AFC Totton
PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY #5
Snows Stadium, Salisbury Road, Totton | Att: Unknown
Wednesday 24 July 2024
STAGS BEAT THE BADGERS
AFC TOTTON 3
Remus Nixon 19mins; Leo Taylor 47mins;
Owen Pelham 82mins
BROCKENHURST 1
Corey Burns 66mins
A YOUTHFUL AFC TOTTON team hosted Wessex League Premier Division side Brockenhurst at the Snows Stadium last night (Wednesday 24 July 2024), producing an entertaining display that saw them run-out eventual three-one winners.
Former Hamworthy United striker Remus Nixon gave The Stags the lead, following up to convert after Harvey Rew was dispossessed in the visitors’ penalty area. Half-time substitute Leo Taylor wasted no time in doubling the home side’s lead with a powerful finish from the edge of the area barely two minutes into the second period. Brock pulled one back through Corey Burns, after Totton failed to clear a cross from The Badgers’ right-wing. Owen Pelham wrapped up the scoring eight minutes from time, stabbing home from close range after Sa-Sean Lutumba’s rasping effort struck the crossbar to prompt chaos in the Brockenhurst box.
AFC TOTTON: 1.Nico TROJANOWSKI; 2. Trialist A; 4. Trialist B; 7. Harvey REW; 8. Adam TOMASSO (Capt.); 9. Remus NIXON; 15. Sam MAGRI; 16. Ollie ERDINC; 17. Declan ROSE; 19. Tom BLAIR; 22. Trialist C. Substitutes: 3. Sa-Sean LUTUMBA; 6. Luke HALLETT; 11. Owen PELHAM; 14. Leo TAYLOR; 20. Trialist D; 21. Trialist E; 22. Trialist F.
BROCKENHURST: 1. Will BUTLER; 2. Jamie-Jay BURGESS; 3. Ronan MOORE; 4. Tyler WELLMAN; 5. Corey BURNS; 6. Trialist A; 7 Trialist B; 8. Rhys TAYLOR; 9. Ben ATIAKO-HALL; 10. Jake ADAMS; 11. Trialist C. Substitutes: Names not supplied.
TAKES TWO TO TANGO: AFC Totton left-back Sa-Sean Lutumba tussles with a Brockenhurst winger during the pre-season friendly at the Snows Stadium.
Brockenhurst got the game underway, wearing an all-green kit while AFC Totton, whose matchday squad consisted largely of Under-23 players, wore the gunmetal grey and fluo yellow away kit of last season.
Sam Magri, one of the more senior players on display, fed Tom Blair high up the left wing, but his cross was headed away. Then, some clever footwork from Remus Nixon on the edge of the Brockenhurst box enabled him to shift the ball to Trialist C to his right, who ran into a couple of green shirts and lost possession.
Goalkeeper Nico Trojanowski showed some neat ball skills of his own, turning sharply with the ball at his feet in his own penalty area to evade the incoming press of Ben Atiako-Hall. When Atiako-Hall got on the ball shortly after, dribbling and advancing threateningly towards the Totton box, it required two Stags to double-up and shut down his route to goal.
Brockenhurst’s Trialist B was presented with an unexpected shooting chance about 20 yards out when Sa-Sean Lutumba misplaced his pass across Totton’s back line. The Brock No.7 took a touch when the first-time shot was clearly on, and paid the price by being closed down and dispossessed.
The trialist wearing the No.11 shirt for Brockenhurst tussled with Lutumba on the visitors’ right wing. Totton managed to scrape the ball away and set-up a counter-attack. Good hold-up play by Nixon created half an opening for Trialist C, but The Stags were unable to take advantage of the brief numerical supremacy before Brock defenders got back in position to fill up the space.
Tom Blair and Harvey Rew linked up on the Totton left, playing a one-two to get Blair cutting in onto his right foot and send in a low shot that Will Butler gathered at his feet.
Totton took the lead on 19 minutes, when Blair clipped a curling cross into the box from deep on the left-hand side. Rew beat the offside trap and instantly controlled the ball. A defensive challenge sent him to ground but Remus NIXON was on-hand to follow-up with a tidy finish into the middle of the goal.
TARGET MAN: Young centre-forward Remus Nixon opened the scoring for The Stags.
Brockenhurst’s attempts to get back on level terms were hindered by Adam Tomasso, wearing the captain’s armband, committing a foul midway inside his own half. Nixon headed away the cross from the resulting free-kick, and when Brockenhurst came forward again, Declan Rose was able to remove the danger.
Blair slipped, enabling Brockenhurst to intercept Lutumba’s pass out of defence. The Totton trialist wearing the No.4 shirt reacted quickly to reclaim the ball for the team in gunmetal grey. Then, Ronan Moore made a goal-saving tackle inside the Brock penalty area just as Totton’s No.22 trialist was about to pull the trigger, having already side-stepped Butler. Despite Blair’s cross being headed over the bar by a defender for another corner, Totton were unable to capitalise on the set-piece.
Atiako-Hall ghosted in behind Magri to attack the inside-right channel. Magri recovered well to halt the forward’s progress, and even when additional support arrived to keep The Badgers’ attack alive, Totton got numbers back to crowd them out. Then, a wayward pass gave the ball to Tyler Wellman, but despite having the room to advance and line up a long-range shot, he scuffed his effort comfortably into the hands of Trojanowski.
The Totton goalkeeper was much more concerned about a cross from Brock right-back Jame-Jay Burgess that threatened to loop into the far corner of the goal. Trojanowksi back-pedalled quickly and got a hand up to push the ball over the crossbar. The corner from the left was over-hit and Lutumba cleared.
