Remarkable turnaround against AFC Totton fuels Rebels belief ahead of big clashes

Photo credit: Zak Rana

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Assistant boss Tony Fontenelle believes he could walk away from football a happy man if Slough Town can do the unthinkable in a couple of weeks and beat Macclesfield to reach the third round of the FA Cup.

However, while that’s a tantalising prospect, and at the back of everyone’s mind at Arbour Park, Fontenelle insists that everyone associated with the club is currently focused on the Rebels’ ‘bread and butter’ of improving their position in the National League South.

They’ve gone some way towards doing that in the past couple of weeks, with impressive home wins over Farnborough (2-0) and AFC Totton (3-2) lifting Scott Davies’ side out of the relegation zone.

They picked up six points from a possible nine, with the Rebels also losing 2-1 at home to an in-form Worthing side on Saturday, but any disappointment from the weekend was banished by the side’s excellent come-from-behind victory over Totton.

The Rebels trailed 2-0 at the break thanks to a brace from former player Malachi Linton - and Fontenelle feared it wouldn’t be their side’s night when the players came off for half-time.

But he and Davies made the bold decision to make four changes, with Jared Myers, Ansu Janneh, Peter Ojemen and Brian Nelson brought on for Jacob Bourgnis, Tyrique Clarke, Tyrese Dyce and Jaiden Drakes-Thomas and two of those players - Myers and Ojemen scored as the home side turned the match on its head.

Myers scored just minutes after coming on at half-time while Ojemen steered home the side’s second with eight minutes to play. Johnny Goddard then entered the fray for the final push, and he scored a 90th minute winner from the spot after Dan Roth had been tripped in the area.

“We went with what we felt was an energetic side and we wanted to start the game strong, but low and behold, they scored in the first few minutes,” said Fontenelle.

“We found ourselves a goal down even though we started the game well.

“We created some good opportunities. Witkor Makowski hit the post. We were going along okay, but if you don’t take your chances, you’re always susceptible to being punished.

“A long ball caught our backline out and their forward has put the ball away. Totton were then in the ascendancy, and they were 2-0 up.

“We didn’t finish the half strongly and I felt it may not be our night. But we got in at half-time, re-evaluated and regrouped and Scotty made the bold decision to make four substitutions. That wasn’t aimed at the four players who came off, because truth be told any of the outfield players could have come off. But it was just a case of telling them this is the new plan and the boys bought into it.

“Fortunately, it doesn’t happen all the time, but two of those subs scored with Jared (Myers) getting us back into the game and Peter (Ojemen) getting the second. Adam Desbois has made a brilliant save at 2-1.

“Dan Roth was poleaxed in the area late on and Johnny (Goddard) has put away the penalty, and it felt like a cup tie. We felt relief that we managed to get that win.”

Fontenelle said the decision to bring off four players at half-time wasn’t at all a reflection on them, or how well they played, because he said any of the starting outfield players could have been taken off. He praised them for accepting that decision but said they’ve been working with the players to adopt a more neutral mindset to being a starter or a substitute in matches.

“You’ve got starters, you’ve got impactors and you’ve got finishers, so we try and have all of the lads in a positive frame of mind going into a game,” he said.

“They’re there to do a job and we need them to be neutral in their mindset.

“We don’t want them to sulk and understand that we will change the team, whether that’s rightly or wrongly. And we will change the squad to try and get the most from each game. It’s never anything personal against any of the lads.

“We had to roll the dice. Some weeks it works out, some weeks it doesn’t.

“But in previous weeks we haven’t had the luxury of being able to make those decisions because we just haven’t had the strength in depth due to injuries. We appear to be coming through that now and have a lot more lads at our disposal.”

Making changes is a luxury Slough Town couldn’t afford a few weeks ago when the squad was beset by injury.

At one stage this season nine potential starters were on the sidelines, and the team were battling their way through matches with a young and inexperienced squad.

Not surprisingly, results suffered and the Rebels began to slip down the table, but Fontenelle is confident the team is better than their current league position of 20th suggests.

He hopes they can now go away to Dover Athletic on Saturday and back up this week’s positive results and put everyone in a good mindset for their TNT Sport televised FA Cup second round clash with National League North side Macclesfield at Arbour Park on Sunday, December 7.

Fontenelle hopes that when the game comes around the players can enjoy and embrace the occasion.

“We had a small squad at the start of the season, but the injuries we received were unprecedented,” said Fontenelle.

“At one point we had nine players out and seven of them would have been likely starters. More than 50 per cent of our starting 11.

“We haven’t yet been able to put our full-strength side out yet, and if we hadn’t had these injuries, there’s no way we’d be in the position we’re in now. But we’re not hiding behind that, that’s football. You just must work with the cards you’re dealt with.

“We’d like to come away from the Dover game with a point minimum and all three if we can.

“The Macclesfield game is at the back of your mind, but the league is our bread and butter. That has to be the sole focus of what we’re doing and to be fair to the lads none of them has mentioned the FA Cup.

“No one has had any conversations about it. But once we do get the Dover game out of the way I’m sure our focus will turn to that game. It’s going to be massive. Some of the lads haven’t played in a TV game so there’s that added pressure, but we’ve got to embrace it.

“This is the fruits of our labour and enjoy the day as best we can. These opportunities don’t come around very often.

“In all the years I’ve been involved in football it’s the first time I’ve been involved in the second round of the FA Cup.

“What will be will be. If we do the unthinkable, oh man, I think I can walk away from football a happy person.”