JON Underwood has challenged Slough Town to turn Arbour Park into a fortress and cement their place at the top of the Southern Premier Division table.

The Rebels marked their long-awaited homecoming into the new stadium with a win against Hayes & Yeading United in front of a capacity 1,400 crowd last month.

Slough have gone from strength to strength ever since as a hat-trick of away wins have moved the club to the top of the table and into the third qualifying round of the FA Cup.

Underwood believes The Rebels are doing all they can on the pitch to inspire fresh support and, with a run of five home games set to get under way this Saturday with the visit of Biggleswade Town (3pm), he hopes more people will back the high-flyers.

“We’re looking forward to getting back into Arbour Park because it has been three weeks since we last played there,” Slough’s joint-boss told the Observer.

“We want to push on now because we’re at the top of the table and there to be shot at. Teams tend to raise their games against the side at the top so we have to deal with that.

“We’ve started well here [Arbour Park] and have a string of games to set ourselves up for a good run. We want to make it a bit of a fortress.

“People off the pitch are doing their bit to drum-up interest and we can’t do a lot more in it. We’ve won seven in a row and have got to be the team in form.

“We want people to come down and have a look. Slough is a big place and there are people that haven’t been down yet.

“I would like to think people want to come down, have a look and see what we are about.

“We’re hitting form at just the right time and hopefully people will enjoy watching us.

“We averaged about 280 at Beaconsfield and I see no reason why we can’t double that at Arbour Park, with the [FA] Cup game getting close to the four-figure mark.

Slough Observer:

PHOTO: Arbour Park could become a fortress for Slough Town with a run of five home matches in the coming weeks.

“It’s up to us to keep on winning and at the minute we are, but we need good performances at home now.

“It’s definitely a fantastic time to be involved with the club and long may it continue.”

This week sees Biggleswade visit on Saturday and then promotion rivals Leamington next Tuesday [7.45pm], and Underwood expects two very different games.

He said: “We know Biggleswade and their manager [Chris Nunn] very well, and we always have competitive games against them.

“They’ve not had the start they would have hoped for but we know they’re a good side and it won’t be easy. But, we’ve been on a great run so want to keep on winning games.

“We want a win on Saturday to set ourselves up for Tuesday’s encounter.”

Underwood added: “Leamington got to the play-off final last season and have gained a couple of players.

“They’re a side I expect to be in the top five and have the joint-best defensive record with ourselves [five goals conceded].

“They were very good defensively last year so I’m not expecting a high-scoring game. It’ll be very close.”

Slough have been handed a home draw in the FA Cup third qualifying round against Dartford.

The National League South club will visit Arbour Park on Saturday October 1 (3pm).

Underwood commented: “You are hoping for a home draw against a lower-league side, but if you’re going on a cup run you need to beat the higher teams at some point.

“Dartford are a good and experienced side at that level so we know it’ll be very tough.

“If we come out of the two league games with positive results we can go into it with plenty of confidence."