In the first of three successive Slough Town home games I attended, Jacob Borgnis started an FA Trophy tie at home to Gloucester City as a central midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 for Scott Davies’ side.
It was very interesting to see whether he would be ready for first-team football, being thrown into the starting lineup straight away.
If anything he was too keen, giving away a couple of fouls by showing too much eagerness to jump in. As well as the obvious aspect of non-league toughening up the young loanee,
more midfield nous will also come in handy when it is passed down from the more experienced Slough Town midfielders of Ansu Janneh, injured club captain Henry Ochieng and Brian Nelson.
Borgnis’ main attributes in this game seemed to be quick passes to keep play moving, usually after a foul or to find the wide players. In a game when Gloucester City looked to defend and counter, with four big defenders, it was more or less continuous Slough pressure all game, so a lot of Borgy’s role was recycling the ball and tracking back in order to stop counter-attacks, something he was keen to do.
He was part of a fantastic passage of play in the first half, playing in a Slough Town man on the edge of the box, before a quick, flicked one-two almost resulted in the opening goal.
Of course, having a former Reading academy midfielder in Davies as manager will be a massive plus for Borgy’s development, despite Davies now a centre-back, or on the touchline completely.
Was Borgnis the best midfielder on the pitch for Slough? No, that honour goes to Jaiden Drakes-Thomas, an extremely talented player for the level who Slough picked up from the lower divisions. However, it’s not Borgnis’ job to shine in an attacking sense and he certainly went about his business and his defensive midfield duties, acclimatising to men’s football in a positive manner.
He wasn’t incredibly involved in the next game, a 2-0 victory at home to Farnborough in a pivotal relegation clash. In fairness, neither was his central midfield partner Nelson, until Janneh was substituted on and gave the Rebels some much-needed intensity and physicality to seize control of the game, Slough running out 2-0 victors.
He was perhaps unfortunate the following Tuesday night against AFC Totton, when he was substituted off at half-time as one of the victims of a quadruple change made by Davies. Davies referred to his side’s first-half performance as positive – however, with his side 2-0 down, the four changes certainly made an impact, an early second-half goal preceding two dramatic late strikes to earn Slough a 3-2 victory.
All in all, Borgnis looks a tidy player with a good footballing brain, with many a positive review from fellow Slough fans.
