PREVIEW

Steve Harris

@steveharris84

MATCH DETAILS

Slough Town versus Torquay United

Venue: Arbour Park

Date: Saturday 26th August 2023

Kick-off: 3pm

HEAD TO HEAD

Slough Town: 0

Draw: 1

Torquay: 2

SLOUGH FACTFILE

Year founded: 1890.

Nickname: The Rebels

Last season’s league finish: 18^th in National League South

Slough Town notable honours:

FA Amateur Cup:

Runners-up: 1972-73

OPPOSITION Q&A – Slough Town by Max Roscoe

MANAGER – SCOTT DAVIES

One of two player-managers in the National League South, midfielder Scott Davies is a familiar opponent of the Gulls from his playing days, most notably with Aldershot Town and Wycombe Wanderers.

A former Republic of Ireland international at Under-19 and Under-21, Davies started his senior professional career with Reading and was loaned out to a number of clubs, most notably Aldershot and Wycombe. He won the Blue Square Premier title with the Shots in the 2007-08 campaign. Davies then joined Crawley Town in 2011 before moving onto Oxford United prior to dropping into non-league football.

He is currently in his second spell with the Rebels and became player-manager in November 2022, following a brief stint in caretaker charge.

DAVIES STATS

Appointed: 23rd November 2022

Date of Birth: 10/03/1988 (35)

Other Clubs Managed: N/A

PLAYER TO WATCH – GEORGE ALEXANDER

The son of former Hull City, Leyton Orient, Millwall and Brentford striker Gary Alexander, George Alexander recently joined the Rebels on loan from National League side Bromley. Alexander junior started his career with Millwall and made a solitary appearance before joining Bromley in 2021.

ALEXANDER STATS

Position: Striker

Date of Birth: 14/10/00 (22)

Birthplace: London

Height: 1.85m

Former Clubs: Millwall, Bromley, Welling

NLS Stats 23/24: Appearances 1 Goals 0, Yellow/Red Cards 0/0

OLD BOYS

Slough Town: None

Torquay United: None

POSSIBLE LINE-UPS

Slough Town (4-1-2-1-2)

Hubert Groczyk

Josh Jackman – Temi Eweka – Dan Bayliss – Tyrese Dyce

Scott Davies

Munashe Sundrie – Jeanmal Prosper

Tom McElroy

George Alexander – Nathan Minhas

Torquay United (4-4-2)

Mark Halstead

Shaun Donnellan, Ross Marshall, Ollie Tomlinson, Dan Martin

Jack Stobbs, Will Jenkins Davies, Tom Lapslie, Dillon De Silva

Aaron Jarvis, Lewis Collins

LAST MEETING

4th January 2019

Torquay United 4-0 Slough Town – NLS

Torquay United set a new club record of 16 consecutive unbeaten league matches to extend their lead at the top of National League South to five points with victory over ten man Slough.

In a match that saw manager Gary Johnson begin a two-match touchline ban, United were denied an opener in the 12^th minute as Kalvin Kalala combined with Saikou Janneh on the right hand side to set up Janneh – but his effort was punched behind for a corner by Slough keeper Jack Turner.

On the stroke of half-time, Slough were reduced to ten men when Ben Harris received a straight red for inciting the crowd – within a minute of being booked for fouling United left-back Liam Davis.

The Gulls made their numerical advantage count three minutes after the restart when Ben Wynter powered home his first goal for the club with a shot from the edge of the area.

United doubled their lead on 64 minutes when Jake Andrews drilled a free-kick from the edge of the area into the bottom corner.

With three minutes to go, United extended their advantage to three when substitute Ruairi Keating tapped home a cross from Kalala to score his fifth of the campaign.

However – the Gulls weren’t finished there as skipper Asa Hall scored a fourth in injury time.