SLOUGH Town extended their unbeaten run in the National League South to five matches after a 2-2 draw with St Albans City on Saturday, writes Rob Stevens.

Brothers Lee and Sam Togwell scored the goals as the Rebels battled hard but could not gain all three points at Arbour Park.

The home team dominated early on and took the lead midway through the first half when a Matthew Lench corner caused confusion in the St Albans defence and Sam Togwell took advantage to head in.

Slough then had keeper Jack Turner to thank for keeping them ahead, producing a spectacular save to keep out a free-kick from Saints captain Tom Bender.

The visitors did equalise on the stroke of half-time as a cushioned header from Sam Merson fell into the path of David Moyo to strike home.

The second half burst into life when Rebels defender Guy Hollis conceded a penalty. The resulting spot kick from Merson was well hit but Turner produced a fantastic save low to his right.

Slough found the net again in the 75th minute. Lee Togwell fired a loose ball toward goal from the edge of the box and, thanks to a favourable deflection, was able to bag his fifth goal of the season.

It did not take long for St Albans to level the scores however as a back post header from Bender was fumbled by Turner and the ball crossed the goal line after 80 minutes.

Slough joint-manager Jon Underwood told the Observer: “It was a funny game really and probably quite an entertaining one for the neutral.

“We didn’t do enough to win in terms of how we defended. We were quite sloppy defensively in terms of the goals and penalty we conceded.

“We were brilliant defensively at Woking and we started well on Saturday. We got ourselves in front but, for whatever reason, complacency set in and we switched off.

“We weren’t good enough in the middle third of the match and let St Albans back in. We started and finished the stronger and were pushing for the winner at the end, but how we played in the middle third was probably the reason why we couldn’t win.

“We were below or defensive standards and you can’t do that in this league.

“The St Albans manager felt they were unlucky not to win because of the missed penalty and our second goal was a deflection. You can always look at things from another point of view, but their keeper made a great save at 1-0.

“If we had gone two goals ahead we probably would’ve won the game no problem but, based on the way we defended, it’s hard to say we deserved to win.

“A draw was probably a fair result but both sides will be disappointed not to have won. We will take the point and move on.”

The draw means the Rebels remain in 11th position in the league table and seven points behind the play-off spots with five matches remaining this season.

Slough make the trip across Berkshire to fifth-from-bottom Hungerford Town this Saturday (3pm).