Rebels march on! Janneh and Makowski fire Slough Town into FA Cup second round

Wiktor Makowski celebrates his goal. Photo: Zak Rana

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Slough Town 2, Altrincham 1

Slough Town are through to the second round of the FA Cup after first half goals from Ansu Janneh and Wiktor Makowski earned the Rebels a deserved 2-1 win over National League visitors Altrincham.

Both sides came into the first-round clash struggling for form and confidence, with Alty having dispensed with the services of long-term manager Phil Parkinson late last month.

Slough were also desperately short on luck and confidence, with illness and injury having ravaged the camp in recent weeks. That contributed in part to their heavy league defeats at Weston Super Mare (5-1) and home to Maidstone United (4-1).

They started this clash in inclement conditions well enough, with Tarik Gidaree bombing down the right side of the Altrincham defence to good effect in the opening 20 minutes. But those barnstorming runs were cut short when his hamstring gave way, the young defender howling in pain as he pulled up.

Slough’s injury problems were mounting, but the man who came on to replace him, Ansu Janneh was celebrating just 12 minutes later when he hooked home Reiss Greenidge’s knockdown from a corner to make it 1-0 in the 32nd minute.

Three minutes later and the Rebels were two goals to the good. The irrepressible Johnny Goddard backheeled the ball cleverly into the path of Tyrese Dyce who swept in a gorgeous low cross that Makowski steered home from close range.

Slough should possibly have made it 3-0 before the break with Jared Myers twice striking over the bar and Jaiden Drakes-Thomas – match winner in the last tie against Enfield Town – striking the inside of the post with an audacious curled finish from the edge of the box.

Adam Desbois was called into action early in the second half to push behind a powerful drive from Alty’s Keaton Ward. But the Rebels didn’t sit back. They went in search of more goals with Davies seeing one of his trademark free kicks saved by Fallon in the 52nd minute.  

Not impressed with his side’s lacklustre efforts, interim boss Neil Gibson rang the changes, bringing on James Gale, Matty Kosylo and Tom Crawford in a triple substitution for Ward, Ollie Crankshaw and Isaac Marriott.

Altrincham got themselves back into the game immediately. For once, the hosts failed to clear their lines and Gale turned and poked a low shot beyond Desbois in the 65th minute.

The dismissal of Elliott Osborne for a stray elbow on Makowski in the 82nd minute robbed Alty of the momentum they had heading into the final minutes. But the 10-men still created their moments of real danger during nine minutes of added time.

Kosylo went close with an effort from just inside the area that was magnificently blocked by Kiki Oshilaja, while the imperious Reiss Greenidge and Davies continued to head and kick the ball away if it came into their vicinity.

The referee eventually called a halt to the game in the pouring rain, but Slough’s players and fans didn’t care a jot as they celebrated wildly with each other.

Rebels assistant boss Tony Fontenelle said: “The torment you have to go through. Those nine minutes of stoppage time felt like another 90 to be honest. But as each minute ticked by, I thought ‘can we hold on?’. The lads were superb and professional in everything they did.

“Reiss (Greenidge) was an absolute man mountain at the back. He was magnificent.

“And Scotty (Davies). There’s no one else in the country that is doing the job that he’s doing. He fully deserves all the accolades that he’ll get.”

Interim Altrincham boss, Gibson added: “Full congratulations to Slough. Any time a team from the division below beats a team above they deserve the congratulations they’ll get. From our point of view, I’m really disappointed by how we played in the first half and there’s no excuses for the manner of our performance in the first half.”