AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH | Matchday#18
Saturday 21 December 2024 | Snows Stadium, Salisbury Road, Totton | Att: 1,588
STAGS RECOVER FROM EARLY SETBACK TO COMPLETE LEAGUE DOUBLE OVER BOATMEN
AFC TOTTON 2
Ethan Taylor 70mins (pen); 90+5mins
SHOLING 1
Michael Folivi 1min
TWO GOALS FROM ETHAN TAYLOR saw AFC Totton beat local rivals Sholing for the second time in the 2024/25 season, despite going behind after just 10 seconds of the Southern League Premier Division South match at the Snows Stadium on Saturday (21 December 2024).
Sholing’s Michael Folivi kept his impressive recent goalscoring form going, latching onto a long punt virtually straight from kick-off that deceived Stags goalkeeper Ryan Gosney to leave the visiting striker with an open goal with which to hand his team a surprise early lead.
Totton maintained their composure and put up a strong fight, creating several chances and having the ball cleared off the line three times, before eventually equalising from the penalty spot through Ethan Taylor, after Tom Blair was fouled inside the box. And the winger struck again deep into injury-time to hand the home side all three points and the welcome festive present of local bragging rights over their cross-town rivals.
Charlie Kennedy lined up in defence in place of Luke Bennett, with Tom Blair returning to the starting line-up. Ben Jefford retained his place at left-back, with Tega Agberhiere joining Bennett and Scott Rendell among the substitutes. Rendell was still pressed into early duty, though, to receive the Southern League Division One South’s November Team of the Month award, presented on behalf of the Southern League by its President Keith Allen (pictured below).
AFC TOTTON: 13. Ryan GOSNEY; 2. Joe OASTLER (Capt.); 3. Ben JEFFORD; 5. Charlie KENNEDY; 8. Adam TOMASSO; 10. Ethan TAYLOR; 11. Charlie AUSTIN; 12. Luke HALLETT: 15. Roddy COLLINS; 18. Tony LEE; 19. Tom BLAIR. Substitutes: 6. Sam MAGRI; 9. Scott RENDELL; 14. Toby STEPHENS; 16. Luke BENNETT; 20. Tega AGBERHIERE Substitutions: AGBERHIERE for JEFFORD (78mins); RENDELL for BLAIR (85mins); BENNETT for AUSTIN (90mins). Yellow Cards: TAYLOR (Foul); LEE (Dissent). Red Card: TOMASSO (Second Yellow Card).
SHOLING: 1. Patrick NASH; 2. Benny READ; 3. Joseph RABBETTS; 5. Daniel MILLER: 9. Daniel MASON; 10. Jake HESKETH (Capt.); 11. Bradley TARGETT; 15. Blaise RILEY-SNOW; 16. Reece WYLIE; 19. Michael FOLIVI; 20. Fabio LOPES. Substitutes: 4. Jake FLANNIGAN; 12. Max BUSTAMENTE; 14. Seung-Woo YANG; 17. Romoluwa AKINOLA; 18. Zidan AKERS. Substitutions: FLANNIGAN for HESKETH (66mins); AKERS for MASON (66mins); AKINOLA for LOPES (66mins). Yellow Cards: RABBETTS (Foul); TARGETT (Foul); NASH (Time-Wasting). Red Card: RILEY-SNOW (Second Yellow Card).
DANCE TO THE BEATTS: AFC Totton's Director of Football James Beattie leads The Stags' pre-match warm-up ahead of their local derby clash with Sholing.
With swirling winds blowing across the Snows Stadium, the visitors — wearing red-and-white halved shirts, with black shorts and white socks — kicked-off, against a Totton side decked out in their usual all-Royal blue with white trim. Fabio Lopes took the kick, rolling it back into his own half. Dan Miller punted the ball forward and as Ryan Gosney came out to meet the ball but missed it, his defenders appeared to be expecting an offside flag as Michael FOLIVI ran through unopposed and side-footed into an open goal to give Sholing the lead within the first 10 seconds.
The Boatmen tried to press home their advantage from a left-wing corner, but Miller’s header deflected across goal and wide for another corner on the opposite flank, a decision that Gosney contested before taking up his position on the goal line. Tony Lee cleared the delivery at the near post, and likewise the next one, too. Ethan Taylor helped the ball on and then got involved in an off-the-ball tussle with former Totton right-back Benny Read that eventually required the referee to stop play and intervene with a stern word in the direction of both players.
