AFC Totton
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Like AFC Totton, early promise led to end of season disappointment for Sholing in 2021/22. The Boatmen were riding high in the Southern League Div.1 South table for a spell prior to Christmas before finally ending up in 7th place on 63 points, having accumulated a total of 11 league defeats.
Dave Diaper’s men failed to put together any back-to-back wins in the second half of the league campaign, dropping from 2nd place in mid-December to allow Plymouth Parkway, Cirencester Town, Winchester City, Bristol Manor Farm and AFC Totton to all overtake them before the season's end.
However, the Boatmen have started the 2022/23 campaign firing on all cylinders to position themselves top of the fledgling league table prior to the Bank Holiday weekend, which they will begin by visiting Evesham United on Saturday while the Stags travel to Frome Town. Sholing followed up their comfortable 3-1 away win at Slimbridge on the opening day with an emphatic 5-1 thumping of Melksham Town three days later. Lee Wort and Daniel Mason were on target in both matches, with Wort helping himself to a hat-trick to shove Melksham to the bottom of the table on Goal Difference. Sholing have also made progress in the FA Cup, defeating Wessex League Premier side AFC Portchester at home in last Friday night’s Preliminary Round tie to ensure participation in the 1st Qualifying Round.
An encounter on Portsmouth Road in the Southern League Challenge Cup was Totton’s only success over Sholing last season, when Jordan Ragguette (pictured) starred in an impressive 4-1 win. But the Boatmen did the job in both Southern League Div.1 South meetings, triumphing 2-1 at home despite going behind to Ethan Taylor’s 47th-minute opener. Ex-Stag Stuart Green and a Daniel Mason free-kick turned it around for the home side. Then, on the Bank Holiday Monday match in April, Mason was at it again, stealing a march on the Stags’ back four to notch the only goal of the game late on to leave Totton’s promotion play-off ambitions in need of snookers.
Jimmy Ball will be hoping the squad he has assembled over the summer will be much harder to beat for a team that appeared to have identified a soft underbelly in AFC Totton’s make-up last term. For their part, Sholing have strengthened their ranks with the acquisition of former Stags and Winchester City centre-back Rob Flooks, who endured a turbulent second spell at the Snows Stadium during the last few months of the 2021/22 campaign. Goal machine Wort joined from AFC Portchester and former Weymouth midfielder Dom Panesar-Dower has moved in at the recently renamed Imperial Homes Stadium from Blackfield & Langley.
Dating back to 2004, when Sholing were still known as VTFC, the sides have met on a total of 25 occasions in all competitions. Sholing have won 16 times to AFC Totton’s 8 successes, with just one draw.
The single biggest win for either side was a 0-4 away defeat for AFC Totton in the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Cup in 2013. Last season’s 4-1 Southern League Challenge Cup win on Portsmouth Road was the Stags’ biggest win, along with a pair of 3-0 victories in 2005 and on Boxing Day 2009 when Mike Gosney scored twice, contributing to a total of 9 goals he notched against the Boatmen over a four-year period. With last season’s League Cup match the exception, Sholing have won five of the last six meetings between these two local rivals.
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Image courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
