SLOUGH HC captain Kate McGonigle believes her side did not deserve to lose to East Grinstead on Saturday, writes Dave Wright.

They looked to be in with a chance of securing at least a point when they led 1-0 with a little over 20 minutes remaining, but then poor defending saw them concede two goals in quick succession and lose 1-2.

McGonigle said: “We are all very disappointed. We scored first and and then had a number of chances which we didn’t put away and we were made to pay for that in the second half.

“I think a draw would have been a fair result. We deserved a point from the way we played in the first half and they deserved one for their performance in the second half.”

Over the whole game, however, the Pink ‘n’ Blacks created the better chances.

They were soon applying pressure on an East Grinstead defence that included Rio gold medallist Laura Unsworth and deservedly went ahead on 15 minutes.

Betsy Ommala created the opening on the left and hit a good ball towards the far post, where Amy Sheehan turned it past keeper Kirsty Mackay from close range.

It was only the third goal they have scored in front of their home fans this season and they went in search of more.

Dilly Newton was not far away with a shot that sailed just wide of the post and Lou Bevan saw her effort saved by Mackay.

Harriet Ward then created a chance that ended with Ommala firing wide before Sheehan, nicely set up by Hannah Bowe, was foiled by the England goalie.

Towards the end of the first half, the west Sussex side did start to come more into the game, but Slough were quick to counter-attack and fully deserved their lead at the interval.

The second 35 minutes, however, brought a totally different story and this time it was the home side’s turn to defend as EG upped the tempo and played with a lot more intensity.

McGonigle and her defence held out until the 49th minute. Then they failed to clear their lines and needlessly conceded a penalty corner and Alice Pyrgos deflected the ball past keeper Asha Tranquille-Day.

It was similar to the goal the same player had scored when her side defeated Slough by the solitary goal at Saint Hill last month.

The Pink ‘n’ Blacks were still recovering from that goal when they conceded again. They were undone by Zoe Burrell’s long ball from the right which flew across the circle to the unmarked Ciara Brannagan and the 17-year-old hammered it first time into the net.

McGonigle commented: “As far as we felt, we conceded two weak goals that should have been prevented. We should have cleared the first one before conceding the corner and then the deflection. As for the second, we failed to stop the ball from coming across the D.”

This was Slough’s sixth successive home defeat in the Investec League, leaving them at third from bottom going into the mid-season break.

The indoor league starts on December 17-18 with four fixtures all being played in Telford.

Slough Men

SLOUGH Men extended their 100-per-cent record in the MBB&O Regional Two to 10 games when winning 4-2 away to second-bottom West Hamptead.

Navdeep Sharma netted two goals with Bobbie Bansal, their leading scorer this season, and Ranjeev Deol adding one apiece.

With an impressive goals record of 47 for and just nine against, the Upton Court Park side lead the table by seven points from Amersham & Chalfont in second place.

Slough complete the first half of the season with a home game against the fourth-placed club, British Airways, tomorrow (Saturday).