Baker satisfied if talented but inexperienced Rebels squad are competitive

Slough Town's fans can once again dream of promotion and the prospect of reaching the play-offs, after Saturday's 2-1 win at Ebbsfleet United moved them back to within seven points of the top seven.

However, for now at least, and with a hugely talented but inexperienced squad at their disposal, Neil Baker and Jon Underwood will be satisfied if the team are competitive week in and week out.

Last week they picked up only one point from their home games against Hungerford Town (2-2) and Dulwich Hamlet (1-2), but, the Rebels deserved more from those performances, and earned the little luck that came their way in Saturday's hard-working display at the Kufflink Stadium.

The club have also brought through a host of young players from the u23s Academy this season, with several of them going on to play a starring role. The latest of those is Imran Kayani, who played with great spirit and tenacity in Saturday's victory.

“On Tuesday last week, we weren’t brilliant, but we were still competitive,” said Baker. “And there's no way we deserved to lose that game.

“That's all we can ever hope for and expect.

“We've lost some senior players this season and have a lot of youngsters now. In recent games we've had five or six u20s players on the pitch.

“Of course, we've got some good senior players around them, but we've lost Ryan Bird, Warren Harris, and Guy Hollis this season, three big players and we haven't replaced any of them with senior players.

“We've brought in Edon Pruti, who's only 19. He's going to be a very good player, and we've also brought in the likes of Alfonso (Tenconi), Imran (Kayani) and Eitel (Goueth) but they're all young lads.

“It's not going to be perfect every week, but that's where we are as a club. We can't afford to go out and match some of the wages that some teams are paying for players, and sometimes it's for run-of-the-mill players as well.

“We're not going to do that, and there was a perfect example of that on Saturday when we gave Imran his first start and he didn't let us down.

“He was very disciplined and gave us a good all-round performance.

“That was his first start in the league, and it was a really great performance for someone who's only 19.

“It's a nice story actually, with his heritage as his father's father is from Pakistan, and with the links to the local community here in Slough it's nice for Imran to be playing.

“I don’t think there’s enough Asian players in the game but he’s in and around our first team now and doing really well. I'm delighted for him and delighted for the team really.”

The club also announced this week that Eitel Goueth had joined Joseph Lawal on a month’s loan at Kings Langley FC to gain further senior experience.