SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH | Matchday#42
Saturday 26 April 2025 | Badger’s Hill, Frome, Somerset | Att: 506

STAGS WARM-UP FOR PLAY-OFFS BY ROUTING THE ROBINS

FROME TOWN                             0

AFC TOTTON                                 4
Ethan Taylor 11mins, 16mins;
Tom Blair 13mins; Tony Lee 31mins

AFC TOTTON WARMED-UP for their upcoming Promotion Play-Off semi-final with Dorchester Town by putting four goals past already-relegated Frome Town at Badger’s Hill on the last day of the regular 2024/25 season.

All the goals came in the first half. Ethan Taylor got the ball rolling with a close-range finish from Tom Blair’s right-wing cross. Blair added the second within two minutes, firing a trademark shot across The Robins’ goalkeeper Kyle Phillips into the far-top corner.

Taylor grabbed the third on 16 minutes, a rare header for the winger after Frome failed to clear Craig Tanner’s corner. And Tony Lee made it four just past the half-hour; the striker latched onto Blair’s incisive pass during a Totton counter-attack to go through on goal and pick his spot in the top-right corner.

Joe Oastler returned to The Stags’ defence, with Luke Hallett dropping to the bench. Adam Tomasso was restored to the midfield in place of Roddy Collins.

FROME TOWN: 1. Kyle PHILLIPS; 2. Matthew WOOD; 4. Samuel TEALE (Capt.); 5. Pierce MITCHELL; 5. Joseph BUDD; 6. Callum GOULD; 10. Zachary DREW; 11. Albie HOPKINS; 18. James OLLIS; 19. Archie FERRIS; 20. Joseph O’LOUGHLIN. Substitutes: 2. Samuel HEAL; 7. Elliot DUGAN; 13. Sebatian TYLEK; 16. Rex MANNINGS; 17. Alexander MONKS. Substitutions: TYLEK for PHILLIPS (40mins); MANNINGS for DREW (46mins); HEAL for TEALE (60mins); MONKS for BUDD (60mins); DUGAN for OLLIS (60mins). Yellow Cards: DUGAN (Foul); MANNINGS (Foul).

AFC TOTTON: 13. Ryan GOSNEY; 2. Joe OASTLER; 4. Mike CARTER (Capt.); 6. Sam MAGRI; 8. Adam TOMASSO; 10. Ethan TAYLOR; 14. Craig TANNER; 16. Luke BENNETT; 18. Tony LEE; 19. Tom BLAIR; 20. Richard McINTYRE. Substitutes: 3. Ben JEFFORD; 7. Ben SEYMOUR; 9. Scott RENDELL; 12. Luke HALLETT; 15. Roddy COLLINS. Substitutions: HALLETT for MAGRI (46mins); SEYMOUR for BLAIR (46mins); RENDELL for LEE (62mins); COLLINS for CARTER (69mins); JEFFORD for McINTYRE (69mins). Yellow Cards: None.

Frome Town kicked-off, wearing their home kit of all-red with white trim, while AFC Totton were decked out in their own home strip of all-Royal blue with white trim. Ethan Taylor was given a warm welcome to Somerset by taking an early errant elbow to the ear, while the ball bounced up close to the left-wing touchline. The referee saw nothing untoward, so the winger was left to shake his head rapidly in an attempt to loosen the pain away.

Totton fired the first shot in anger. After a period of sustained possession, working the ball from right to left and back again, the ball eventually fell to Adam Tomasso, whose long-range drive was charged down at the edge of the penalty area.

The Badger’s Hill pitch is one of the more unique playing surfaces in the Southern League, seemingly sloping in several different directions at once. Ryan Gosney almost got caught out while passing out from the back, but an offside flag came to his rescue before Frome could fully exploit the possession he had gifted them. Totton countered quickly but from the elevated left wing at the top of one of the pitch’s slopes, Taylor’s cross refused to drop at the far post and flew straight out of play.

Luke Bennett took a throw-in on the Totton right, midway inside the home team’s half, and received the ball back from Craig Tanner, before whipping in a dangerous looking cross that flashed a foot or so too far in front of Taylor, coming in at the back post.

Joe Oastler, Sam Magri and Gosney got themselves into a muddle trying to pass out from the back, with an untimely bobble certainly not helping matters. They managed to scrape the ball out for a left-wing corner, from which Frome captain Sam Teale rose highest among several bodies and headed on-target, just inside the left-hand post; Gosney was beaten but Bennett was well-placed to hook the ball off the line before his ‘keeper gathered it to his chest.

