AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH | Matchday#25
Saturday 25 January 2025 | Salisbury Road, Totton, Southampton | Att: 1,163
TAYLOR’S DOUBLE LEADS CHARGE AS STAGS CRUISE TO VICTORY
AFC TOTTON 4
Ethan Taylor 40mins, 82mins;
Scott Rendell 86mins (pen);
Sam Magri 90+4mins
PLYMOUTH PARKWAY 0
TWO GOALS FROM ETHAN TAYLOR helped AFC Totton on their way to a comprehensive home win over Plymouth Parkway in the Southern League Premier Division South match at the Snows Stadium on Saturday (25 January 2025).
An exquisite dummy by Torquay United loanee Ben Seymour, making his full debut for The Stags, presented Taylor with a golden opportunity to open the scoring five minutes before half-time and the winger obliged with a rare right-footed finish. After Totton had worn down their opponents throughout the second period, Taylor moved in for the kill by latching onto Tony Lee’s lob to wrong-foot the goalkeeper and double his team’s lead with eight minutes to go.
A foul on Lee by Parkway goalkeeper Matthew Wonnacott enabled substitute Scott Rendell to make it three from the penalty spot and, after Taylor came agonisingly close to completing his hat-trick with a spectacular volley that struck the underside of the crossbar, Sam Magri added the fourth goal with a skilful flourish in stoppage time.
With just one win from their previous five games, Manager Jimmy Ball rang the changes to his starting line-up. In addition to Ben Seymour making his first AFC Totton start, Oxford United loanee George Franklin came in at right-back and new permanent signing Craig Tanner took an attacking midfield berth, while Franklin’s Kassam Stadium colleague Richard McIntyre — back at the Snows Stadium for a second loan spell — was named among the substitutes.
Plymouth Parkway named only four of their permitted five substitutes, and two of those — Christopher McPhee and Lee Peacock — are the Manager and Assistant Manager, respectively.
AFC TOTTON: 13. Ryan GOSNEY; 2. Joe OASTLER (Capt.); 3. Ben JEFFORD; 5. Charlie KENNEDY; 6. Sam MAGRI; 7. Ben SEYMOUR; 10. Ethan TAYLOR; 11. Charlie AUSTIN; 14.Craig TANNER; 16. Luke BENNETT; 17. George FRANKLIN. Substitutes: 4. Mike CARTER; 8. Adam TOMASSO; 9. Scott RENDELL; 15. Richard McINTYRE; 18. Tony LEE. Substitutions: McINTYRE for JEFFORD (46mins); TOMASSO for BENNETT (66mins); LEE for AUSTIN (66mins); RENDELL for SEYMOUR (72mins); CARTER for KENNEDY (87mins). Yellow Cards: BENNETT (Foul); FRANKLIN (Time-Wasting).
PLYMOUTH PARKWAY: 1. Matthew WONNACOTT; 2. Thomas DEAN; 4. Ryan BRETT; 5. Taylor SCARFF; 6. Shane WHITE (Capt.); 8. Callum HALL; 9. Sergii ISMAIL; 10. Rio GARSIDE; 14. Tylor LOVE-HOLMES; 19. James WATTS-BARCIELA; 20. Carlo GARSIDE. Substitutes: 3. William ARMSTRONG; 7. Michael WILLIAMS; 12. Christopher McPHEE; 17. Lee PEACOCK. Substitutions: WILLIAMS for WATTS-BARCIELA (64mins); ARMSTRONG for ISMAIL (82mins). Yellow Cards: None.
Plymouth Parkway, wearing all yellow with dark blue trim, kicked-off against an AFC Totton side in their usual home kit of all-Royal blue with white trim.
The visitors, who were attacking towards the Aldi end, created the first half-chance of the game when Sergii Ismail spun away from Charlie Kennedy mid-way inside the Totton half and squared infield for Callum Hall to line up a long-range effort that went straight at Ryan Gosney; the Plymouth midfielder may have been better advised to make use of James Watts-Barciela who had space to exploit at inside-left.
