AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH | Matchday#41
Monday 21 April 2025 | Snows Stadium, Totton, Southampton | Att: 1,704
10-MAN STAGS CONFIRM RUNNERS-UP SPOT DESPITE RAIN DELAY
AFC TOTTON 2
Tony Lee 5mins;
Callum Buckley 25mins (o.g.)
WINCHESTER CITY 0
TWO DIVING HEADERS saw AFC Totton confirm Runners-Up spot in the Southern League Premier Division South for the 2024/25 season, despite a half-time deluge delaying the second half by more than an hour and The Stags being reduced to 10 men following the dismissal of captain Mike Carter.
Striker Tony Lee gave the home side an early lead, diving low to head Luke Bennett’s right-wing cross beyond Winchester City goalkeeper Luke Cairney. Then, visiting defender Callum Buckley doubled Totton’s advantage when he inadvertently directed Ethan Taylor’s left-wing delivery into the bottom corner of his own goal, midway through the first half.
A massive, sudden downpour during the half-time interval threatened to force the match into an abandonment, but sterling work with the pitchforks from AFC Totton stewards Hayden Naylor and Raff Bridges ensured the surface water drained away quickly enough for the referee to opt for a delayed restart. When the second half finally got underway an hour behind schedule, Totton held firm to their two-goal lead, despite losing Carter for the use of a high elbow during an aerial challenge.
The injury sustained by Charlie Kennedy at the very end of Good Friday’s goalless draw at Basingstoke Town forced Jimmy Ball to reshuffle his defence, with Luke Bennett and Luke Hallett both being restored to a back four and Joe Oastler dropping to the bench. Tom Blair and Tony Lee also returned to the starting XI, with Scott Rendell and Ben Seymour named among the substitutes.
Before the match, Scott Rendell was presented with an award to honour his reaching 150 appearances for AFC Totton, while Ethan Taylor was similarly honoured for hitting the 200 appearances mark — both of which were achieved at Basingstoke on Good Friday. Club President Mick Carter and Honorary Life President Paul Maiden made the presentations of engraved silver salvers to the two Stag stalwarts, before an appreciative Snows Stadium crowd.
BOYS IN BLUE: AFC Totton's U13 JPL team pose with first team substitutes prior to the game against Winchester City at the Snows Stadium on Easter Monday.
Mark Lilley’s AFC Totton U13 JPL team were also paraded in recognition of their being on the verge of a potential League & Cup treble, having reached two imminent cup finals and being in pole position in their JPL division with three league matches to go.
AFC TOTTON: 13. Ryan GOSNEY; 4. Mike CARTER (Capt.); 6. Sam MAGRI; 10. Ethan TAYLOR; 12. Luke HALLETT; 14. Craig TANNER; 15. Roddy COLLINS; 16. Luke BENNETT; 18. Tony LEE; 19. Tom BLAIR; 20. Richard McINTYRE. Substitutes: 2. Joe OASTLER; 3. Ben JEFFORD; 7. Ben SEYMOUR; 8. Adam TOMASSO; 9. Scott RENDELL. Substitutions: TOMASSO for BLAIR (66mins); SEYMOUR for TAYLOR (72mins); RENDELL for LEE (77mins). Yellow Cards: HALLETT (Foul); TAYLOR (Foul); RENDELL (Foul). Red Card: CARTER (Foul).
WINCHESTER CITY: 1. Luke CAIRNEY; 2. Alex WHITE; 3. Daniel KING; 4. Daniel BRADSHAW; 5. Callum BUCKLEY; 6. Ethan LIGHT; 7. Max SMITH; 8. Jamie BARRON (Capt.); 9. Thomas WRIGHT; 10. Simba MLAMBO; 11. George BRITTON. Substitutes: 12. Robert JAMISON; 14. Oliver GRIGGS; 15. Malachi DOTSE; 16. Reggie HODAN; 17. Joshua McCORMICK. Substitutions: HODEN for BRADSHAW (62mins); McCORMICK for WILKIE (69mins); GRIGGS for BARRON (69mins); DOTSE for KING (88mins). Yellow Cards: BARRON (Foul); MLAMBO (Foul); GRIGGS (Foul).