Tanner played an incisive pass to free left-back Richard McIntyre to the byline, and his cross to the far post was shovelled away under pressure by defender Matthew Wood. Totton regained possession and, after their forward progress was blocked a couple of times, Tanner eventually got a sight of goal from distance only to have his shot blocked.

A long kick from Gosney brought Tony Lee into the game, his headed flick-on from the middle of Frome’s half enabling Blair and Taylor to combine to put the striker into the area; he sidestepped his marker and struck a low, right-footed shot that goalkeeper Kyle Phillips saved with his legs. Totton picked up the loose ball and Tanner worked it to the right-hand side, where Bennett fed Blair on the edge of the box and his low cross invited Ethan TAYLOR to nip in front of his marker and apply a close-range finish to open the scoring on 11 minutes.

And within two minutes, The Stags had doubled their lead. Taylor dispossessed an opponent near the halfway line on the Totton left, prompting appeals from the home support for a free-kick, which the referee ignored. Taylor strode forward before switching play to the right of the penalty area, where Tom BLAIR had time to control the ball, front up to his marker, shuffle it onto his right foot and fire an unstoppable shot, high into the far corner of the net beyond Phillips.

Frome found space to attack down their right flank, with James Ollis latching onto a forward pass to show Sam Magri a clean pair of heals. The defender had done enough, though, to prevent Ollis from driving infield, forcing him to shoot from a tight angle; Gosney had his near post well-covered and pushed the ball away for a corner, which Totton headed away.

From The Robins’ next attack, Lee headed out and Tanner carried the ball over halfway and deep into home team territory. Bennett had sprinted forward to track the progress of the attack, and between the full-back, Blair and a clever flick by Tanner to force Frome into all-hands-on-deck defending, they earned a right-wing corner. Tanner delivered a high, in-swinging cross to the far post, where Oastler got above his marker to head back across goal. A small cluster of players jumped for it and Ethan TAYLOR got the deftest of touches to loop a short-range header inside the right-hand upright to make it three-nil, with just 16 minutes played.

The Robins were rocking, and a poor pass out of defence by Wood presented the ball straight to Lee, midway inside the home team’s half. Blair and Bennett reacted quickly to provide options but Phillips did well to catch the eventual cross.

Oastler put a stop to a burgeoning Frome Town attack near the centre-circle, then captain Mike Carter got a crucial foot in to disrupt their next attempt to threaten the Totton goal. With Totton now content to sit back and wait for opportunities to counter-attack, Frome had no shortage of possession but a combination of poor passing on the uneven surface, Totton’s energetic press and a tendency for The Robins’ forwards to rush when in promising attacking areas prevented them from hurting their visitors.

The 60th — and, as it turned out, the last — goal that Frome Town conceded in the 2024/25 season came on the counter-attack from their own corner. Ollis again managed to get away from Magri on The Robins’ right to fire an angled shot towards the near post, which Gosney once again parried for a corner. Lee headed the cross away from close to the penalty spot and Tomasso’s header helped the ball on its way to Blair, who had time and space to carry it from midfield, across the halfway line and out to the left wing. Lee had made a dash straight through the middle of the pitch and, with only one defender back, Blair’s diagonal pass was perfectly-weighted for the striker to run onto. Phillips thought twice about coming out to try and kick clear, allowing Tony LEE to get the ball under control about 20 yards out, and slow down to look up and pick his spot, before firing into the top-right corner of the net for his 22nd goal of the season in all competitions, making it four-nil after just 32 minutes.

Magri did well to track an up-and-under punt to nod back to Gosney. Then, Carter was penalised for some over-zealous midfield tussling in the centre-circle; Frome wasted the opportunity by taking a quick free-kick but then misplacing a pass for a Totton goal-kick.

Five minutes before the break, the goalkeeper Kyle Phillips was withdrawn to be replaced by Polish ‘keeper Sebastian Tylek. Taylor raced onto a long ball to the inside-right channel and went down in the Frome box. The referee waved away his appeal for a penalty and, after some deliberation with his assistant on that side of the pitch, awarded Totton a corner. Lee leapt well to compete for Tanner’s high cross but Teale headed away for the hosts.

