SLOUGH Town exited the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup this season after a 4-2 semi-finals loss away at Maidenhead United on Tuesday.

The Rebels stunned their rivals to take a two-goal lead through Chris Flood – his first club goal – and former Magpie Gavin James.

But, the tie turned on its head when Slough centre back Guy Hollis was shown a straight red card for a tackle on Rene Steer.

Maidenhead pulled a goal back moments later via Dave Tarpey and went on to book their spot in the final after the break. Jordan Cox, captain Sean Marks and James Mulley all found the net.

The Magpies had their share of good fortune when Ryan Peters escaped a second booking early on leaving Slough frustrated by referee James Vallance.

“Everyone knows it should’ve been a second booking for Ryan,” Rebels joint-boss Jon Underwood told the Observer. “The linesman and their bench agreed with us, but the referee wasn’t prepared to send the player off early on in the game.

“We were two goals up at the time and, had they gone down to 10-men, there’s not doubt in my mind that we would have gone on to win the game.

“I’ve seen the video football and the Guy tackle was slightly miss-timed. The referee said it was two-footed but it wasn’t.

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Slough striker Gavin James celebrates scoring against his former club, Maidenhead, on Tuesday.

“I can’t see a massive difference between that one and the other. I just can’t see how one can be a red card and the other is not even a booking.

“Obviously it made a big difference because I thought we were the better side at the time.”

Despite the defeat, Underwood is proud of the performance and believes they can take plenty of encouragement into their return to league action and a visit from Chippenham Town on Saturday (3pm).

He said: “I’m delighted for the players because we’ve not been in great form of late.

“We went two goals ahead and looked liked getting a third rather than Maidenhead get one back, but once we were down to 10-men it was always going to be difficult with the quality they have.

“We had a plan for the second-half and were very disciplined in ourselves. They had great attacking players on the pitch but for 20 minutes we coped very well.

“We looked relatively comfortable which says a lot for our players.

“We ran out of steam a little bit after the equaliser but I was really pleased with how we rallied in the last 10 minutes despite the shift we put in.”