Winchester City got the game underway, wearing their traditional kit of red-and-black stripes with red shorts and socks, against a Totton side clad in their all-Royal blue with white trim home kit.
The visitors came into the game in the thick of the relegation battle, and the opening exchanges were end-to-end. Craig Tanner received possession from a Totton right-wing throw-in and whipped an in-swinging cross into the Winchester box, which Callum Buckley headed away. The Citizens flew up the pitch but Ryan Gosney reacted quickly to pluck their cross out of the sky.
Another throw-in from Totton’s right enabled Tanner to find Richard McIntyre in midfield, pushing forward and infield from his left-back berth, and he fed the ball further forward to Ethan Taylor to the left of the penalty area. The winger bent a low cross into the box, which narrowly eluded Tony Lee, arriving at the far post.
DIVING HEADER: AFC Totton striker Tony Lee (prone on the ground) steers his header into the bottom-left corner via goalkeeper Luke Cairney's left glove, to give The Stags the lead.
Totton took the lead after just five minutes. A ball out of defence towards the left wing was flicked into the air by Taylor’s left heel, and from the middle of the Winchester half, Lee jumped to head back into the centre-circle. Roddy Collins was beaten to the ball but Mike Carter followed up to spread the play out to the right flank. Joining from right-back, Luke Bennett had the space to drive forwards before sending a low, curling cross towards the penalty spot where Tony LEE met it with a diving header; Luke Cairney got a hand to the ball but he couldn’t stop it sneaking in just behind his left-hand post.
Tanner was in the mood, holding off a robust challenge to feed Taylor, whose back-heel flick wrong-footed one defender before a second closed down his shot. Then, another fizzing cross from Bennett on the Totton right had the Winchester defence at full-stretch, as they struggled to get out of their own third of the pitch.
An up-and-under bouncer enabled Lee to battle through two defenders and directly challenge Cairney for a high ball, The Citizens’ goalkeeper grabbing the ball at the third attempt while some of his teammates appealed for a free-kick that didn’t come.
Bennett’s energy continued to cause problems for the visitors, getting forward again to cross to the near post, where a defender managed to get ahead of Lee and divert the ball to the edge of the box. Tanner controlled it and laid it short to Taylor, whose shot was blocked at close quarters.
Former AFC Totton youngster George Britton, playing on the left wing for Winchester, won a corner off Bennett. It was taken short to enable Buckley to send in a cross from a deeper position, but Tanner was alive to it and diverted the ball out for a throw-in. Then, Carter did well to track the flight of a chipped pass and make a crucial interception to prevent Max Smith stealing in at inside-left.
Sam Magri’s cross-field pass picked out Lee on the edge of the opposition penalty area. He shifted to his right foot and thought about taking a shot, but opted to push the ball wide to Tom Blair, who aimed his cross towards Taylor at the far post where Alex Wilkie headed away. Totton regathered possession and Blair tried his luck with a long-range shot from the right that sailed over the bar.
Tanner linked up with Taylor to play the winger in at the byline, before the Totton No.10 — making his 201st Stags appearance — sent in a low cross that was turned away from the Winchester six-yard box for a left-wing throw. McIntyre took it and received the ball back, working infield to Taylor, who squeezed a low, angled shot towards the far bottom corner that brought a full-stretch save out of Cairney.
Centre-forward Simba Mlambo performed acrobatics to keep Britton’s overhit left-wing cross in play. Citizens skipper Jamie Barron came up in support but his delivery was also too strong, and floated over the crossbar.
OWN GOAL: Winchester defender Callum Buckley's diving header directs the ball past his own goalkeeper to double AFC Totton's advantage.
The Stags went two-nil up in the 25th minute. Gosney kicked long from his own box, McIntyre dummying to allow the ball to continue towards Taylor on the left wing, midway inside Winchester’s half. He advanced to the side of the penalty area and then fired in a cross that Callum Buckley met with a diving header, in an attempt to direct the ball past the left-hand post; the big defender go this angles wrong and sent the ball into the net for an OWN GOAL.