A well-timed sliding interception by Tomasso prevented Atiako-Hall’s pass finding its target down the Brockenhurst left. From the resulting throw-in, Magri made a strong block on the edge of the Totton box to keep The Stags’ lead in tact.
Rose got forward on the Totton right and nudged the ball to Trialist C on the right-wing touchline. He crossed towards Nixon in the centre. A defender got something on the ball and it fell to Ollie Erdinc, who wrestled with an opponent before Brockenhurst eventually cleared their lines.
Rew and the No.22 combined well - short, sharp passes creating the space for Blair to strike a first-time shot that Butler parried with a flying two-fisted punch. Then, Tomasso was required to make another impeccably-timed sliding tackle to block an effort from Brock’s Trialist C from the inside-left channel.
Totton’s trialist in the No.22 shirt demonstrated considerable strength and determination to hold off the challenge from Corey Burns close to the half-way line, and then run him back to his own box before firing a cross-shot towards the near post, where Nixon’s header was deflected behind for a corner. Blair’s in-swinging corner was defended, before Erdinc was called up for hand-ball.
ME AND MY SHADOW: New Stags winger Tom Blair keeps a close eye on his opponent.
HALF-TIME: AFC TOTTON 1-0 BROCKENHURST
Totton kicked-off the second half, having made a few changes to the starting line-up, and within two minutes, one of the newly-introduced players doubled The Stags’ lead. Sa-Sean Lutumba made an incisive raid down the left-hand side and squared his low cross into the Brockenhurst penalty area. No.22 missed his kick, wrong-footing the defenders, and as the ball rolled on to just outside the area, Leo TAYLOR met it with a first-time thump that sent it crashing into the goal, just under the crossbar beyond Butler’s grasping hand.
One of Totton’s trialists who had come on at half-time to play in central defence undersold his back-pass, and inadvertently presented Atiako-Hall with a golden opportunity to halve the deficit for the visitors. Trojanowski responded by closing the angle and making himself big to make a significant block, with Luke Hallett dropping behind him to tidy up the loose ball.
Lutumba was carrying a major threat down Totton’s left. Trialist B in the No.4 shirt played him in to cross for the trialist wearing the No.20, who skewed his half-volley wide to the right with Butler’s goal at his mercy. Then, Nixon fired a 22-yard free-kick into the defensive wall from a decent shooting position.
No.22 had a one-vs-one against Butler, but the Brockenhurst goalkeeper managed to push the wall wide for a left-wing corner. All the Totton players attacked the front post as the cross arced towards the back post, into relative safety for The Badgers.
The central defensive trailist redeemed himself with a well-timed sliding tackle to take the ball of the toes of the bustling Rhys Taylor, as he was about to fire at Trojanowski’s goal.
Leo Taylor conceded an unnecessary free-kick off the corner of their penalty area, on the Brockenhurst left, but they were unable to take advantage. A poor back-pass then threatened to open up the Totton defence until a cross from the right hit Hallett, and although Brockenhurst quickly regained possession, their energy and enthusiasm to get forward exceeded the accuracy of their crossing, letting The Stags off the hook.
TWO ON REW: Midfielder Harvey Rew wades through traffic versus Brockenhurst.
Totton’s No.4, who looked very comfortable on the ball both in this game and during his cameo in the draw at Banbury United at the weekend, took up possession in midfield and swept it forward. Nixon’s close control saw him weave between two green shirts and lay off to No.22, whose left-footed shot was caught by Butler.
Brockenhurst’s trialist in the No.11 shirt began to exert more attacking influence on the game. Pelham had to make another strong tackle midway inside his own half to disrupt one attack, then No.11’s cross from the right flank was unconvincingly dealt with by trialist No.20. When he should have turned the ball behind for a corner, he tried to hook it clear with a back-heeled volley that only caused the ball to drop invitingly for Corey BURNS to finish into the bottom-right corner for Brockenhurst.
Moore did well to quell Nixon’s attacking run, trying to latch onto Erdinc’s forward pass. Lutumba continued to cause problems for the visiting defence, creating a chance for Pelham, which the young midfielder blasted over the bar.
Brock’s No.11 carved out another opportunity for Atiako-Hall in a central position, just outside the box. He aimed a well-struck shot towards the bottom-left corner, which Nico Trojanowksi thrust out his right arm to deflect wide with a fine save.
Their goalkeeper having kept them one-goal up, Totton then went on to extend their lead with eight minutes to go. The Stags swept forward via No.4 in the middle to Lutumba, galloping into the inside-left channel. He exchanged passes with Erdinc, the shifted the ball onto his right foot as he turned away from his marker, before striking his effort against the crossbar. Brockenhurst only half-cleared and Totton were immediately on them, again. A cross from the right-wing byline made its way back to Lutumba; either he or the defender knocked it down and Owen PELHAM arrived to stab the ball into the top-right corner.
TOP BINS: Owen Pelham (No.11) prods home Totton's third goal near the end of the game.
Hallett came to Trojanowski’s rescue when a loose pass left the Totton goal gaping. Then, Totton had to defend a couple of corners in quick succession, as The Badgers rallied at the end of the game. A counter-attack saw Lutumba send Nixon forward at inside-left. He checked back to find Pelham outside the box, who squared to the No.20 to hit a solid, right-foot shot that Butler claimed.
View the AFC Totton vs Brockenhurst GALLERY
Watch JIMMY BALL’s Post-Match Interview
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Sayers Sports Photography
