AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH - Matchday#30
Saturday 02 March 2024 | Loop Meadow Stadium, Didcot, Oxfordshire | Att: 263
REID TO THE RESCUE FOR TOTTON IN UNCONVINCING AWAY WIN OVER 10-MAN DIDCOT
DIDCOT TOWN 0
AFC TOTTON 1
Tony Lee 39mins
ON-LOAN GOALKEEPER TOMMY REID made a crucial double-save to prevent 10-man Didcot Town snatching a stoppage time equaliser in the Southern League Premier Division South match at Loop Meadow Stadium in Oxfordshire on Saturday (02 March 2024), as Tony Lee’s third goal in as many games ultimately proved enough for AFC Totton to take home all three points.
Reid continued in goal for the fifth consecutive appearance of his loan spell from Brighton & Hove Albion. Adam Tomasso replaced Benny Read at right-back, with Joe Oastler returning to the holding midfield role after missing the last two league games through suspension.
AFC TOTTON
Starting XI
13. Tommy REID
8. Adam TOMASSO
6. Luke HALLETT
15. Sam MAGRI
3. Jordan RAGGUETTE
7. Joseph OASTLER
5. Charlie KENNEDY
17. Leon MALONEY
9. Scott RENDELL (Capt.)
12. Joan LUQUE PRADOS
18. Tony LEE
Substitutes
2. Benny READ
10. Ethan TAYLOR
14. Ben JEFFORD
16. Luke BENNETT
19. Zidan AKERS
LOCK UP YOUR LIVESTOCK: Mally's Corner on tour at Loop Meadow Stadium, to watch AFC Totton take on Didcot Town in the Southern League Premier Division South.
Didcot Town kicked-off wearing their all-red home kit, while Totton were sporting their changed kit of gun metal grey and fluo yellow.
A misplaced pass from Tony Lee put Adam Tomasso under early pressure, which was relieved with the assistance of Luke Hallett coming across to clear. Joan Luque had the first shot of the game, after Tommy Reid had released Jordan Ragguette into space on the left flank, but his effort was straight at Didcot goalkeeper Leigh Bedwell.
Totton struggled to get their usual passing game going on a bobbly Loop Meadow pitch, which had required a considerable amount of work to prepare for the match by the club’s army of volunteers following heavy rain. Luque took his second shot of the game, running on to Scott Rendell’s pass before taking aim with an effort that was deflected wide for a corner, although Totton were unable to capitalise upon it.
Robbie Gallagher caught Hallett in possession in the Totton half, but the central defender did enough to force a throw-in rather than allow the forward to run through on goal. Then, The Stags did get exposed down their right-hand side but the delivery into the box lacked accuracy and the chance went begging.
Ragguette made progress down the Totton left before his cross was diverted wide by full-back Joshua Grant. Luque took the corner, which was headed out to Charlie Kennedy about 25 yards out; his shot flew narrowly over the crossbar.
Bedwell was quickly out of his penalty area to kick clear before Leon Maloney could get to the ball. Then, a clever reverse pass from Maloney played Kennedy in along the right-wing byline. He passed to the near post area where Tony Lee attempted a back-heel finish that was blocked by his marker.
Didcot were content to sit off Totton and allow their visitors to retain possession. The Stags, meanwhile, moved the ball around looking for an opening but lacked the penetrative pass necessary to get behind the home defence. A forward pass from defence found Luque on the left, mid-way inside Didcot’s half. Rendell positioned himself in the D and received the Spaniard’s pass before seeing his own shot deflected wide for a left-wing corner. A push by Sam Magri relieved the pressure on Didcot’s goal.
Hallett conceded a free-kick on the Didcot left, close to the touchline. The ball was lofted into the box and fell invitingly for captain Adam Learoyd to take aim, his effort charged down by Joe Oastler’s brave sliding block before Totton scrambled the ball clear.
A poor pass out from Tommy Reid put Totton under immediate pressure, presenting the ball straight to Harvey Fox. The winger passed up the opportunity to shoot and tried to lay the ball off to a teammate, by which time Totton had got numbers back to crowd out the danger amid some half-hearted appeals for a penalty for Kennedy’s challenge on Gallagher.
