Makowski warns Rebels to stay humble as Slough Town's revival continues

Wiktor Makowski celebrates with his teammates and player manager Scott Davies after Saturday’s win. Photo: Zak Rana

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Three straight league wins have lifted the Rebels away from the National League South relegation zone and up to 16th, but Saturday’s match-winner against Eastbourne Borough, Wiktor Makowski, wants to see the side sustain this run of form.

Scott Davies’ Rebels have been much improved in recent weeks, coming from behind to beat Maidenhead United 3-1 on Boxing Day before signing off for 2025 with a 3-0 home win over Chesham United.

Those results lifted the Rebels away from the bottom four and they built on that form and momentum with Saturday’s 2-1 win over Eastbourne at Arbour Park, Kiki Oshilaja – his third goal in as many matches – and Makowski getting the home side’s goals.

The result keeps the Rebels moving upwards, but Makowski has warned his teammates they must keep their heads to avoid being ‘humbled’ in this competitive division.

He also credits this recent run of form to the team bonding weekend the club put on for the players after their painful FA Cup exit to Macclesfield before Christmas.

“We feel like we’re starting to get together a bit more,” said Makowski. “We had a bonding weekend out which was probably needed, and we’ve since had three wins on the bounce.

“We won a couple of local derbies and have just beaten a full-time team who were top of the league last season if I’m not mistaken.

“We have momentum now and we just need to keep it up.”

Having fallen behind in the 15th minute to a sweeping finish from former Rebel George Alexander, the hosts levelled matters on the half-hour when Oshilaja continued his recent scoring form with a fine finish on the turn. Makowski then settled the contest on the hour mark, running onto Jared Myers’ through ball before firing across the keeper and into the bottom corner of the net.

“We spoke about it at half-time, but the wind was absolutely killing us,” added Makowski.

“We couldn’t get the ball past the halfway line but in the second half it was much better. The clearances and our passages of play were much better in the second half. In the end, we got our second goal from that, and we kept a clean sheet in the second half and won the game.”

Makowski judged his run for the Rebels’ second goal to perfection to avoid being flagged offside.

“I knew I was onside,” he added. “As soon as I saw the linesman was running alongside me, I knew I was onside. My job at that point was just to go and finish it. It went in and we won 2-1 so I’m pleased with that.”

The Rebels now visit bottom of the table Chippenham Town this Saturday, looking to record a fourth straight league win and there’s a general sense that the players have started to pull together for each other to get the club moving in the right direction. Last night’s (Monday) scheduled clash at Chelmsford City was postponed due to a frozen pitch at Melbourne Stadium.

“We’ve started to pull in the same direction,” said Makowski. “We need to defend more as a team, rather than letting defenders defend and attackers’ attack.

“We’ve started to concede fewer goals as well and when you do that you win more games. We scored three against Maidenhead, three against Chesham and two today. It could have been more today, but they could have scored more as well so 2-1 was a fair result.

“We’re confident but we also must be humble. You can be humbled very quickly in this league. We’ve only won three on the bounce. We have an aim for the end of the season and we’re getting closer every single match we win.”