Ironic cheers met an offside decision against Folivi, as he tried to run onto another high ball over the Totton defence. Then, from Ben Jefford’s left-wing throw-in midway inside the Sholing half, Lee turned sharply to evade man mountain Miller before picking out Tom Blair to the right of the penalty area. He tried to tee-up Charlie Austin but a Sholing defender got a crucial foot in. The ball came back into the box and Lee attempted an overhead-kick, which was off-target but had Taylor challenging at the left-hand post before goalkeeper Patrick Nash grabbed the ball into his chest.
GET SHIRTY: Totton defender Ben Jefford gets to grip with Sholing's Fabio Lopes.
The low-setting sun hung over the Old Stand on the Salisbury Road side of the ground like an interloping fan sitting in a well-positioned tree. Totton came forward again, Blair looking for Austin once more with a low delivery from the right, but Miller slid in to volley the ball clear before the former Saints striker could make contact.
Adam Tomasso received treatment near the middle of the pitch after taking a whack during a Sholing build-up that presented another chance for Folivi that, but for a firmer connection on a right-wing cross, Gosney might have struggled to block with his left arm. When play resumed, Blaise Riley-Snow was caught out by the strong wind and miss-kicked out for a Totton corner on The Stags’ left. Lopes headed away and the Sholing defence stood firm when Blair fed the ball back into the box.
Lopes and Folivi did well to keep the ball in-play at the right-wing byline and win a corner for Sholing off Jefford. Again, though, the set-piece made it no further than the front post where Lee headed away. The Boatmen had a succession of corners within a few minutes, but despite some accurate crosses, the closest they came to extending their lead was hitting the side-netting behind Gosney’s right-hand post with a cross-shot from a tight angle.
Lee was gifted a golden opportunity to level the scores when Miller missed his kick to allow the striker a clear run on the Sholing goal from inside-left. Nash came out to narrow the angle and Lee’s low shot struck the ‘keeper’s shins, before it looped up invitingly for Taylor to volley the rebound a little too high and a little too wide of the right-hand upright.
FAMILIAR FACE: Sholing full-back Benny Read marshalls his former AFC Totton teammate Adam Tomasso during the Southern League Premier Division South clash at the Snows Stadium.
Taylor won a corner from Miller on the Totton left. Blair sent in the cross and Austin got his head to it near the front post. There was a deflection on the goal line and confusion reigned as some Totton players and the majority of fans congregated at that end of the ground claimed the ball had crossed the line. The referee thought otherwise, and the ball was hooked away while the home side argued their case to no avail.
Gosney had to come out of his box to kick clear from Jefford’s undersold back-pass, while Joe Oastler remonstrated with the assistant referee about the lack of an offside flag against the trigger-ready Folivi. A heavy touch by Sholing captain Jake Hesketh allowed Blair to whip the ball into the box from the right flank, which Austin darted in front of his marker to volley on-target, pulling a fine reaction save from Nash.
Blair and Kennedy combined on the right to feed Tomasso, making a dash towards the byline. The midfielder hit a snapshot that Nash parried; Tomasso received the rebound and forced a corner. Blair’s cross eluded several players of either side who jumped for it in the middle, Miller left to turn it away from the back post for a left-wing corner, which was quickly diverted behind for another one. This time, a brief game of head tennis resulted in Kennedy looping his effort beyond Nash towards the left corner of the goal, only for former AFC Totton loanee Joe Rabbetts to leap high and nod the ball off the goal line to keep his team’s lead in tact.
Tomasso got stuck in on the edge of the Totton area and Oastler took Read’s high boot in the head, for which he was at least awarded a free-kick. Oastler then lent his weight to the Totton attack from a right-wing corner, but Nash punched the ball from off the top of his head. Jefford pulled down Lopes near the half-way line as Sholing tried to mount a counter-attack.
CHASING CHAZ: Charlie Austin closes down Sholing defender Blaise Riley-Snow.
Lee had a shot blocked from about 20 yards, after receiving Taylor’s infield pass from the left. Then, Sholing sent a number of crosses into the Totton box which the Boys in Blue repelled with minimum fuss.
The ball fell to Lee in the centre-circle, who chested it down and passed forward to Austin. A short lay-off found Tomasso, who picked out Blair on the right touchline. Carrying the ball forward, Blair cut inside to evade Rabbetts before striking left-footed with a shot that was always rising but signalled the winger’s attacking intent.