Buckley lifted the ball forward to Britton on the left of the Totton box, but Luke Hallett forced the ball out of play off Britton for a goal-kick. Then, Gosney had Stags fans’ hearts in their mouths when he received a back-pass, sidestepped one challenge, slipped, and regained his footing just in time to clear before a second Winchester forward could capitalise.
An increase in the general level of pushing and shoving raised the temperature of the game. Lee was penalised for a foul in the centre-circle; Barron hung the ball high into the Totton box where Buckley won the header but it was comfortable for Gosney. Then, Magri won an aerial duel to prevent Daniel Bradshaw stealing in behind the Totton defence, before Barron was given a talking to by the referee for a foul on Lee.
Hallett’s long diagonal threatened to put Bennett in from the Totton right, but Cairney came out to kick into touch. Bennett took the throw, and Tanner glided past one defender, laid the ball off to Taylor and received a back-heeled return pass to slip into the inside-right channel and bend a shot towards the far post that Cairney saved low to his right.
A strong tackle by Carter in midfield got Hallett off the hook for a poorly placed pass. Winchester regained possession, requiring another robust challenge from Carter to knock the ball on to Tanner. With Cairney off his line, Tanner went for the spectacular but miss-hit it high into the air without threatening the Winchester goal.
BENNO ARGY BARGY: Luke Bennett provides a free consultation to the senior match official.
By frequently triggering offside flags, Winchester did as much to undermine their own attacking ambitions as the Totton defence was required to do. Magri received a square pass from Carter and carried it into midfield. His pass found Taylor, who stole half-a-yard on Jamie Barron; the Winchester captain responded with a sliding tackle foul that earned him the game’s first yellow card. Tanner’s free-kick was headed out by Mlambo; Blair picked up the loose ball and Lee inside the box, but the striker had the ball whisked off his toe before he could line up a shot.
Simba Mlambo followed his skipper into the referee’s notebook for a late foul on Bennett, close to the halfway line. Tanner found Blair in space on the right wing. Lee made a darting run to inside-right, and his first-time shot was well-parried by Cairney before the offside flag went up against Lee.
Former AFC Totton loanee striker Tommy Wright shrugged off the attentions of Hallett to get the ball onto his favoured right foot from the left corner of the Totton penalty area, but Carter made an impeccably timed sliding challenge to prod the ball back to Gosney.
Bennett reacted well to a moment of confusion in the Totton defence to stop Britton’s progress down the Winchester left. Then, Wright took possession in the middle of the Totton half with nobody around him. He went for the long shot but couldn’t trouble Gosney, who made a comfortable save.
During two minutes of first-half stoppage time, Bennett rapidly shifted the play into the Winchester half via a one-two with Collins, before finding Taylor on the left-hand side. His cross flew beyond the far post, where Blair turned it back into the six-yard box. Cairney parried, causing the ball to bounce up and strike Blair in the chest; the winger took another shoot from a tight angle but the flag went up, possibly for the ball having run out of play. Winchester managed to get another attack in before the interval, but Hallett blocked to maintain Totton’s clean sheet.
HALF-TIME: AFC TOTTON 2-0 WINCHESTER CITY
During the half-time break, the heavens opened and the Snows Stadium pitch was deluged by heavy rain with short bursts of hail stones. Fans ran for cover under the cantilevered roof of the SFS Main Stand and in the bars, and although the second half initially began on schedule, play last only 30 seconds before the referee took all the players back into the dressing room.
An announcement was made that there would be a 15-minute delay to see how quickly the standing water would drain from the pitch, while Jimmy Ball, Harry Brookwell, Hayden Naylor and Raff Bridges got to work with pitchforks to help the water on its way. While that 15-minute delay became half-an-hour and, eventually, an hour, there was the comedic sight of the relegation-threatened Winchester City management team rolling a football across the most badly-affected area of the pitch in a vain attempt to convince the referee to call the game off, while Louis Langdown — the former AFC Totton boss who has recently returned to the Stags’ coaching staff — threw the ball into a more favourable area to demonstrate the true bounce of the ball.
