'Boring but effective' – Davies praises Rebels' resilience after Beveree triumph

Tarik Gidaree. Photo: Cameron Webb

--

A delighted Scott Davies admits he’s been given some ‘food for thought’ by Slough Town’s defensively disciplined away display at Hampton & Richmond Borough on Saturday.

The Rebels were more reserved in the way they approached the game, and it paid dividends, with Davies’ side running out 3-2 winners at the Beveree thanks to a brace from Tarik Gidaree and a free kick from Davies.

There were times when they had to withstand some intense pressure from their hosts, and it looked like they might throw away their chance of victory when Craig Fasanmade scored to make it 3-2 in the closing stages, however, Davies was impressed by the discipline his side showed to grind out their first away win in the league this season.

There were also signs that the Rebels can hurt their opponents with quick counterattacking moves which caused all sorts of problems for Hampton on Saturday.

“It was a massive result,” said Davies. “The messaging was simple. We simplified our way of playing. We didn’t make things too complicated. We wanted to be hard to beat and hard to break down and the boys were exactly that.

“We had to call on our stand-in keeper (Ollie Webber) on a few occasions, and he did his job superbly well. It was a good, spirited performance.

“For us it’s been a long time since we were 2-0 up away from home in a league fixture. But the way we approached the game was very good in terms of our mindset. We knew we were the underdogs, so we told them to go out there and embrace that underdog mentality that we had nothing to lose.

“I thought we played in that manner and fashion. Getting a two-goal advantage was huge. I don’t think a one goal advantage would have been enough. I thought we were good value for that lead in the first half though and it gave us the cushion we needed.

“I think the win will do a lot for our confidence. But it will also do a lot for our thinking and how we approach games when we go away from home.

“We try to be front foot at home and away in terms of how we play, but we were pretty boring in the way we set up on Saturday, but it was effective. It’s given us a bit of food for thought going forward.

“There were many positives from the game, and another positive is the lads we have coming back into the fold. Hopefully sooner than later the more experienced boys will be back to help these boys who are doing extremely well.”

The Rebels raced into a 2-0 goal lead in the first half thanks to Gidaree’s back post finish from Harvey Walker’s low cross and Davies’ special free kick. Gidaree added a second in the 62nd minute to restore the Rebels two-goal cushion and Davies was full of praise for the versatile full-back who he described as a ‘physical monster’.

“He’s such a good athlete that we don’t want to take that (attacking threat) out of his game. He can run past players because he’s a physical monster,” he said.

“I think you see that from his first goal. He’s ran past his man with his athleticism, and he’s got on the end of a cross. For us, he’s got more levels to go up to, and this is only the start for Tarik.

On making it 2-0 with a trademark free kick, Davies added: “Johnny Goddard took the last one and missed so I knew this one was mine.

“I’ve taken three this season and missed them all. They weren’t very good, so I was due to hit the target with one of them and thankfully I found the bottom corner where the keeper left a gap.”

The result lifts the Rebels to 17th in the table and gets the side back to winning ways in the league after consecutive defeats to Torquay United and Hornchurch, matches where they tried to go toe-to-toe with their opponents and were punished for it. They return to league action at bottom club Salisbury on Saturday week (October 18) after this weekend’s FA Cup fourth qualifying round clash with Enfield Town at Arbour Park.