Taylor received the game’s first yellow card for a miss-timed sliding tackle on Lopes. Sholing began to take their time over their set-pieces, a fact that Totton boss Jimmy Ball was quick to point out to the match officials. A promising attack built by Jefford and Austin on the left was switched to the opposite flank, from where a poor delivery brought it to a premature end. Then, Lee appeared to have a good chance at the left-hand post, until an offside flag confirmed otherwise.
A foul by Jefford on Read gave Sholing a free-kick on their right, level with the edge of the penalty area. Reece Wylie floated an in-swinging cross into the box; Wylie may have underestimated the strength of the wind but Gosney was alert enough to guide the ball over the crossbar with his right glove. From the corner, Hesketh found a red-and-white halved shirt in the middle, but the ball rebounded off the head of Riley-Snow and away from the Totton goal, shortly before the referee’s whistle sounded for the interval.
HALF-TIME: AFC TOTTON 0-1 SHOLING
It was distinctly glove weather by the time Ethan Taylor got the second half underway, with neither side having made any changes at the break.
Austin helped out his defence with a neatly guided header back to Gosney to put the kibosh on a promising attack from Sholing’s left flank. Then, Rabbetts was booked for his part in a squabble with Taylor, which the former Aldershot Town man had initiated with a trip on the Stags No.10.
Tomasso showcased his characteristic willingness to fight for every ball, making three strong challenges in quick succession that prevented the visitors from springing forward after a Totton attack had floundered on the edge of the area. Then, Lee won a free-kick on the right touchline, from which Blair delivered onto the striker’s head; Rabbetts cleared.
Joe Rabbetts made his second goal-line clearance of the game to deny Taylor, after Lee had scampered to the left-wing byline and supplied a low cross that the winger steered past Nash only for his former teammate to intervene. The rebound came back to Taylor but he couldn’t wrap his leg around the volley and fired wide to the left.
Totton had their tails up and they came forward again, Taylor leading the charge with a deflected shot that fell to Lee, Rabbetts continuing his one-man mission to keep The Stags out with another block. Collins and Kennedy combined on the right, the latter crossing for Lee to guide his header on-target to force Nash to save well, diving to his right.
MOUNTING PRESSURE: Tony Lee goes close for Totton with a header.
Play was stopped while Dan Miller received treatment. Then, Blair’s cross from the left-hand side was deflected to Tomasso about 18 yards out. His shot struck Lee before it could travel far enough to trouble Nash. Taylor gathered on the right and tried to pick out Jefford, coming in from the far side, but Rabbetts and another Sholing defender got about him quickly to smother the threat.
Roddy Collins made a strong tackle on Hesketh in front of the home dug-out. Then, Blair took up possession on the left, ran at Lopes, twisting and turning him this way and that, before unleashing a right-footed shot from the corner of the penalty area that flew menacingly across the goalmouth and narrowly past the far post.
Sholing Manager Paul Doswell took that as his signal to make a triple substitution, withdrawing the unusually ineffective Dan Mason, captain Hesketh and Lopes to be replaced by Jake Flannigan, Romoluwa Akinola and ex-Stags forward Zidan Akers. Before play could get back underway, goalkeeper Nash was shown the yellow card for time-wasting over his goal-kick.
Read intercepted a pass near half-way and carried the ball deep into Totton territory before shifting a pass to the right for Akers, whose cross was turned behind for a corner. Akers met the delivery himself but headed high over the bar.
Having been denied by goal-line clearances and last-ditch tackles, Totton finally got the luck they needed in the 70th minute when Tom Blair was taken down by Riley-Snow, as he tried to retrieve a ball that was travelling away from the Sholing goal. Tony Lee took the loose ball under his arm, causing deep intakes of breath from Totton fans only too aware that all three of his previous spot-kicks in a Stags shirt have been saved. But it proved to be a ruse; the No.18 handed the ball to the No.10 and Ethan TAYLOR stepped up to fire high into the net, to a rapturous ovation from the majority of the 1,588-strong crowd.
TAYLORED FINISH: Ethan Taylor roars in celebration and Charlie Kennedy busts a move after the winger's successful penalty levelled the scores against The Boatmen at the Snows Stadium.
In the inevitable scuffle for Totton to get the game back underway quickly and for Sholing to delay proceedings as much as possible, Tony Lee and Bradley Targett were both shown yellow cards.