Hall made progress through the middle of the pitch and found Tylor Love-Holmes on the right touchline. Thomas Dean made a darting underlapping run and the pass picked him out, but Ethan Taylor tracked him all the way and took possession before calmly playing the ball out from his own penalty area.
Ben Seymour, who scored 23 goals in all competitions for Plymouth Parkway while on loan at Bolitho Park in 2022/23, received the ball from a right-wing throw-in and ran at three defenders. His cross sent Taylor wide to retrieve it and pull back to Ben Jefford. A short pass infield found Craig Tanner who tried to clip a neat through-ball back to Taylor at inside-left, but it was cut-out by a defender.
A solid tackle by Tanner just inside the opposition half sent Luke Bennett scurrying forward on the right and his cross reached Charlie Austin, who tried to flick the ball up and strike it on the volley only to be close down by Plymouth defender Taylor Scarff.
A cross-field pass from Carlo Garside to Love-Holmes had Jefford and Taylor tag-teaming on the left of Totton’s defensive third. Totton counter-attacked and Tanner’s cross from the right was well-taken by Matthew Wonnacott in the Plymouth Parkway goal.
George Franklin demonstrated his strength to halt Watts-Barciela’s progress on Parkway’s left wing and win himself a free-kick in the ensuing scuffle. Wonnacutt was then required to clear into Salisbury Road with Seymour bearing down, looking to latch onto a long pass into the Parkway box.
Sam Magri’s diving header from the half-way line kept the ball in Parkway’s half. Tanner laid off to Bennett, who played Seymour into the right side of the area, his low shot puling a near-post save from Wonnacott’s legs to force a corner, but the whistle went for a push by a Totton player as Taylor’s cross flew into the box.
Tanner escaped a yellow card for a late, heavy challenge midway inside Parkway’s half. Visiting captain Shane White brought the ball out of defence and tried to instigate an attacking move from the right with Ismail, Love-Holmes and Dean all getting involved but Dean’s high cross floated over the frame of Gosney’s goal.
Jefford was penalised for colliding with Love-Holmes to hand Parkway a free-kick just in front of the AFC Totton dug-out. Taylor punted Carlo Garside’s delivery away and Seymour ran onto it, but before he could do any damage there were three yellow shirts around him to dispossess and clear.
Joe Oastler did well to improvise a clearance from the ground after he stumbled while disrupting a Parkway attack through the middle. Then on 27 minutes, the visitors had a potential goal ruled out in controversial circumstances. Austin was dispossessed on half-way and Dean side-stepped Kennedy’s challenge and passed infield to Hall. He spotted two teammates advancing to his right and played a low, angled pass out to the flank. Love-Holmes was in an offside position but left the ball to run for Dean, whose low centre had Gosney diving in vain to cut it out and Ismail tapped into the empty net. But the assistant referee had already raised his flag for an offside — presumably against Love-Holmes — and the goal was ruled out.
Tanner released Franklin to attack down the Totton right. He centred and the rapidly incoming Bennett was inches away from connecting with a header from six yards. Then, Taylor took advantage of a weak defensive header to dash down the left side of the area and send in a cross that Wonnacott could only get one hand to; it dropped to a defender who sliced his clearance back across goal but another Parkway defender cleared it into touch. Totton tried to work an in-road from the left and when the ball came back to Jefford, his high cross had Wonnacott watching it carefully as it floated over the top-right corner of his goal.
Neat feet from Tanner and a short pass to the right enabled Bennett to hit a high diagonal. Austin brought it down and slipped Taylor in, left of the area, to flash the ball across goal; Seymour ran in but couldn’t get a telling touch. Then, Plymouth built a promising-looking move down their right but the Totton defence stood up to it and turned it away.