Hallett had to rush his clearance down the middle of the pitch after his foot slipped out from under him to give Patrick Osborne a chance of nicking possession. And it almost became an insightful through-ball for Rendell until central defender Luke Carnell stepped in to calmly head the ball back to Bedwell. Then, Lee’s persistence bustling through the middle of the home defence presented Maloney with a shooting chance from just outside the area that Bedwell responded to with a low save to his left.
Totton took the lead six minutes before the break. Rendell and Maloney combined down the right-hand side and forced a corner. Luque took it short by passing to Kennedy on the edge of the area, He stood his cross up to the far post where players in gun metal grey were queuing up, Tony LEE getting the decisive touch to head home from close range. Several Didcot players complained to the Referee and the Assistant on that far side about a possible offside, and when their frustrations went unheeded, goalkeeper Leigh Bedwell vented his anger via the use of a four-letter expletive that earned him a straight red card - to add to his previous dismissal in Didcot’s 1-7 defeat at the Snows Stadium in October. Manager Jamie Heapy responded by sending on central defender Leo Galpin as a makeshift goalkeeper, with Patrick Osborne making way.
Galpin looked quite assured when plucking a Ragguette cross out of the sky. But his nerves showed when he then sliced his drop-kick into the air, prompting his defence to adopt action stations and scramble the ball away before The Stags could take advantage.
With Didcot falling back to compress the space, Totton kept possession for the majority of the rest of the first half without further incident.
HALF-TIME:
DIDCOT TOWN 0
AFC TOTTON 1
Didcot made their second substitution at the beginning of the second half, with midfielder Tobias Brenan coming off to be replaced by Jack Alexander. Tony Lee was the first to take a shot in the second half, although he rather miss-hit it and the ball ballooned well wide from range.
Maloney intercepted a pass in the centre-circle and sprung Lee clear to run at the Didcot goal with a lone defender trying in vain to scupper his momentum. Lee unleashed a powerful low effort from about 22 yards, which Galpin did well to deflect away with his legs. Tomasso picked up the loose ball but Totton were forced back by the retreating Didcot defence. Then, Rendell and Luque combined well on the left to present the latter with an opportunity to shift inside and let rip with a right-footed shot that cannoned off a defender, as the match began to resemble an Attack vs Defence training drill.
A slip by Hallett on the uneven surface allowed Fox to take up possession and dribble wide of three grey shirts before firing hard and low to bring a strong parrying save out of Reid at his bottom-right corner. Fox immediately pounced on the rebound close to the byline but his delivery was not so fantastic and Kennedy was able to divert wide for a corner. The cross appeared to float directly on to the roof of the net, but despite Reid’s protestations to the contrary, the Referee thought the young ‘keeper had helped it on its way and awarded another corner. This time, Totton headed partially clear before Rendell helped to defend by not helping at all, forcing the region’s kites to take sudden aversive action under the bright arcing rainbow of the picturesque Didcot sky by booting the ball directly at them; Totton had players back in number enough to deal with the subsequent dropping ball.
Totton went forward again, Maloney latching on to Tomasso’s high pass down the right flank to get to the byline and centre for Rendell, who challenged for the header but lost out to his marker. Unperturbed, Rendell threatened again soon after, controlling an under-powered clearance on his chest before playing Lee into a foot race with Carnell, who stuck to his task well to ensure the striker couldn’t get a clear sight of goal, before Galpin was eventually able to come out and grab it.
Carnell took aim with a long-range volley after Lee headed out a Didcot free-kick from their right-hand side; Reid positioned himself well and took the ball comfortably. Then, Kennedy’s cross from the right resulted in a Totton corner, which was taken short to Maloney and his cross-shot towards the near post was repelled by the massed ranks of red shirts congregated in the home penalty box.
Emboldened by their second-half clean sheet thus far, The Railwaymen began to edge themselves further forward and a flurry of high crosses from either wing had Totton pressed back into their own area for a while, Hallett and Kennedy both making important aerial interventions to ensure that Reid was untroubled by the airborne bombardment. Then, the bald-pated figure of Jack Alexander wound up a long shot that no doubt had those birds of prey wishing they’d gone to the Bracknell Town game, instead.
Ethan Taylor entered the fray in place of Adam Tomasso, with the ever-versatile Kennedy shuffling over to right-back. No sooner had he made that substitution, though, Jimmy Ball was forced into making another when Maloney pulled up as he tried to run on to a dangerous looking through-ball that would have put him one-on-one with the makeshift goalkeeper. After a minute or two of attention from the Totton physio, Maloney was helped off the pitch and Zidan Akers came on to replace him.