By the time the match resumed, shortly past 5:00pm, all other fixtures in the division were complete. The wait proved too much for a small smattering of fans, especially among those who had been caught in the downpour, with a number of parents accompanied by young children among the early leavers.
Totton resumed play with a right-wing throw-in at the halfway line. Winchester gained possession and Magri was required to intervene to prevent Bradshaw and Wilkie advancing the ball through the middle of the pitch, with Tanner also scampering back to put in a well-timed sliding tackle to put the ball into touch. Winchester soon traded that for a right-wing corner, from which Barron’s cross was knocked away by Tanner. Bradshaw loaded the ball back into the Totton box but Gosney claimed the high ball with confidence.
FOUR-AGAINST-ONE: Midfielder Roddy Collins is surrounded by Winchester City players.
Britton got away from Carter and eluded Bennett to cross from the left for The Citizens; Smith got under the ball at the edge of the area and volleyed over the crossbar. Then, Bennett sparked a raid from the right-hand side of the visitors’ box but eventually ran into a cluster of red-and-black stripes that crowded him out. McIntyre was alive to the possibility of a swift counter-attack and won the ball at the halfway line to prevent it.
Magri turned away a left-wing cross to put Totton back on the front foot. Tanner found Lee, who tried to spread the play to Blair on the Totton right, but Daniel King intercepted and guided the ball back to Cairney.
Tanner took possession at the left-wing touchline and bent a low cross towards the near post, where Collins was arriving at pace, until the ball was poked behind for a corner. Blair bent an in-swinging cross to the far post, where Lee headed wide.
Bradshaw’s high ball into the Totton box was headed out by Magri. Wright waited patiently for it to drop before hitting a first-time shot, which Hallett blocked. Totton quickly launched a counter-attack, which came to an end when Lee couldn’t find enough space to execute an overhead-kick from close to the penalty spot, and committed a foul trying to improvise a finish while laying on the ground.
Ethan Taylor was shown the yellow card for shoving Wilkie into the advertising hoardings alongside the Totton left-wing touchline, adding insult to injury by landing the full-back in a massive puddle. Then, Totton were reduced to 10 men when captain Mike Carter was adjudged to have led with his elbow while competing for a high ball with Smith at the edge of The Stags’ penalty area. Barron’s shot hit the defensive wall; the follow-up cross from the Winchester left was repelled by Magri, then Barron’s second attempt was charged down, before a foul on Bennett, trying to carry the ball forward, eased the pressure on the home side.
Winchester withdrew Daniel Bradshaw and sent on Reggie Hodan, two minutes past the hour. The visitors showed their displeasure at Taylor seemingly getting away with one foul by dishing out another to Tanner.
From a throw-in high on the Totton right, Lee escaped his marker to deliver a cross from the byline. Blair brought it down to the left of the penalty spot; the possibility of an early shot was shut down by a defender, and when Blair shifted the ball infield and took aim, another defender was able to divert wide for a corner. Blair took it, and Magri headed wide at the far post.
FIVE-AGAINST-ONE: Luke Hallett passes out of defence, despite the presence of five Winchester City players.
Blair then came off to be replaced by Adam Tomasso, as Jimmy Ball looked to strengthen his central midfield area in the enforced absence of Carter. McIntyre chipped the ball to inside-left, where Taylor’s run triggered an offside flag, much to the annoyance of the fans clustered at Mally’s Corner, whose view of the situation was a good as the assistant referee’s.
Winchester took off Alex Wilkie and Jamie Barron, and sent on Joshua McCormick and Oliver Griggs. Cairney came out of his box to kick clear before Lee could latch onto Taylor’s lofted forward pass. Then, Hallett tripped Tommy Wright as he tried to run through on goal; several Winchester fans demanding another red card but the referee produced only a yellow. The free-kick was sent across the Totton goalmouth and Reggie Hodan took an unconvincing tumble at the far post, which the referee waved away along with the penalty appeals that accompanied it.
Ben Seymour came on in place of Ethan Taylor on 72 minutes. Tanner tried to dribble into the left corner of the Winchester box, but found too many opponents in his way. Then, Magri’s superior strength prevented Wright latching onto a forward pass, the central defender’s clearance threatening to take out two members of the AFC Totton Media team in the gantry.