Rio Garside combined with Dean to move the ball into the middle to Carlo Garside, who was tempted into trying a long-range effort that bounced in the area but Gosney was well-placed to gather it into his midriff. Totton responded with a flowing attacking move that saw first-time passes from Austin and Kennedy work the ball forward for Seymour, who turned his man to put the ball on his right foot and took aim with a shot that was blocked.
White tracked Tanner’s foray at the edge of the box on the Totton right. Then, Hall was spoken to at length by the referee for a late foul on Kennedy deep in the Totton half.
The Stags took the lead five minutes before half-time. Magri brought the ball out of defence and passed forward to Kennedy, who played Bennett in to attack the Parkway box from the right. He fizzed in a low cross that Seymour dummied on the edge of the six-yard box to wrong-foot the whole Parkway defence, leaving Ethan TAYLOR free to give Totton the lead with a firm swipe from the inside of his right foot.
Dean inexplicably escaped punishment for a bodycheck on Seymour near the centre-circle. Totton regained possession and Magri released Franklin to raid into the box from the right. His cross rebounded back to him and he held off a challenge long enough to roll the ball back to Tanner, just behind the penalty spot, who shot narrowly wide. Then, Austin also went close to doubling Totton’s advantage when he found himself in space while first Bennett and then Tanner worked the ball from right-to-left. The veteran striker stepped inside the covering defender and fired just past the near post, the ball striking the advertising hoarding and rebounding against the back of the net to fool some fans at the other end of the ground into believing it had gone in.
There was only one minute of added time, during which a high pass into Totton’s box eluded Magri’s attempt to head clear but Ismail couldn’t control the ball and Gosney was able to grab it. Then, a collision between Seymour and White resulted in a free-kick to Parkway in the centre-circle and one last chance before the break to pump the ball into the danger area; it was overhit for a goal-kick.
HALF-TIME: AFC TOTTON 1-0 PLYMOUTH PARKWAY
Totton took to the pitch for the second half without the services of Ben Jefford, with Richard McIntyre having been substituted in at left-back. Plymouth Parkway remained unchanged.
The opening exchanges of the second half provided little to report, until Luke Bennett picked up the game’s first yellow card for a foul on Hall midway inside Totton’s half on the Parkway right. The delivery fell short of the massed ranks of players on the edge of the Totton box, although Franklin did well to get his foot in before a yellow-shirted attacker could improvise a threat. The ball fell to Carlo Garside, whose long-shot should have brought a routine save from Gosney, but the goalkeeper appeared to take his eye off the ball and ended up shovelling it wide for a corner.
A short corner routine between Dean and Carlo Garside had Magri stretching to head behind from within his own six-yard box. Austin headed clear the subsequent corner and although Totton then sprung forward on the counter with a swift, crisp passing move, a dubious offside decision against Seymour on the left wing frustrated their attacking ambitions.
A mistake by Bennett gave Carlo Garside space to attack but his low cross was turned behind by Franklin. From the resulting short corner from the Parkway left, Ismail received with his back to goal. From a narrow angle, he turned his marker and let fly with a shot into the side-netting.
Ryan Brett guided the ball back to his goalkeeper as Seymour hovered with intent at the edge of the Parkway penalty area. Then, Kennedy’s volleyed pass out to the left put Austin in space to pick out any one of three blue shirts arriving in the middle but his cross lacked accuracy and was easily picked off by Dean.
Sam Magri gave a brief foreshadow of what was to come with a tight pirouette on the edge of his own area that would not have been out of place on Strictly Come Dancing, to evade Ismail’s press. When the visitors did finally manage to open up the middle of the Totton defence, Oastler got back to make a sliding tackle to slow down their forward momentum and Austin got involved in the defensive tussle to win a free-kick.
Plymouth withdrew James Watts-Barciela four minutes past the hour, with Michael Williams stepping off the bench to replace him. A couple of minutes later, Bennett and Austin took their leave to make way for Adam Tomasso and Tony Lee.
