SLOUGH Town have dropped points in the race for promotion from the Southern Premier Division this season after a 1-1 draw with Kings Langley on Tuesday.

Captain Alan Inns gave the Rebels the lead with a header on 29 minutes at Arbour Park - his second goal in 14 appearances for the club.

Matt Ball equalised from the penalty spot on 73 minutes after Nathan Smart was adjudged to have handled the ball inside the box.

The draw means Slough have dropped one place to sixth position in the league table, two points outside the play-off spots but with at least three matches in hand on the sides above them.

The Rebels joint-manager Jon Underwood told the Observer: “I’m disappointed to draw but it’s probably a fair result. Over the course of the game Kings Langley deserve their point.

“I thought in the first half we were the better side without being brilliant or creating lots of chances. I felt we were in control of the game.

“They had one free-kick out of the blue that hit the bar but in open play they had not hurt us.

“We didn’t create loads but we were reasonably happy at half-time. You’re not going to play brilliantly every week.

“We said to them at half-time you’re in control of the game so don’t change what you are doing, keep possession of the ball and make them work hard to chase you.

“But, for whatever reason, we didn’t do that as well in the second half and too many errors crept into our game. Giving the ball away and unforced errors at times that then put us under pressure.

“We gave Kings Langley a bit of belief that they could get something out of the game and they started to look a threat to be honest.

“We created less and less as the game went on unfortunately and didn’t seem to have as much energy about us. We were a little bit flat as a performance but you’re going to get that.

“We can’t play well every week and need to learn how to win games when we’re not at our best, and unfortunately we seem to have to play well to win.

“The teams that get promoted out of leagues like this wins games when they do not play well and unfortunately we don’t seem to have that in our make-up at the moment.”

Underwood continued: “You always want that second goal to give you a bit of a cushion.

“The longer it goes at 1-0 Kings Langley believe they can nick something and they’ve done it before. They did it at Kettering the other week, got a 1-1 with a late goal.

“They stayed in the game and looked more threatening and Jack turner made two really good saves to earn us a point in the end, so we can’t feel too hard done by.

“I’m not sure about the penalty. There was areal mixed opinion from the people around it.

“Nathan leant his chest into the ball, his arm was by his side, and he said the ball hit him in the chest but the referee said it hit him on the arm.

“It’s very difficult to tell. I would like to see the video, not that it makes any difference because the referee has made his decision.

“One Kings Langley got that goal we didn’t really threaten enough. We had a few corners and set-pieces, but just looked a little bit flat in the second half and we need to work out why.”

Commenting on the race for promotion, Underwood said: “It has to be two points dropped.

“We never thought it was going to be easy. Kings Langley have taken points off high-placed teams but we targeted six points from these two matches and ended up with four.

“It’s not the end of the world. We are not going to win every week, we’re going to drop points and all the teams that are battling for promotion are dropping points, sometimes when you don’t expect them to.”

Slough make the journey to seventh-placed Tiverton Town this Saturday (3pm), before Redditch United visit Arbour Park next Tuesday (7.45pm).

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