AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH - Matchday#11
Saturday 21 October 2023 | The SB Stadium, Sandhurst, Berkshire | Att: 452
STAGS REDISCOVER THEIR FINISHING TOUCH AS RENDELL HITS HAT-TRICK
BRACKNELL TOWN 1
Nana Owusu 34mins
AFC TOTTON 5
Scott Rendell 23mins, 45mins, 75mins;
Leon Maloney 28mins; Ethan Taylor 70mins
AFTER TWO MATCHES WITHOUT SCORING, Jimmy Ball’s AFC Totton travelled to Sandhurst in Berkshire to take on last season’s Southern League Premier Division Runners-Up Bracknell Town. The Stags put five goals past them on their 3G pitch at the SB Stadium to bring all three points back to the South Coast.
Representing the latest advances in 3G pitch technology, the playing surface had none of the carciogenic black pellets that make Basingstoke Town’s pitch an expensive law suit just waiting to happen. Rather, it contained clumps of artificial grass, not unlike you used to find under the pomegranates in the greengrocer’s shop. The rain had been pouring all over Southern England for about 24 hours prior to the match and, according to a few observers, this match would likely have been postponed had it been on grass.
AFC TOTTON
STAGS - Starting XI
1. Lewis NOICE
2. Benny READ
6. Luke HALLETT
15. Sam MAGRI
7. Joseph OASTLER
3. Jordan RAGGUETTE
8. Adam TOMASSO
17. Leon MALONEY
9. Scott RENDELL (Capt.)
10. Ethan TAYLOR
12. Jordan CHIEDOZIE
Substitutes
5. Charlie KENNEDY
11. Matty BURROWS
14. Ben WINTERBURN
16. Alfie STANLEY
20. Remus NIXON
Water splashed up from the pitch as the ball zipped across it, with Totton - suitably for a club that recently hosted a Madonna Tribute Act - getting into the groove early on. Taylor played Ragguette into the corner area behind Bracknell’s right-back and his low cross was turned away before it could find a teammate in gun-metal gray and yellow.
Rendell employed his trick of chesting a long ball down for Maloney to charge forward. His pass to the left forced Taylor wide but he managed to gather and cross, the ball striking a defender and bouncing kindly for Simon Grant in the Bracknell goal.
Chiedozie spotted the danger when Read was caught pushing high up the pitch, the striker tackling back to shut the door on The Robins attack. When they came again, a high cross from the left to the far side was met with a two-fisted punch from Noice. The ball fell to the Bracknell’s Ashley Lodge, who brought it down and took it wide to the right to make a crossing angle. His delivery bounced up and hit Magri in the chest, bringing inevitably optimistic calls of “Handball!” from the home crowd, to no avail.
Tomasso used the wet surface to his advantage to quickly slide in and block Lodge’s long-range effort, after The Robins’ No.10 dropped his shoulder while receiving the ball from a left-wing throw-in to tee himself up. Rendell and Maloney both made important defensive headers early on to deny the home side a route to the Totton goal.
Jordan Espirit wriggled past Hallett, despite having his shirt pulled, cutting infield and shooting between Oastler and Magri, his low attempt rolling narrowly wide of the left-hand post with Noice rooted to the spot, similar to a goal he conceded at Basingstoke. The Referee had a word with Hallett while Noice prepped to take the goal-kick. Magri then made a crucial interception in the middle when Bracknell had several players in advanced positions, and he blocked a shot from the edge of the Totton box to further frustrate The Robins, whose fans were chanting “Red Army!” from behind the goal.
Totton took the lead, somewhat against the run of play, on 22 minutes. Noice collected the ball in his area and sent it long for Taylor, the ball being knocked on by a defender for a left-wing corner. Maloney’s cross was high towards the front post, where Scott RENDELL met it with a classic centre-forward’s header, across Grant and in the net.
Totton had their tails up and it wasn’t long before they doubled their lead. Ragguette picked up the ball midway inside the Bracknell half and played it wide to Taylor, whose high cross appeared to be destined for the arms of Simon Grant until Leon MALONEY gave him the Nat Lofthouse treatment, bundling both him and the ball into the net. All eyes turned to the Referee, anticipating a free-kick for the ‘keeper, but he pointed to the centre-circle to indicate a second Totton goal.
A shell-shocked Bracknell regathered themselves and won a free-kick on their right flank. George Knight met the cross with a headed attempt at goal which struck Ragguette, Totton able to clear their lines before anyone in all-red could react.
Maloney was fouled midway inside the opposition half, and Talyor’s free-kick was headed out by Liam Tack. Maloney’s corner was punched back to him by Simon Grant; when he delivered to the far post, the ball was headed back across by Hallett and nodded home by Rendell for what appeared to be Totton’s third goal, but the Referee ruled it out for a push.
Read and Taylor struggled to contain a clever combination between Gabriel George and striker Nana Owusu down the Bracknell left, eventually managing to prevent them getting into the box from the home side’s left flank. But in the 33rd minute, a fast-paced through-ball down the middle allowed Joseph Grant to get goalside of Hallett. Read tried to take care of the situation by sliding under the Bracknell player but as he did so, the ball rolled out from under him and Grant was able to poke it on to Nana OWUSU in the inside-left channel, who let the ball run across his body before unleashing an unstoppable left-footed strike that flashed past Noice’s right shoulder on its way into the roof of the net to halve the deficit.
