the Rebels again fought back from a significant deficit to take the lead, only to concede twice in the closing stages and suffer another 5-3 defeat.

Julian acknowledged the remarkable spirit shown by his players across both matches, but insisted that the team must find a way to turn those comebacks into points.

"The boys have shown so much to get back into two football matches, which is not easy away from home, being two, three goals behind respectively in the two games and come back," he said. "But I'm hurting, they're hurting because we've got no points to show for that spirit."

For Julian, the key improvement is now mental strength when Slough are in the ascendancy rather than only when they are chasing a game.

"We need to perhaps be stronger mentally to have the courage and bravery to play when we're winning, when we're drawing," he said. "We've shown what we can do when we're losing, but it's got to be better when we're in the game."

The manager also highlighted the need for greater defensive resilience inside the penalty area.

"We've got to defend our box," he said. "You've got to pick up people, you've got to win your duels."

Despite the difficult start, Julian does not believe wholesale changes are required ahead of next Saturday's return to Arbour Park against Folkestone Invicta.

"I don't think there's too many crazy changes that we need to make," he said. "In periods throughout the three games, we've been outstanding. Of course, in other periods, we've been really poor."

The defeat leaves Slough with no points from their opening three matches, but Julian remained confident in his squad and their response over the coming week.

"I've got a wonderful group in there," he said. "They're hurting just as much as me. We're all together on this and we'll look to get some points on the board next week back at home."

Slough will now return to Arbour Park next Saturday, when Folkestone Invicta provide the opposition as the Rebels look to get their first points of the season on the board.