Sholing came close to restoring their lead when a right-wing raid culminated in the ball falling to Folivi, whose thunderous low drive struck the foot of the left-hand post and rebounded back into play with such force that it was effectively a defensive clearance.
Riley-Snow was booked for a foul on Tomasso. Then, a swift one-two saw Folivi and Akers glide through the Totton defence, before Gosney blocked the shot with his legs at the expense of a corner. The former Sholing No.1 got an unconvincing hand to the high delivery but he recovered his position quickly and made light work of catching a looping header that evaded the bodies clustered immediately in front of him.
A long ball to inside-left gave Taylor half a chance; he held off the defender and tried to squeeze a shot inside the near post but had to settle for a corner. Blair’s cross was headed over the bar by Kennedy. Then, Sholing attacked from the inside-right, Akers and Akinola combining to create an opening that Akers stabbed over the bar, the low cross having come at him too quickly.
Tega Agberhiere came on in place of Ben Jefford for Totton, with 12 minutes left on the clock. Lee thought he was fouled just outside the Sholing box, so was understandably aggrieved when the referee decided that he was guilty of obstruction and awarded the free-kick the other way. Totton clipped cross after cross into the visitors’ penalty area but led by the giant frame of Miller, The Boatmen turned the ball away each time. Luke Hallett met a clearance in the centre-circle, turning the ball back to whence it came, and almost catching out Nash who had to keep his wits about him to stop a wind-assisted punt flying directly into his net.
With five minutes remaining, Scott Rendell came on to replace Blair. Adam Tomasso was booked for a sliding tackle foul near the half-way line. Wylie delivered a cross from a free-kick on the Sholing right. Hallett headed out but Read stood the ball up towards the far post, where Gosney managed to reach an arm above the ruck of players clustered at his far post to knock away the danger. Then at the other end, Miller rose unopposed to head away Taylor’s left-wing free-kick.
Totton were searching for the late winner; Sholing content to play on the counter-attack, but still offering a threat. The board went up to indicate six minutes of stoppage time, prompting a roar of encouragement from the Snows Stadium faithful. Taylor went down in full-flight but was denied a free-kick. Hallett intercepted a cross and cleared from the middle of his own area. Luke Bennett came on for Charlie Austin. Bennett got involved straight away, floating the ball into the box where Taylor, with his back to goal, chested down to Lee whose shot — taken awkwardly with his right foot when his left may have given greater potency — was straight at Nash.
INSTRUMENTAL: Scott Rendell stepped off the bench to play an integral part in AFC Totton's winning goal over their fierce local rivals.
With time rapidly running out, Hallett clipped the ball down the Totton right. Rendell controlled it, moving towards the touchline level with the edge of the box, taking his marker with him as Bennett made an underlapping run into the box. Rendell’s clever reverse pass allowed Bennett to curl a low cross that drew Nash out far enough to get a hand to it, but he couldn’t prevent the ball finding Ethan TAYLOR at the back post, who fired high into the roof of the net to spark pandemonium in the stands.
Sholing signalled their intent by adopting an NFL-style ‘Hail Mary’ formation, as they lined up for the restart. Totton knew what to expect and dealt with it accordingly, before a stoppage in play caused by a midfield scuffle that ended with both Blaise Riley-Snow and Adam Tomasso being shown their second yellow cards, leaving it a 10 v 10 encounter for the remaining seconds. Post-match deliberation among the Media team suggests that Riley-Snow’s second yellow card was for a foul, while Tomasso’s was for kicking the ball away after the whistle had been blown.
Sholing pushed to rescue a point but a foul on Lee in front of their own dug-out allowed Totton — Rendell and Bennett, in particular — to take the ball to the right-wing corner flag. By the time Lee joined them and won a free-kick at the byline, the gig was up and the final whistle confirmed a very Merry Christmas to all Stags fans!
View the GALLERY from AFC Totton 2-1 Sholing
Watch JIMMY BALL’S Post-Match Interview
Watch ETHAN TAYLOR’S Post-Match Interview
Next Up: WINCHESTER CITY vs AFC TOTTON
Southern League Premier Division South | Matchday#19 | Charters Community Stadium, Hillier Way, Winchester SO23 7SU | Thursday 26 December 2024 | Kick-Off 1:00pm
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By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Harvey Gerring
