"It wasn't fair on the player or the game" – Slough boss Davies fumes at Ojemen red

Photo credit: Zak Rana

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Scott Davies believes the red card issued to Peter Ojemen in Saturday’s 5-2 defeat to league leaders Hornchurch will surely be rescinded as it was ‘unfair on the player and on the game’ which became less of a contest in the second half.

Both teams looked reasonably well matched in the opening 40 minutes as Tom Wraight’s crashing shot cancelled out Johnny Goddard’s curled opener for the Rebels.

However, the straight red card issued to Ojemen following a clash with Charlie Pegrum in the minutes before half-time, tilted the scales firmly in favour of the visitors. And, though they conceded again to Ruben Bartlett-Antwi’s smart finish in the second half, they eventually made their extra man count to overwhelm the Rebels and secure a 5-2 victory.

The result keeps Hornchurch top of the table by a point from Weston Super Mare, but the outcome at Arbour Park could have been very different had the referee not felt compelled to dismiss Ojemen when most inside the ground didn’t see too much wrong with a 50/50 clash that looked to be painful for both players.

Action from the Rebels' home defeat against the league leaders yesterday. #OneSloughhttps://t.co/F7q7JFzHvE

— Slough Town FC (@sloughtownfc) September 21, 2025

Although Davies didn’t mention it in his post-match interview with Connor McNeish for Sloughtownfc.net, the decision not to award Slough a penalty for what looked a clear push and trip on Tarik Gidaree in the first half, also enraged Slough supporters. Had that penalty been awarded, and Hornchurch reduced to 10 men, Slough would surely have taken something from a game they’d started reasonably well.

“It was a pretty evenish game. They had a couple of chances, we had a couple of chances,” said Davies.

“We got into some good areas, ended up scoring a decent goal, Johnny has got himself into a good area and Josh found him with a great chance. Then we concede one with a deflection off me, but on that one I thought the lad was off beforehand.

“And then the game was ruined by a decision, there’s no contact between the two players until they collide hips with each other. Enough said.

“He said it was a high foot, and he’s caught the player. I said where is the mark on the player. He then said if I’ve got it wrong, I’m the kind of person to apologise. Unless you’re certain you don’t say a comment like that. If you’re dead certain you say I’ve seen it with my own eyes and it’s a red card. When you say I’ll apologise if I’ve got it wrong, that tells you all you need to know and that he’s not sure. You can’t give it.

“We’ve watched it in slow motion, fast motion, the ball goes past both players, there’s no contact and they go into each other, and the red card is issued.

“That will be rescinded, I’m sure, it must be because it’s not fair on Peter and it’s not fair on the game and it ruined the second half, even though we went 2-1 up. It was backs-against-the-wall, and it was a tough day against the league leaders who have some top players and a fantastic manager.”

Striker Wiktor Makowski also played his part in a difficult game for the Rebels, weaving his way past players to set up Bartlett-Antwi for Slough’s second goal. And while he was somewhat critical of the Rebels attacking performance, he felt the referee’s decisions in the first half heavily influenced the outcome.

Superb linkup play between Wiktor and Ruben for this goal yesterday

Ionut Dates#OneSlough pic.twitter.com/zxdMPloeSM

— Slough Town FC (@sloughtownfc) September 21, 2025

“Of course they changed the game, because we would have gone 2-1 up, and we wouldn’t have gone down to 10 men,” he said.

“They were key decisions in the game, and he got both wrong in my opinion. We’ll look back on it and if he got them right then fair play to him, but from where I was it looked wrong.

“We didn’t create enough or keep the ball up top well enough. There were a lot of things we didn’t do well enough. Those are the key margins. Their through balls are perfect and our through balls are a bit in-between.

“We had two chances as well to make it 3-1. They were massive chapters in the game where if you don’t score them, and they do, then it goes to 5-2 rather than 4-2 to us. We love hitting them on the break, but they played very well in the second half.

“The first half was very even and the first 15 of the second half was even as well but after that, when you have 10 men and you’re running, running, running, you just tire. They just kept bringing players on with more energy. Fair play to them, they played well but I don’t think 5-2 was deserved.”

The result has left the Rebels 19th in the National League South table, two points above the relegation places. Their next league game is a trip to Hampton & Richmond Borough on Saturday, October 4.

Hampton have started the season well. They sit fifth after losing only one of their first nine matches.

Slough Town will look to move on from last weekend’s frustrations when they visit Bedfont Sports in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

Bedfont sit 15th in the Isthmian League South Central Division table having made a mixed start to their campaign, however, they’ve knocked Kingstonian, Littlehampton Town and Hanwell Town out of the FA Cup during an impressive run to the third qualifying round.

Slough will go into the tie as favourites, but having taken two bites of the cherry to see off Welling United in the last round, Davies won’t be taking their progression for granted.