Akers ran on to Kennedy’s pass to advance to the right byline and fired in a low centre which Galpin did well to save and hold on to, although a little more composure from Akers might have enabled him to set-up Rendell who was arriving at the near side of the penalty spot. Then, Lee held the ball up well to feed Akers as he overlapped down the right. He checked inside and tried to deliver an in-swinging cross with his left foot, which was repelled to set Didcot away on the counter-attack, a situation that Joe Oastler shutdown at the cost of a yellow card for a foul in the centre-circle. Didcot took the free-kick quickly but any advantage they may have gained was soon dismantled by the raised flag of the Assistant on the far side.
Didcot then earned a free-kick about 25 yards out, left of centre, after good approach play from Fox and Sam Barder brought a lunging challenge out of Magri. The same two players stood over the ball, Barder going with a right-footed effort that Reid punched away two-fisted; Magri stood firm to charge down Alexander’s subsequent long-range effort.
Totton opened up the home defence when Taylor found space on the left and fed Luque on the overlap. His cross reached Akers, who was too closely marked to shoot, so tried to weave himself into a better position, eventually being forced wide to the right before chipping high towards the far post. Galpin jumped and appeared to have made a comfortable catch but as he landed, he inadvertently knocked the ball out of his own hands with his knee; captain Learoyd was alert to the danger and hacked clear before Lee could pounce.
Perhaps anticipating more crosses into the Totton box, Jimmy Ball withdrew Luque in favour of the more defensively-minded Ben Jefford, which enable Ragguette to be sent further forward on the Totton left, with Taylor roaming from the No.10 berth. Akers controlled a high ball and laid off to Taylor in a central position at the edge of the area, Carnell stepped in the way of his shot, though, to protect the Didcot goal. Then, a mistake by Taylor presented the ball to Fox, running through the middle of the pitch. A gap briefly opened up for him but he chose to push the ball left to a teammate rather than take on the obvious shooting opportunity, and Hallett was able to get round on the cover to block.
With time running out, the home side - and a large contingent of their fans - sensed there was still a point up for grabs from this game, and Totton found themselves pressed back into their own defensive third, despite their numerical advantage. Lee had to head over his own crossbar to turn away a free-kick delivery from the Didcot right. Then, the corner flew to the far post, was headed back across goal and then over for another corner. From the second delivery, Carnell got up well and sent a looping header to Reid’s right, but Taylor was well-placed to volley off the line.
Didcot retrieved the ball, worked it to the left and sent in another cross, from which Gallagher’s header was deflected wide for a right-wing corner. Totton defended it but their attempts to clear began to take on the guise of calamity with players losing their footing, taking heavy touches, seemingly not seeing opponents closing them down - as though the match were being played on a bed of treacle.
Four minutes of stoppage time were indicated from the sidelines. Poor control from Jefford, while not under any particular pressure at Totton’s left defensive byline, resulted in another corner to the 10-men of Didcot. It was played short and crossed to the near post where Magri headed away, before Taylor retrieved at the touchline and won a goal-kick by rebounding the ball off an opponent.
Jordan Ragguette was shown a yellow card for time-wasting from a left-wing throw-in, after motioning as though to take it himself before dropping the ball for Jefford to take it instead. Galpin took a free-kick from mid-way inside his own half which was headed out as far as Oastler, who pumped the ball forward to Akers, all alone up front. He tried to hold the ball up but when Totton got players forward, they relinquished possession all too easily and found themselves on the back foot, again.
With time rapidly running out for the home side, the livewire Harvey Fox managed to work himself into a shooting position to bring a sharp reaction save out of Tommy Reid, diving low to his right. As the ball rebounded off him, the Brighton & Hove Albion prospect reacted brilliantly to spring back into action to block Robbie Gallagher’s follow-up shot, sending the ball over the bar for another Didcot corner. The cross briefly threatened Totton’s goal before it dropped at the far post and was scrambled wide, prompting the Referee to call time on what had inexplicably become an uncomfortable afternoon’s work for the nonetheless triumphant Stags.
Watch Jimmy Ball's Post-Match Reaction
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Image courtesy of Adi Rose
