AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH | Matchday#12
Saturday 19 October 2024 | Snows Stadium, Totton | Att: 1,426
TAYLOR LEVELLER TAKES POINT FOR TOTTON AGAINST THE TIGERS
AFC TOTTON 1
Ethan Taylor 58mins
GLOUCESTER CITY 1
Brandon Smalley 35mins
AFC TOTTON AND GLOUCESTER CITY shared the points in their top-of-the-table clash at the Snows Stadium.
Early sub Brandon Smalley gave the visitors the lead 10 minutes before the break, but Ethan Taylor’s angled strike from the left corner of the penalty area shortly before the hour capped a fine team move to equalise for Totton. Attack-minded substitutions from the home manager and the late dismissal of Gloucester’s Daniel Leadbitter for a second bookable offence had The Stags looking more likely winners by the end, but City held on to retain the league’s top spot.
The defensive unit remained unchanged for the third consecutive game, meaning Luke Hallett had to be content with a place on the substitutes’ bench while Sam Magri and Joe Oastler continued their central defensive partnership. Roddy Collins, Joshua Owers and Declan Rose made for a solid central midfield three, while Charlie Austin and Tony Lee were paired together up front with Scott Rendell named among the subs.
AFC TOTTON: 13. Joshua GOULD; 2. Joe OASTLER (Capt.); 6. Sam MAGRI; 10. Ethan TAYLOR; 11. Charlie AUSTIN; 14. Joshua OWERS; 15. Roddy COLLINS; 16. Luke BENNETT; 17. Declan ROSE; 18. Tony LEE; 20. Tega AGBERHIERE. Substitutes: 7. Ashley CLARKE; 8. Adam TOMASSO; 9. Scott RENDELL; 12. Luke HALLETT; 19. Tom BLAIR. Substitutions: BLAIR for OWERS (45mins); CLARKE for ROSE (69mins); RENDELL for AUSTIN (69mins). Yellow Cards: TAYLOR (Foul); AUSTIN (Foul).
GLOUCESTER CITY: 1. Jared THOMPSON; 2. Daniel LEADBITTER; 4. Tyrone DUFFUS; 7. Edward WILLIAMS; 10. Dayle GRUBB; 12. Jadyn CROSBIE; 13. Joseph HANKS; 14. Benjamin RICHARDS-EVERTON; 16. Kevin DAWSON; 18. King BAIDOO; 17. Harry EMMETT. Substitutes: 15. Conor THOMPSON; 9. Kieran PHILLIPS; 11. Brandon SMALLEY; 19. Harry BURNS. Substitutions: SMALLEY for CROSBIE (8mins); PHILLIPS for BAIDOO (56mins); BURNS for GRUBB (87mins). Yellow Cards: DAWSON (Foul); PHILLIPS (Foul). Red Card: LEADBITTER (Two Yellow Cards; both Fouls).
Joshua Owers made the game’s first attacking run of intent, striving to latch onto Joe Oastler’s long through-ball to inside-left but Gloucester goalkeeper Jared Thompson was quickly off his line to smother the ball before the roaming midfielder could get there.
Charlie Austin chested down a long kick from Josh Gould to find Owers, who laid back to Oastler to find Taylor on the left; the winger’s cross was headed away. But when it came back to Taylor, he whipped in a low cross that forced Benjamin Richards-Everton to make a sliding clearance from within the corner of his own six-yard box.
A sharp one-two on the edge of Totton’s box gave Ed Williams a chance to shoot, which Declan Rose did well to block by standing strong. Then, Rose delivered a cross from the right that tempted Tony Lee to try an overhead-kick, but he only made a partial connection and the ball squirmed away from goal.
Gloucester were forced into an early substitution, with Jadyn Crosbie coming off in just the eighth minute to be replaced by Brandon Smalley. Full-back Daniel Leadbitter played the ball down the right for the visitors, and Williams crossed to force Luke Bennett to turn it behind for a left-wing corner. Gould got a single hand to the high, in-swinging cross but he did enough to swat the ball away from immediate danger. When Kevin Dawson crossed the ball back into the box, King Baidoo steered his header high and wide.
Leadbitter was shown a yellow card for a foul on Owers on 16 minutes. Tega Agberhiere’s pass put Taylor in at inside-left to pull back to Austin, whose shot was deflected; Rose teed-up Lee to strike but Thompson saved.
INTRIGUING CONTEST: AFC Totton's Luke Bennett and Gloucester City's King Baidoo challenge for the ball close to the touchline during the Southern League Premier Division South match.
Baidoo vs Bennett on Gloucester’s left wing was fast becoming one of the game’s more interesting sub plots, with the full-back gamefully matching the winger for pace whenever a through-ball acted as their starter gun. Baidoo managed to gain half-a-yard but his miscued his cross from the byline to send the ball behind the goal.
