AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH | Matchday#04
Saturday 24 August 2024 | Snows Stadium, Totton SO40 2RW | Att: 1,194
TOTTON GO TOP WITH CONVINCING WIN OVER CRUSADERS
AFC TOTTON 3
Tony Lee 10mins, 62mins;
Declan Rose 43mins
HUNGERFORD TOWN 1
Jacob Bancroft 87mins
AFC TOTTON TOOK TOP SPOT in the Southern League Premier Division South by extending their 100% start to the 2024/25 season with a 3-1 home victory over Hungerford Town at the Snows Stadium on Saturday (24 August 2024).
Tony Lee got Totton off to a flying start against the only side to beat them both home and away last season, by breaking the offside trap to run through on goal, round the ‘keeper and slot The Stags in front after just 10 minutes. Declan Rose struck his first goal for the club with a 25-yard pearler, shortly before the break. Then, Lee ended the match as a contest midway through the second half with a precisely struck free-kick.
It wasn’t all plain-sailing for the home side, though. A Luke Hallett defensive howler gifted Hungerford substitute Jacob Bancroft a consolation goal three minutes from time, ending Totton’s run without conceding a goal, which had outlasted every other Step 3 team in the country with Southern League Premier Central leaders Stamford having already conceded twice during the first half of their game at Bishop’s Stortford.
AFC TOTTON: 13. Joshua GOULD; 2. Joe OASTLER; 5. Charlie KENNEDY; 6. Sam MAGRI; 8. Adam TOMASSO; 9. Scott RENDELL (Capt.); 11. Charlie AUSTIN; 12. Luke HALLETT; 17. Declan ROSE; 18. Tony LEE; 19. Tom BLAIR. Substitutes: 7. Harvey REW; 10. Ethan TAYLOR; 14. Owen PELHAM; 16. Luke BENNETT; 20. Marcus DAWS. Substitutions: REW for RENDELL (63mins); TAYLOR for BLAIR (63mins); DAWS for AUSTIN (68mins); BENNETT for LEE (75mins). Yellow Cards: BLAIR (Foul); TOMASSO (Foul).
HUNGERFORD TOWN: 1. Ryan CLARKE; 3. Ramarni MEDFORD-SMITH; 4. Baboucarr JARRA; 6. Matthew BERRY-HARGREAVES; 8. Bradley HOOPER; 11. James DOBSON; 12. Zidan AKERS; 14. Elis WATTS; 16. Louis McGRORY; 17. Louie PAGET; 20. Rhys TYLER (Capt.). Substitutes: 7. Henry SPALDING; 9. Jacob BANCROFT; 10. James HARDING; 15. Luke SOFTLEY; 18. Alefein SANTOS D’ABADIA. Substitutions: HARDING for DOBSON (58mins); BANCROFT for HOOPER (68mins); SPALDING for AKERS (68mins); SANTOS D’ABADIA for PAGET (68mins); SOFTLEY for BERRY-HARGREAVES (82mins). Yellow Cards: BERRY-HARGREAVES (Foul); JARRA (Foul).
Hungerford got the game started, wearing an all-fluo yellow kit, against an AFC Totton side clad in their all-Royal blue kit with white trim.
An early diagonal by Joe Oastler, from the left of Totton’s back three, enabled Declan Rose and Luke Hallett to exchange passes, putting Rose in a position to swing in a cross that was headed away from the edge of the Hungerford six-yard box.
Ramarni Medford-Smith intercepted a Charlie Austin pass midway inside the visitors half, and after diving forward for 15 yards, he picked out James Dobson high on the left-wing, whose low, whipped cross was gathered by Joshua Gould. Then, a well-timed sliding tackle by Rose in the centre-circle prevented former Totton winger Zidan Akers from exploiting space on Hungerford’s right wing with two of his teammates motoring forward in anticipation of a through-ball.
Austin charged down a defensive clearance on the edge of the Hungerford penalty area. When the ball landed at the feet of Crusaders goalkeeper Ryan Clarke, it thudded into the turf, the inflatable inner ball having popped. Once the ball had been replaced, Adam Tomasso reacted angrily to a Hungerford player standing in his way while he was trying to take a quick free-kick midway inside his own half, although the referee turned a blind eye and allowed the players to sort it out for themselves.
Totton were awarded a free-kick towards their left flank, midway inside Hungerford’s half, for a high foot on Tony Lee. Tom Blair floated the ball into the box, where Oastler headed against a defender and then struck the rebound into the same player. He appealed for a penalty but the match officials were unmoved. Sam Magri retrieved the ball at the right-wing byline and sent in a cross that Luke Hallett headed towards the bottom-left corner, bringing a full-stretch save from Clarke, who pushed the ball onto the post and wide for a corner. Austin flicked-on Blair’s cross, and Magri headed wide from beyond the far post.
The home side continued to dominate the open exchanges. Headers from Tomasso and Austin advanced the ball down the middle of the pitch, enabling Scott Rendell to control it and feed Blair on the left, who carried it forward and cut infield to deliver an in-swinging cross that was too long for the blue shirts arriving at the far post.
