A look at how our players are getting on away from the club
Shaun Rowley’s start to life at Slough Town couldn’t have got off to a much better start as he saved a penalty on debut in a 4-1 win over Cinderford Town. Slough are flying high in the Evo-Stick Southern Premier League and they got off to a good start when Warren Harris put them in front on 23 minutes. Slough then got their second right on the stroke of half time as Gavin James rounded the Cinderford ‘keeper before slotting home and Slough made it 3-0 just six minutes into the second half through Chris Flood.Rowley then had to face two penalties in the space of five second half minutes. The first one saw him sent the wrong way by Jarrad Welch, but he made amends just minutes later when he got down well to his right to keep the same man out. Slough then got their fourth of the afternoon through Gavin James to seal the win, but there was still time for Rowley to make a couple more eye-catching saves in a productive debut.
It wasn’t such a good afternoon for Town’s other loan goalie as Callum Burton was beaten three times for AFC Telford United against Bradford Park Avenue. Bradford took the lead on 35 minutes when a Bradford cross deflected off a Telford defender and looped into the back of the net. The Bucks equalised midway through the second half when Lee Hughes won and converted a penalty. However, some poor Telford defending in the final 10 minutes saw them concede twice meaning Telford now sit 17th in the National League North table, just four points from safety.
Meanwhile, it was a disappointing weekend for our other three non-league loanees as Stourbridge, Oxford City and Skelmersdale United were all on the end of defeats. Ethan Jones, Kaiman Anderson and Callum Grogan all started for their respective sides, but they failed to make much of an impression. Stourbridge were beaten 3-1 by Workington, Oxford City went down 2-1 to East Thurrock and Skelmersdale were defeated 4-0 by league leaders Blyth Spartans.
Finally, up in Scotland, Ross County drew 1-1 with bottom of the table Inverness Caldonian Thistle. Inverness took the lead through Greg Tansey before Jim O’Brien was introduced on 78 minutes and he helped County get an equaliser in the 86th minute when Alex Schalk scored with a powerful drive. O’Brien had earlier tested the Thistle ‘keeper from range with a decent effort.