Andy Munns
Salisbury played out an entertaining goalless draw with Slough Town in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup.
The home side will be disappointed that they could not take advantage of one of their chances to put higher league opposition to the sword.
Salisbury dominated the second half after an even first period, but a combination of Cardiff loanee Rohan Luthra and some bad luck left Salisbury unable to take their chances.
The first half saw both sides evenly matched, with neither really able to cause the other too many issues in the main.
Salisbury were first to have a sight of goal, but Charlie Gunson could not adjust himself to connect correctly with a good Josh Hedges cross from the right, and the ball bounced tamely behind.
Slough’s first real opportunity came from a corner, but Tyrees Dyce, who had risen the highest, was unable to put his header on target.
Salisbury felt they could have had a penalty on 31 minutes as Dan Fitchett raced clear and went down under a challenge from behind from Slough’s Scott Davies. Referee Ross Martin was unmoved, however, and waved away appeals.
With neither keeper having to make a save of note, the sides went in goalless at half-time.
The second half started with Salisburty on the front foot, and they never let their grip on the game slip. Josh Hedges tried to take advantage of a poor defensive header just three minutes into the second half, but his volley from distance didn’t trouble Luthra.
Charlie Gunson was causing all sorts of problems, and he was on the end of two good chances in two minutes as the game approached the hour mark.
First, on 58 minutes, Luthra turned Gunson’s shot over the bar after a low Fitchett cross. Again, Luthra was equal to the challenge two minutes later when Gunson broke the offside trap, but the loanee keeper turned his effort behind.
Luthra was impressing and produced his first real moment of class when climbing high to catch a curling Gunson effort that looked destined for the top corner on 74 minutes, though this wasn’t the pick of the saves.
Arguably, the save of the game came after 79 minutes when Fitchett rose to head a Coppin centre towards goal. Somehow, Luthra managed to get back across the goal, get a strong hand to the ball and push it up and away.
Salisbury kept piling on the pressure, Aaron Simpson put a shot from the edge of the box, and Thomas Leggett had his effort turned over the bar by Lurthra.
As the game went into added time, Salisbury thought they had finally broken down the resilient defence of Slough, only for the offside flag to go up after the ball had bounced around the box, shots had been blocked and another came back off the post.
Salisbury kept pushing, and on 95 minutes, Noah Coppin very nearly produced a bit of magic. Twisting and turning in the box, he finally got away a shot from a narrow-angle that Luthra did incredibly well to get down to and turn away.
The game ended 0-0, but the crowd of 761 left having been entertained, and Salisbury will look forward to Tuesday’s replay in Slough with anticipation.
Feature Image: Andrew Palk