Clarke’s resulting goal-kick landed near the half-way line, where Rose immediately returned it into the space between Hungerford’s defensive line and their goal. As Lee timed his run to perfection, The Crusaders defenders could only stand and appeal for an offside flag that never came, leaving Tony LEE to run through on goal unhindered, skip around Clarke and roll the ball into the empty net to put Totton ahead with his first goal of the new season.
Elis Watts, who scored in Hungerford’s win at the Snows Stadium last season, combined with Louis McGrory to raid down the right and send in a low cross that found Bradley Hooper on the edge of the six-yard box, where Gould reacted quickly to smother the shot at source. Totton responded with a right-wing foray of their own, Hallett swapping passes with Rose before using Austin’s run towards the touchline as a decoy to work his way infield and let-fly with a 25-yard left-footed drive that Clarke did well to repel with a two-handed parry before the loose ball was cleared.
Hallett was enjoying himself as a free-roaming right-sided centre-back, aided and abetted by Rose, who bent a cross towards the near edge of the six-yard box where Lee connected with a diving header but steered the ball narrowly wide of the post. Then, Magri closed down a Watts cross at the expense of a corner, after the forward had eluded both Blair and Tomasso. Gould punched away the delivery.
A defensive back-header from Hallett prompted Dobson to challenge Gould and flatten the goalkeeper at the edge of the Totton box, resulting in a free-kick to the home side and a talking to from the referee for Hungerford’s No.11.
Watts took on Tomasso again, initially beating the midfielder close to the right-wing touchline. But he made the mistake of thinking The Totton Terrier to be a forgiving fellow — that he isn’t; Tomasso quickly stole the ball back before Watts could inflict any damage from the edge of the penalty area.
Hungerford put the ball in the Totton net when Louie Paget rode a challenge from Rose and passed to Hooper on the left. He tried a shot from distance, which struck one of his teammates near the penalty spot and fell for Zidan Akers to finish from eight yards, only to immediately have the goal against his former club ruled out for offside.
Hungerford defender Matthew Berry-Hargreaves did very well to stop Lee getting in at inside-right, stretching to intercept and hook the ball away as it bounced over him, with Lee breaking into the box at speed just off his right shoulder. Then, Hungerford thought they had a valid claim for a penalty when captain Rhys Tyler went down under Blair’s presence, as he tried to run onto an Akers through-ball. Again, though, the referee was unperturbed.
Gould took too long to clear the ball after receiving it to feet from one of his Totton teammates, and Hooper charged it down at the edge of the box. But the boys in blue swarmed into the box to smother any potential shooting chance out of existence, and when Tyler attempted a cross-shot from the right, The Stags had plenty of numbers back to regain control. When the ball went out for a Totton throw close to the halfway line, under the SFS Main Stand, captain Scott Rendell called for “calm”, and Blair — who was about to take a quick throw — heeded the advice and allowed his team time to regroup.
A deft touch from Austin helped Oastler’s forward pass onto Lee, who ushered it out to the right flank. Rose whipped in a high cross, which Austin headed against a defender to earn a left-wing corner. Clarke got both hands to Blair’s cross at the far post, but could only flap the ball away to Totton’s right; he took the ball more convincingly from the follow-up cross.
Oastler made a sliding block to turn Watts’ cross behind for a corner, which Gould punched away from between two Hungerford players in the box. On his next attack, Watts was forced away from goal and reverted to spreading the play to the left wing. Medford-Smith had the time and space to pick out Akers in the middle, but the ball struck the forward in the stomach and rebounded kindly for Gould to gather.
Tomasso had a shot charged down just outside the Hungerford box around the half-hour mark, after running onto Blair’s square pass from the left. Then, Rose found a pocket of space on the advanced side of the centre-circle from Oastler’s pass, advanced five yards and took aim with a shot from distance that had Clarke scrambling towards his left-hand post as the ball flew just past the upright.
The busy Rose played a one-two with Hallett to work his way from the centre-circle to the right edge of the penalty area, and then initiated a spell of pinball with a cross that bounced off two Hungerford defenders before it was eventually hacked away.
Heavy rain having fallen on the Snows Stadium pitch during the morning, there was standing water on the side of the ground closest to the SFS Main Stand, and that slight bogginess helped Hooper to catch-up with a long, low angled pass out to Hungerford’s right flank. His high cross towards the far post eluded the jumping Hallett but when it dropped behind the defender, Akers missed his kick, allowing Hallett to safely nod the ball back to Gould.
Lee fired wide to the left with a snapshot from Austin’s flick-on. Then, Medford-Smith put in a strong tackle to prevent Rose skipping past him at inside-right, as Totton continued to threaten the visitors’ goal. And their dominance was further rewarded with a second goal two minutes before the interval.