Totton began to control possession, moving the ball from one side of the pitch to the other, making their opponents — whose squad appeared to be somewhat depleted, if only on paper — shift their bodies around the Snows Stadium pitch. Taylor tried to get to the left-wing byline only to be dispossessed in the attempt; a shove gave Dean the chance for a short period of contemplation as he lay in a heap next to the ad hoarding.
Tomasso was fouled near the centre-circle, and Scott Rendell was introduced in place of the impressive Seymour. From the free-kick, Oastler and Magri got in each others way as they both leapt to head the high delivery into the Parkway box. Then, Taylor and Lee combined on the Totton left to send in a cross that Rendell knocked down for Franklin coming in from the right; he went for power over precision and blasted over the top.
Dean got forward on the Parkway left, stepped inside a challenge to work himself into a central position and went for goal from 22 yards but Gosney made a comfortable save. Totton attacked again. The ball was only partially cleared and Tanner dribbled into the left of the Parkway area before clipping in a cross that was turned out to the edge of the box where Lee controlled and shot, forcing Wonnacott to parry wide for a corner. From the set-piece, Rendell’s header from around the back post was hooked back out to the left. Tanner gave it to Lee and his cross was pushed away for a corner on the opposite flank by Wonnacott. Tanner took it, sending over a left-footed in-swinger that would have curled into the far top corner had Wonnacott not tipped it over the crossbar. This time, Magri won the first header at the far post and Taylor challenged in the middle, but Parkway hooked it away.
Franklin was shown a yellow card for taking his time over a throw-in, with 11 minutes to go. Then, Tanner attacked down the left wing and whipped in a cross that Rendell chested down from close to the penalty spot for Lee to strike, but Brett blocked with a brave sliding tackle.
However, it wasn’t long before Totton did extend their lead. Oastler came out of defence to press the ball in midfield and Totton worked possession to Lee on the left-hand side. He lobbed it over a defender to allow Taylor to attack from inside-left. Cutting inside the covering defender to put the ball on his right foot, Ethan TAYLOR then wrong-footed Wonnacott to pass it into the bottom-left corner.
Parkway sent on William Armstrong in place of Sergii Ismail. Totton smelled blood and it took a well-timed intervention from a Parkway defender to prevent Rendell covered Taylor’s cross from the left-wing byline.
The third goal came when Taylor passed the ball into the box from deep on the left. Lee raced in behind the defence and Wonnacott bundled into him, leaving the referee with little option but to point the penalty spot. Scott RENDELL converted with little fuss.
Club Captain Mike Carter then continued his gradual return from long-term injury, coming on in place of Kennedy, shortly before the board went up to indicate four minutes of stoppage time. McIntyre swept the ball forward down the left to Taylor, who rolled it back towards the D to invite Tomasso to take aim but his shot veered high and wide to the right.
Taylor was denied a hat-trick when his spectacular volley, coming in from the left-hand side to meet Lee’s swirling cross on the full, crashed off the underside of the crossbar. The rebound landed at Lee’s feet but he fired wide.
Tomasso had another chance when he burrowed into the Parkway box to carve himself an opening that ended with Wonnacott saving with his legs for a left-wing corner. Tomasso and Tanner worked the ball back to McIntyre, who arced it into the box. Rendell appeared to hear a call because he ducked out the way to enable Sam MAGRI to bring the ball down on his right foot and evade his marker by shuffling it to his left, before steering past Wonnacott to cap a handsome AFC Totton win.
Watch JIMMY BALL’S Post-Match Interview
Watch CRAIG TANNER’S Post-Match Interview
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Next Up: GLOUCESTER CITY vs AFC TOTTON
Southern League Premier Division South | Matchday#26 | TigerTurf Stadium, Sudmeadow Road, Hempsted, Gloucester GL2 5HS | Saturday 01 February 2025 | Kick-Off 3:00pm
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By Ben Rochey-Adams