Rose made a strong tackle at half-way to prevent Gloucester building an attack down their left. Then, Owers appealed for hand-ball against ‘keeper Thompson, as he came out to the edge of his area to intercept a Totton through-ball, with the midfielder again looking to burst into the box from a deep position.
Oastler and Agberhiere progressed Totton possession down the left, enabling the left-back to play Taylor in towards the left-wing byline, until Tyrone Duffus came across to shepherd the ball out of play. Lee clattered him to concede an unnecessary free-kick but the striker escaped any caution.
Williams tried a direct pass from the centre-circle through the heart of Totton’s defence, in the hope of putting Harry Emmett clean through. Gould was alert to it, stepped off his line and snatched ball away before the striker could get a toe on it. Then, after two Totton crosses were well-defended, Roddy Collins chipped from right-to-left to find Austin lurking with intent behind the Gloucester centre-backs, but his volley was claimed low at the near post by Thompson.
Dayle Grubb’s cross-field pass put Baidoo in a dangerous crossing position from the Gloucester left. His square pass found Emmett, who tried to work space for a shot, but a foul on Austin relieved the pressure on the Totton defence. Then, Bennett picked up the ball on the Totton right and drove forward. As he reached the edge of the area, a tackle caused the ball to fall square to Austin, whose snapshot was charged down.
Baidoo managed to escape Bennett and find Williams in the middle, but he dragged his shot wide to the left from about 20 yards out. But City took the lead on their next attack. Big defender Duffus showed quick feet to avoid a challenge just inside the Totton half and passed infield. Williams released Brandon SMALLEY at inside-right and he sat one defender down before calmly passing the ball into the bottom-left corner.
Totton went straight on the hunt for a quick equaliser, with Collins’ cross to Austin forcing the visitors to concede a corner. Rose found Oastler on the edge of the area from the corner, but the centre-back’s shot was hooked away.
Austin was booked for a late tackle near the half-way line. Then, during four minutes of first-half stoppage time, Collins exchanged passes with Sam Magri to carry the ball forward for Totton, and tried to feed Taylor towards the right-wing corner flag but Duffus got across to nullify the threat.
Emmett took a fiercely-struck shot from one of his teammates in the stomach, leaving the forward gasping for air while prone on the Snow Stadium turf. A quick throw from Lee on the Totton left briefly put Taylor in behind The Tigers defence, but the ball wouldn’t sit down for the winger to strike and Gloucester managing to smother.
HALF-TIME: AFC TOTTON 0-1 GLOUCESTER CITY
Tom Blair was introduced to proceedings from the start of the second half, with Josh Owers taking his leave. Bennett continued to stick to his task of matching the tricky Baidoo for pace, and did exceptionally well to win a Totton throw with a sliding tackle, just as the winger looked as though he might burst free into open acreage behind The Stags’ defence.
Magri had to stoop to head Emmett’s cross from the Gloucester left away from the Totton six-yard box. Then, clever play by Taylor and Lee enabled them to mount an attack from left of the centre-circle towards the right flank, where they brought Rose and Blair into the game. Blair rolled it back for Rose to curl in a dipping cross that bounced agonisingly between Lee and Taylor, with neither able to sort their feet out quickly enough to shoot before the ball was prodded away.
POISED TO STRIKE: Ethan Taylor prepares to let fly at the Gloucester City goal.
Bennett could breathe a huge sigh of relief when King Baidoo was substituted in favour of Kieran Phillips for The Tigers, and he celebrated by playing a huge part in AFC Totton’s equaliser. Bennett received the ball on the right touchline and fired a firm pass into Lee, in a central attacking position. He saw Ethan TAYLOR arriving into space at the left corner of the box, and the winger took a touch to control Lee’s low pass and struck an unstoppable shot into the far corner of the net.
Taylor was harshly booked shortly after for a late challenge on Dawson. Then, the winger had another chance to threaten the Gloucester goal when he latched onto Blair’s left-footed in-swinger, after good work by Rose and the former Dorking Wanderers man to advance the play down the Totton right.
With the newly-formed AFC Totton youth fans section making plenty of noise from the Salisbury Road side of the ground and Mally’s Corner doing their best to lift the team on the opposite side of the pitch, Totton were gaining the ascendency against the current Southern League Premier Division South leaders.
Magri made a swashbuckling run from the half-way line to the D, but misplaced his pass at the crucial moment. Then, Bennett hit a glorious cross-field pass to Taylor, who controlled it well but couldn’t find anyone in blue with his arced cross into the box.
