Ogo Obi Scores A Beauty As Hemel Hempstead Win Away At Arbour Park Against Slough Town
By Athif Riyas
Hemel Hempstead grabbed their second away win of the season as they ran out 2-0 winners against Slough Town on the 8th of October, pushing the Hertfordshire based team into 13th place in the Vanarama National League South.
Slough Town started the quicker of the two teams with Dan Roberts fizzing in a low cross which was cleared out of danger. Moments later a strong header from Matt Lench rebounded of the crossbar, falling to Johnny Goddard who’s effort fell just wide of the post.
Slough continued to create dangerous chances during the early exchanges with Hemel’s goalkeeper Craig King being forced into a fine reflex save following a powerful header from Lee Togwell.
Copyright: Fanny Schertzer
However, against the run of play, it was Hemel Hempstead who broke the deadlock in the 31st minute with one of their first real ventures into the Slough half. A move down the left side of the pitch ended with forward Ogo Obi cutting inside and curling a beautiful shot into the far right corner, leaving Slough goalkeeper Rhys Forster with no chance.
Both sides came out with energy and purpose, with Slough’s George Wells heading just wide ten minutes into the half. Moments later, Hemel came close to doubling their lead when Jordan Greenidge got on the end of a cross, however Forster was equal to it and produced a fine save.
Hemel Hempstead started to control the possession more as the half went on and in the 76th minute, substitute Bayley Brown got on the end of Jernade Meade’s free kick to head home Hemel’s second goal of the game, securing the 3 points for Mark Jones’ side.
After the game, Jones was full of praise for his players, citing his players attitude as one of the key reasons for the victory.
“Delighted with the win as always, it’s not easy to win games of football at this level, the attitude of the players was very good, it was a fantastic strike from Ogo Obi, he’s turned the lad and smashed it in the top corner from twenty yards.”
Slough Town manager Neil Baker reflected on this defeat after the game and spoke on his analysis of the game.
“First half we were very good, we should’ve been in front… I don’t think we played anywhere near as well second half.”
Baker also spoke about how injuries to key forwards Ben Harris and Elliot Benyon has affected their attacking play.
“There’s no hiding that we’re missing forwards, we tried to bring one in this week and that didn’t happen. We’ve got two experienced, excellent forwards sitting on the side-lines, we’ve got to try to work with what we’ve got.”
This result pushes Hemel Hempstead to 13th ahead of their home game to Eastborne Borough next Saturday where they will look to carry this momentum forward.
Slough Town will look to bounce back from this defeat next Saturday as they travel away to Dover Athletic.