Winchester had two crosses turned away, then won a corner on their right off McIntyre, blocking Wright’s attempted cross. McCormick’s high cross was swatted away by Gosney, and when the visitors regained possession on their left, Magri and Collins combined to deny them a way to goal.
Tony Lee received treatment in the Winchester box, while their fans tried to taunt Totton with a chant of “Second, again”, seemingly unaware that their own team remains in danger of being relegated.
Scott Rendell stepped off the bench to replace Lee. Hodan’s long ball forward earned a free-kick from Magri for a push, but the substitute’s eagerness to take it quickly wrong-footed McCormick, who did not withhold his frustration.
A well-weighted pass by McCormick put Mlambo in at inside-right. He centred for Hodan, who couldn’t shrug off the attentions of Hallett, and Gosney claimed before the forward could get the ball under control to turn and shoot. Then, another incisive pass from McCormick played Mlambo in behind McIntyre; his low cross came back to him off Magri, sliding at full-stretch, leaving him to shoot from a tight angle and force a near-post save from Gosney.
SEE MORE GOALS: Substitute striker Ben Seymour races past his marker to get a shot in for AFC Totton, during the Southern League Premier Division South clash with Winchester City.
A foul on Rendell, high on Totton’s right, allowed Tanner, Bennett and Seymour to play keep-ball near the corner. Then, a foul on Tanner in the centre-circle resulted in a free-kick, from which Magri’s high diagonal to the right touchline pitted Rendell up against two defenders; his attempted headed knock-on hit an opponent and bounced to Rendell’s feet, so passed square to enable Ben Seymour to drop a shoulder, glide past his marker and fire a shot towards the near post corner, which Cairney parried wide for a corner. Totton went for a short corner routine, but it didn’t come off.
Tomasso was caught in possession, allowing Britton and McCormick to attack the right byline and pull back to the edge of the penalty area, where Wright received it and bent a shot wide of the left-hand post. Left-back Daniel Kings was then replaced by Malachi Dotse, with two minutes of the regulation 90 to go.
Gosney beat Wright to a long ball down the Winchester right. Then, clever play between Tanner and Bennett high on the Totton right wing presented Rendell with the chance to thread a forward pass between two defenders for Seymour to dart in behind and force another save from Cairney, at the expense of a left-wing corner. Tanner’s cross was prodded down by the heavily-marked Rendell, and Hallett shot wide of the right-hand post, his head-in-hands reaction suggesting that he, at least, thought he should have scored.
At sometime around 5:50pm, five minutes of stoppage time were indicated. Hallett was penalised for riding on the shoulders of his opponent during an aerial challenge close to the half-way line. Cairney came out to launch the free-kick into the Totton box; Hallett’s head was again the obstacle to further forward progress for the visitors, and when the ball fell to Wright, he volleyed wide to the left.
Oliver Griggs was booked for tripping Tanner, frustrated at the playmaker’s skill on the ball when his side needed to attack, attack, attack. The free-kick, just outside the Winchester penalty area, to the right, was rolled forward by Tanner to Collins, whose low centre was converted by Rendell, but the goal was immediately ruled out for an offside against Collins.
Hallett headed away another long ball into the Totton box. Tanner controlled on his chest, turned and volleyed forward for Seymour to scamper into the box, where he went down under a challenge, to optimistic appeals for a penalty from The Stags’ fans at the Aldi End of the ground, but the referee was well-placed and unmoved.
Mlambo conducted the last attack of the match, beating McIntyre on the Winchester right before, once again, finding Magri too big an obstacle in the middle of the Totton box.
Watch JIMMY BALL’S Post-Match Interview
Watch TONY LEE’S Post-Match Interview
Latest Southern League Premier Division South TABLE
AFC Totton FIXTURES Season 2024/25
Next Up: FROME TOWN vs AFC TOTTON
Southern League Premier Division South | Matchday#42 | Badgers Hill, Berkley Road, Frome, Somerset BA11 2EH | Saturday 26 April 2025 | Kick-Off 3:00pm
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By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Harvey Gerring
