Tonbridge's late sting leaves Slough's survival bid bruised at Arbour Park

Kiki Oshilaja was on target for Slough on Saturday. Photo: Zak Rana

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Slough Town 2, Tonbridge Angels 3

Slough Town’s survival hopes suffered a setback at Arbour Park on Saturday as they were beaten by the odd goal in five by Tonbridge Angels.

The Rebels headed into the contest off the back of arguably their performance of the season in the 3-0 win at Hemel Hempstead Town.

But they failed to build on that impressive display, despite taking a first minute lead through Wiktor Makowski.

Tonbridge hit back with goals from Noah McCann in the eighth minute and Tom Leahy in the 34th before Kiki Oshilaja continued his recent scoring form for the Rebels by heading the home side level before half-time.

After a breathless first period, the second half was more sedate. Both teams had their openings, but it was Tonbridge who stole the points through Bunmi Babajide’s goal in the 80th minute. The Rebels tried to rouse themselves once more but on this occasion an equaliser proved to be beyond them.

The result leaves Scott Davies’ side six points above the relegation zone in 18th place. They’re back on the road on Tuesday evening when they travel to Bath City, with the Romans currently just a place below them in the National League South table.

The best of the action from yesterday's National League South match against Tonbridge Angels.#OneSloughhttps://t.co/QyAnaWpGpl

— Slough Town FC (@sloughtownfc) January 25, 2026

Makowski has been in fine form for the Rebels this season after joining from Flackwell Heath in the summer. Having scored the opener at Hemel, he was at it again in the opening seconds on Saturday, making the most of the Angels’ failure to clear a long ball before tucking a tidy finish into the bottom corner.

The Rebels lost Ruben Shakpoke to injury, with Reading’s on loan forward Basil Tuma coming on to replace him, but within seconds of the switch, Tonbridge were level when Noah McCann headed home from a corner.

The Rebels responded reasonably well to the setback and had the ball in the back of the net once again through Makowski after a good spell of pressure, but unfortunately the forward had strayed offside.

Having failed to take some chances, Tonbridge weren’t so wasteful and they took the lead in the 34th minute when Leahy capitalised on some poor defending to calmly stroke the visitors in front.

The hosts were level three minutes later when a well-worked move ended in Makowski crossing for Oshilaja to head home via the post. Makowski nearly had his second a couple of minutes later – although he knew very little about it. Charging down the keeper’s kick, the ball rebounded off Makowski’s head and bobbled just wide of the post.

Slough could claim to be the better side for much of the second period, with Johnny Goddard swivelling and sending a shot narrowly wide and Makowski sending a bullet header just over the crossbar. But it was Tonbridge who grabbed the winner through Babajide in the 80th minute, and despite throwing caution to the wind in the closing stages, Slough couldn’t conjure up a late equaliser.

They came close through Tyrique Clarke in stoppage time, the midfielder guiding his effort wide of the post after good work from Tyrese Dyce to lay on the chance.

So, it proved another frustrating day for the Rebels. They’ve picked up a lot of points of late but have also lost winnable matches at Chippenham Town and now home to Tonbridge. They’ll hope for better at Bath City tomorrow evening.