The Stags came forward, working the ball out to Blair on the left. He turned infield and, as Hungerford were anticipating an in-swinging cross into the box, rolled the ball square to the unmarked Declan ROSE, who took a touch and then curled a 25-yard effort into the top-right corner for his first AFC Totton goal.
Two minutes of stoppage time were indicated at the end of the first half. Berry-Hargreaves cut-out Rendell’s attempted through-ball with Austin ready to pounce. Then, Rose got himself into a similar position from which he had just scored, but a heavy touch denied him a repeat performance.
Akers took matters into his own hands up the other end, bustling his way into the Totton box from the left before testing Gould with a low shot that the giant ‘keeper pushed around the post. Blair headed away the corner and then ran the ball upfield, before being caught and dispossessed by Paget, who he then tripped to earn the game’s first yellow card.
When the teams went in at half-time, Jimmy Ball, James Beattie and Mike Carter were deep in conversation on the pitch, plotting their strategy for the second period.
HALF-TIME: AFC TOTTON 2-0 HUNGERFORD TOWN
Neither side made any changes at the break. The first shooting chance of the second half fell to Rose, when Clarke miss-hit his clearance from his own area. The former Poole Town man tried to chip the retreating goalkeeper but the ball dropped wide of the post.
Blair received the ball high on the left and jockeyed the Hungerford defenders into retreat, before firing high over the crossbar. Then, Totton’s attacking trio of Lee, Austin and Rendell combined to threaten down the middle, but Austin’s flick was a fraction too hard for Rendell to connect.
A clever back-heel by Austin set Blair away down the left wing. He got to the byline and opted to centre low, close to the edge of the six-yard box, as Lee had chosen to drop off in anticipation of a pull-back. Then, Tomasso seized his opportunity to make a full-blooded sliding challenge near the halfway line when an undercut pass out of the Totton defence put the ball into Nomansland.
Two minutes before the hour mark, Hungerford replaced James Dobson with former Chesham United striker James Harding. Oastler conceded a corner on the Hungerford right, despite his protestations that he hadn’t actually touched the ball from Watts’ cross. The corner was taken short, but Blair was alert enough to divert Hooper’s shot wide. From the subsequent corner, Blair was there again to head clear.
Totton went three-up on 62 minutes. Berry-Hargreaves earned a yellow card for bringing down Austin to the right of the D, as Totton swept forward. Tony LEE fired the free-kick over the defensive wall, straight past Clarke and into the top-right corner of the net.
Jimmy Ball took that opportunity to bring on Ethan Taylor and Harvey Rew, in place of Tom Blair and Scott Rendell. Taylor’s first involvement was to take a corner from the right, which he delivered to the far post where Lee headed wide.
Akers held the ball up on the Hungerford left long enough for Medford-Smith to make an underlapping run to inside-left, from where he drove his angled shot wide of the far post. Then, the visitors made three further substitutions while Totton brought on Marcus Daws in place of Charlie Austin. A few minutes later, Tony Lee’s chances of completing his hat-trick were scuppered when he was replaced by Luke Bennett.
Daws and Hallett both made defensive blocks to prevent Hungerford benefitting from a right-wing corner. Magri did likewise, and then Tomasso was booked for his reaction to a visiting player trying to take an easy tumble in the box, which sparked a spot of pushing and shoving from both sets of players. The referee hadn’t been fooled by the dive but neither was he impressed by Tomasso’s brand of vigilante justice. Hungerford’s Baboucarr Jarra was also booked.
Ryan Clarke got caught out of his goal when Rew intercepted near halfway and played a forward pass that drew The Crusaders’ ‘keeper out of his box. Daws nipped in front of him and knocked the ball to the left, before steering it towards goal. But two defenders had dropped back to protect their goal and ushered the ball away.
Totton’s hitherto unsullied Goals Against column was finally tarnished, three minutes from the end. Hallett undersold a back-pass to Gould, allowing Jacob BANCROFT to force the ball past Gould before tapping the ball into the empty net.
Totton began to fall back to protect their two-goal advantage, but they couldn’t prevent Harding getting into the box to head narrowly over from a right-wing cross.
During five minutes of stoppage time, the home side maintained control of the game without necessarily controlling possession. Rose and Taylor took the ball into the corner to run the clock down, before Oastler was forced into a last-ditch tackle to stop Bancroft’s progress into the inside-right channel. The forward did manage to get in from a slightly wider position just before the end, but Gould made comfortable work of saving the low, angled shot.
Watch DECLAN ROSE’S Post-Match Interview
Watch JIMMY BALL’S Post-Match Interview
Watch MATCH HIGHLIGHTS: AFC Totton 3-1 Hungerford Town
Southern League Premier Division South LEAGUE TABLE
Next Up: HAVANT & WATERLOOVILLE vs AFC TOTTON
Southern League Premier Division South | Matchday#05 | Westleigh Park, Martin Road, Havant, Hampshire PO9 5TH | Monday 26 August 2024 | Kick-Off 3:00pm
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By Ben Rochey-Adams
Match Highlights video courtesy of Jon Ashworth, Side of the World
