Davies's selections from EDS squad show he already has one eye on next season

Scott Davies. Photo: George Beck

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Slough Town will be hoping to finish their National League South campaign with a home win over Hampton & Richmond Borough this Saturday, but it’s clear from his selections of late that manager Scott Davies already has one eye on next season.

Since the Rebels secured their National League South status a few weeks ago with a home win over already relegated Aveley, Davies has been drafting through exciting young prospects from the club’s development squad.

Aaron White, 19, and Brian Nelson, 18, both started for the Rebels in Monday’s impressive 3-2 win over Chesham United at The Meadow.

They repaid their manager’s faith in them with mature performances as the visitors overcame a shaky start - which saw former Rebel Nathan Minhas fire the Generals in front - to establish a 3-1 advantage shortly after half-time thanks to goals from Slavi Spasov, Johnny Goddard and David Ogbonna.

Nelson was forced off by a second half injury after a ‘combative’ midfield display, but central defender White was able to dig in with his teammates to get the side over the line after Chesham grabbed a late second.

With safety now assured, Davies has been running the rule over the club’s young prospects and mindful of who might be able to step up to the first team and improve the squad next season.

It was a similar story for Friday’s 4-2 home defeat to title-chasers Boreham Wood with Davies taking a silver lining from the positive performances of the likes of Nnaemeka Anyanwu, Owen Rennie, Taylor Clark and Jaiden Bartolo.

Reflecting on the performances of Nelson and White in Monday’s win at The Meadow, Davies told sloughtownfc.net: “They were absolutely superb.

“I was going to start myself (at Chesham), but I’ve played 47 games, and I thought, why am I starting?

“I just wanted to give Aaron White a chance at centre half, and I thought he did really well.

“We all must start somewhere. Someone always has to give you a chance to play and that’s the beauty of football. Someone did it with me when I was younger, and you’re forever grateful. They’ll remember today, coming to a difficult place where they (Chesham) don’t lose too often.

“They put you under pressure, but they stood up to it very well. From 1-11, I thought Aaron did really well at the back and then you’ve got Brian (Nelson) who is only 18 in midfield.

“He’s a combative midfielder and I thought he ran himself into the ground, he was superb. He came off with an injury eventually. We could have put out that team today and come unstuck, but we haven’t.

“There are so many positives, like I spoke about on Friday, but we’ve also got the result to go with it. We scored some really good goals and overall, I’m really delighted.”

White concentrated on doing the basics well at Chesham and was thankful to have Edon Pruti and then Davies alongside him as the Rebels closed out their 14th win of the campaign.

“I think it was a good challenge from the start,” he said.

“We started off quite slow, but as we got into the game we battled well. I feel I dealt with my challenges very well and the boys helped me along.

“During the warmup we noticed that the pitch wasn’t level. So, we needed a more direct game and had to make sure we won our duels and seconds.

“I think Edon (Pruti) was brilliant. He spoke me through the game. He let me know when I did well or did bad.

“Getting pegged back to 3-2 is not the best, but we dug in deep and went more defensive with Scotty (Davies) coming in as well.

“We managed to get the job done.”