SHC team:	3^rd XI
SHC captain:	Harmeet Najjhur / Parm Sandhu
Match date:	06/10/2007
Opposition team	Bracknell 2’s (Home)
Final Score:	4-1
Scorers and time:	A. Flora (1) H. Atwal (2) A. Teja (1)
Man of the Match:	A. Flora
First-half
Slough 3’s continued their strong start to the season having gained promotion last season for the fourth consecutive season. Having beaten their close rivals from last season, Newbury, in their opening game Slough faced Bracknell 2nds who came from an 8-1 drubbing of Gerrards Cross in their opening game the previous weekend. Both sides looked well matched in the opening quarter hour and although Slough made several good chances, their forwards were wasteful in the “D”. Bracknell played good strong counter attacking hockey and took their opportunity to go ahead through one of their quick attacks that left the Slough defence standing and the goalkeeper wrong footed. At 0-1 up Bracknell looked the more threatening in attack but Slough held out with their defence more aware of the threat and playing solidly to quash the Bracknell attacks. Slough seemed more determined now and were soon creating chances again with young debutants Amraj Flora and Arron Thind playing some excellent hockey. Sloughs positive attacking play paid dividends as Amraj Flora and Papu Atwal struck in quick succession to put Slough 2-1 ahead. Slough were looking in good control with centre-half Sukhi Panesar skilfully controlling the middle as they went into the half time break.
Second-half
The second half saw some formation changes with some added forward line threat from veteran Surjit Sandhu. This paid off quickly as Surjit nicked the ball past the defender and Papu Atwal latched on to the ball, nutmegging the last defender and finishing coolly to put Slough 3-1 ahead. Shortly after this, Surjit picked up an excellent pass from Sukhi Panesar and dribbled well past the two defenders but with only the keeper to beat his shot was mis-hit and went well wide. Bracknell continued to fight back and were unfortunate when they seemed to have scored but were denied the goal due to the ball hitting a foot. The Bracknell players reaction suggested they were unfairly denied a good goal. Slough again adjusted their formation to a stronger defensive formation and although Bracknell continued to be fight hard, it was Slough again who used their experience to create the greater attacking threats and were rewarded with a well taken goal from Apinder Teja on his return back from injury. This completed the scoring at 4-1 although Slough created several more chances and youngsters Araj and Arron did all the right things but could only hit the ball inches just wide of each post.
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