Chiedozie was shown a yellow card for a foul close to halfway before Read’s alertness prevented Bracknell gaining ground with a quickly-taken free-kick. The same two Totton players linked up to play Read into the right side of the Bracknell box, with the full-back striking narrowly wide of the far post.
Chiedozie took the ball away from a cluster of legs inside the Totton half to set up a counter-attack. He squared to Rendell who clipped the ball to the left for Ragguette, with space to motor forward before laying off to Taylor. Rendell had got into the box but Taylor’s cross was cut-out before it could reach.
Totton restored their two-goal advantage before the half-time break. Maloney’s free-kick from the left was nodded down by Hallett at the back post, and Tomasso’s attempt to execute a flying scissor-kick was blocked by a defender. The ball was only partially cleared and quickly redirected to Read on the right, whose pinpoint cross was headed in by the unmarked Scott RENDELL for his second of goal of the game.
As the first half entered its two minutes of stoppage time, two Bracknell players were shown the yellow card; Joseph Grant for a foul on Read and George Knight for dissent. Bracknell ended the half on the front foot, at least until Espirit went to ground outside the Totton box, leaving Magri free to step over his prone body and calmly take the ball away.
HALF-TIME: BRACKNELL TOWN 1-3 AFC TOTTON
The intermittent rain had given way to a persistent downpour by the time the teams came out for the second half. Jordan Chiedozie forced an early corner on the right, from which Rendell headed Maloney’s cross against his marker, and the home team were able to clear upfield.
Liam Tack was next player have his name taken for kicking the ball away when he didn’t like the Referee’s decision.
Joseph Grant intercepted Noice’s pass to Ragguette but he immediately ran into Sam Magri. As the ball popped around in midfield, Oastler stepped forward to take control. Already on a yellow card, George Knight made a late challenge to bring Oastler down, earning himself a second yellow and, therefore, his marching orders from the Referee.
The Bracknell bench responded straight away by withdrawing Thomas Jackson in favour of Max Herbert. From the free-kick, the ball was initially headed out but then Read was able to work his way into a shooting position, albeit from a tight angle on the right, and test Simon Grant at his near post.
Read then conceded a free-kick deep inside his own half, but when the ball came over Olukayode Osu could only help the ball on its way across the Totton goal rather than into it.
Keen to make the most of his team’s numerical advantage, Jimmy Ball sent on winger Matty Burrows in place of Jordan Chiedozie. Magri was penalised for pulling Espirit’s shirt but Bracknell couldn’t capitalise on the free-kick. From a corner on the right shortly after, Gabriel George’s delivery was well-defended by Hallett, heading away at the back post.
When Totton sprung forward on the counter-attack, Taylor’s preference for his left foot encouraged him to pass the ball out to Maloney on the right when Ragguette had much more space to work in down the left flank. Then, Burrows made his own introduction by taking on two defenders to work his way infield from the left wing, before drawing a foul from Osu, for which he had his name taken. Burrows picked himself up to take the free-kick, sending a right-footed shot arrowing just past the top-left corner of the Bracknell goal.
As the home fans directed unfavourable chants towards Matty Burrows, the winger responded by isolating Osu on the left and skipping past him to the byline, before pulling the ball back into the middle for Ethan TAYLOR to beat Rendell to it and fire high into Bracknell’s net for his first goal this season.
Burrows picked on Osu, again, standing the defender up on the left corner of the area and cutting inside to curl a shot with his right foot that Simon Grant caught to his left-hand side.
Totton were using the space created by having an extra man very well, and won a corner on the right. Magri headed just wide from Maloney’s delivery. Then, Magri was pressed into defensive service to intercept a dangerous pass through the middle by nodding back to Lewis Noice.
Oastler won the ball in the centre-circle and, with the ‘keeper off his line, Taylor went for a long-range chip that Simon Grant was able to get back into position quickly enough to catch.
The Sunburnt Assassin completed his third hat-trick of the 2023/24 season with a goal of real quality in the 75th minute. Totton played the ball around Bracknell’s box. Burrows tried to advance down the left, finding his way blocked. So, he passd to Taylor on the touchline, who passed back to Rendell on the left corner of the box. With a defender in front of him, Scott RENDELL knocked the ball to his right and went for it with a curler off his right instep that bent around Grant into the top-right corner of the home team’s net.
Charlie Kennedy came on for Leon Maloney for The Stags. Read got forward to play in a low cross that eluded Rendell in the middle, before the No.9 was replaced by Alfie Stanley.
Totton were content to retain possession of the ball and make the reduced numbers of Bracknell players run about the pitch. Kennedy blocked a shot from Herbert on the edge of Totton’s box. Then, Noice punched clear when a high ball was sent in.
Tomasso played Stanley into a shooting position, but his shot was smothered at source. Stanley was key to Totton’s tactic of continuing to hassle the home team in possession, to stop them gaining any kind of foothold in the game. An immaculate chip from Burrows picked out Taylor amongst two defenders, who forced a corner. Burrows took it and his crossed was clearly handled in the box by a red-clad arm; the Referee took pity on the home side and neglected to award the penalty.
But it didn’t matter. The full-time whistle confirmed a welcome away win for Totton against a team who still have an FA Cup First Round Proper tie at Cambridge United to look forward to. After the match, the empty SB stadium, which is decked out in the black-and-white of its sponsor, was descended upon by at least 18 magpies, as Jimmy Ball and hat-trick hero Scott Rendell gave their post-match interviews.
By Ben Rochey-Adams