As the sun went down, the temperature of the game went up, with both sides still hopeful of hoarding all of the points for themselves. Collins played Blair in on the right but his cross was turned away, and Bennett had to stand strong to ensure Gloucester’s attempt to counter-attack ran straight into him.
A spot of Greco-Roman wrestling between Lee and Duffus ended in the award of a free-kick to the defender, who given his considerable size advantage over the Totton striker didn’t really need the referee’s assistance, prompting Lee to tear his hair out in frustration at the decision.
Phillips tried to burrow his way into the Totton box, until a swarm of blue shirts surrounded him and removed the threat. Then, Agberhiere made an important block to prevent Gloucester getting service into the box from close to their right-wing byline.
Totton found themselves pressed back, as Gloucester a period of sustained possession. Blair got back to hook the ball away as Emmett tried to connect with a clipped pass from midfield. Oastler headed away a cross, and Collins picked up the loose ball before setting Taylor away down the left wing. A well-timed tackle stopped the winger in his tracks, though.
Jimmy Ball signalled his attacking intentions on 69 minutes by sending on Scott Rendell and AFC Bournemouth loanee Ashley Clarke. Rendell got involved straight away, feeding Blair on the right but Thompson claimed his cross.
Agberhiere headed away Emmett’s cross from the Gloucester left. Then, the Irish left-back made another strong challenge to force the ball behind for a corner, which he headed out of the Totton box.
A block by Collins deep in his own half allowed Totton to spring forward on the counter-attack, with Taylor shifting the ball to Blair on the right before joining Lee in the middle for a cross. Blair tried to provide it but couldn’t beat the first man, and a good chance went begging.
Collins then sent Agberhiere racing forward to keep the ball in play at the left-wing byline. He rolled it back to Clarke, whose shot was blocked and fell to Agberhiere. His attempt was also blocked but it came back to Taylor, who steered his volley wide of the left-hand post.
Bennett once again fed Lee in a central position from the touchline, and the striker pushed it short to Taylor, just outside the D. He dribbled wide of his marker to make an angle for a shot, then fired narrowly too high to find the top-right corner of the net.
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN: Ash Clarke takes aim with a shot from a tight angle.
Hard-running from Clarke enabled him to complete a long-range one-two with Lee, and win a throw-in on the Totton right. Gloucester cleared it and Gould had to come out of his goal to clear Totton’s defensive lines.
Williams won a free-kick close to the left edge of Totton’s box for a foul by Bennett. Grubb’s in-swinging delivery was turned away by the steadfast Totton defence.
A sharp turn from Williams enabled him to escape Taylor on the Gloucester left, and he spread the play to the right from where a high cross into the box was met by Grubb, who looped his header onto the roof of the net, without really threatening Josh Gould’s goal.
Blair received Rendell’s high pass on the right flank and bent a cross into the Gloucester penalty box. The ball was turned out as far as Rendell, who teed-up Bennett to strike a fierce effort that was bravely charged down by a defender at the expense of a corner, though Totton didn’t capitalise on the set-piece.
Bennett was almost caught out three minutes from the end when his clearance was charged down by Williams and it rebounded to Grubb just outside the area. But The Tiger in the No.10 shirt fired his shot over the crossbar.
Kieran Phillips was booked for a foul. Then, Gloucester went in search of a late winner. They passed the ball around in the Totton half, patiently waiting for their opportunity to strike but when it came, Gould made light work of the save from Brandon Smalley’s shot.
Clarke won a left-wing corner for the home side. Blair’s high, in-swinging cross was headed on-target by Lee, only for the ball to hit another Totton player on the heel to prevent it going over the line. A goalmouth scramble ensued, but Gloucester managed to smuggle the ball away to the touchline, where they subsequently won a free-kick.
Five minutes of stoppage time were indicated. Magri leapt well to win an aerial duel from Thompson’s long kick. Then, Gould plucked a high cross out of the air to maintain calm heads in the Totton defence.
(SLIGHTLY) EARLY BATH: Daniel Leadbitter got first dibs on the post-match sandwiches in the Away dressing room by getting sent-off a few minutes before the end of the game.
There was some late drama when Daniel Leadbitter was shown a second yellow card for a trip on Ashley Clarke, resulting in a free-kick just off the left corner of the Gloucester penalty area. Blair’s delivery brushed Lee’s fringe before being poked wide by a defender. Blair found the striker’s forehead from the resulting corner but as Lee’s effort flew harmlessly wide, the referee called time on a one-all draw.
View the IMAGE GALLERY from AFC Totton 1-1 Gloucester City
Watch JIMMY BALL’S post-match interview
Watch ETHAN TAYLOR’S post-match interview
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Harvey Gerring