Frome made inroads into the Totton box from their left, and a shooting chance opened up for them but an over-eagerness to get the shot away favoured Gosney, who deflected the scuffed shot wide for a left-wing corner. Totton defended it solidly and sprung forward on the counter, once again; Taylor’s pass put Blair in down the left side of the Frome box and his low centre was turned behind by winger Albie Hopkins, getting back to aid his beleaguered defence.

Totton didn’t threaten from the set-piece but they did manage one more attack before the interval, Bennett crossing low to the near post from the right wing and Lee getting in front of his man but shooting narrowly wide.

HALF-TIME: FROME TOWN 0-4 AFC TOTTON

Both sides made changes at the start of the second half. Totton sent on Luke Hallett and Ben Seymour in place of Sam Magri and Tom Blair, while Frome sent on Rex Mannings — their scorer in the one-all draw at the Snows Stadium in January — in place of Zach Drew.

Seymour was quickly into possession, shifting the ball to the left flank where McIntyre’s pass enabled Taylor to spring the offside trap, but his cross took a deflection and fell kindly for Tylek to grab at his near post.

Frome made half-hearted penalty appeals for a hand-ball against Bennett, who was defending a corner. Then, Ollis shuffled the ball onto his left foot from the right of the Totton box and hit a shot that Gosney got down quickly to save at the foot of his left-hand post.

Taylor and Seymour linked-up to encroach into the left side of Frome’s box, before they were crowded out by numerous red shirts. Then, Seymour skipped away from the significantly larger figure of defender Pierce Mitchell on the Totton right wing to dart into the box and square for Taylor, whose right-footed shot was blocked by the sliding figure of Teale to take the sting out of it and allow Tylek to collect the loose ball.

Bennett intercepted a Hopkins pass and arced a long ball into the path of Lee, advancing at inside-left. Forcing his marker to retreat into his own box, Lee worked the ball onto his right foot and fired a shot slightly too high and wide of the top-right corner.

Seymour’s energy and quick-wittedness continued to stretch the home defence. Tanner received his infield pass and squared to Lee, whose shot was smothered by a defender before it could reach Tylek’s goal. Then, at the other end, Gosney made a comfortable save from a long-range effort by the former Oxford United professional, Hopkins.

Luke Bennett is yet to score for the AFC Totton first team, but he came close to opening his account when he intercepted a pass in the middle of his own half with acres of open green grass ahead of him on the right flank. The full-back stormed forward, leaving chasing opponents in his wake, as he advanced to inside-right and fired a low shot across Tylek and fractionally wide of the far post. The full-back was immediately pressed into action at the other end of the pitch, getting round on the cover to prevent an Ollis shot squirming over the line after Gosney got a hand to it to slow its progress towards goal.

Lee charged forward to bundle the ball through two Frome defenders, before laying off to Seymour, just inside the right edge of the penalty box. He squared to the hat-trick hunting Taylor, who flicked the ball up to volley with his left foot towards the bottom-right corner, but pulled his effort wide of the post.

Frome then made a triple-substitution, sending on Sam Heal, Elliot Dugan and Alex Monks in place of Teale, Ollis and Callum Gould. Tanner was taken down in full flight in the centre-circle, earning Elliot Dugan a yellow card. Totton then sent on Scott Rendell and Ben Jefford for Lee and McIntyre.

Seymour fired over the crossbar from about 20 yards, after good work on the right flank by the energetic Bennett. Then, Frome earned themselves a corner on their right, from which Hopkins struck a left-footed shot that Gosney parried and then grabbed at the second attempt.

Totton made their final substitution by withdrawing Mike Carter and sending on Roddy Collins, with 20 minutes to go. Hopkins tried to burrow his way into the Totton box but found Tomasso to be a more solid obstacle than he may first appear. Tanner was then taken out again, earning Frome their second yellow card of the game courtesy of Rex Mannings.

Collins got forward to combine with Seymour on the Totton right, before the on-loan Torquay United striker found Taylor on the edge of the box. With his path to goal blocked, Taylor fed Rendell to his left, whose first-time shot was blocked by Tylek’s legs before the Polish ‘keeper grabbed the rebound.

A loose pass by Ben Jefford put Hallett under pressure; the centre-back’s clearance went upward rather than forward, and Frome won it back for long enough to send a cross into the box that Gosney caught in his six-yard box.

Heal and Hopkins found space down Frome’s left wing to create a shooting chance that Oastler nullified by sliding full-length to provide a one-man barrier to The Robins’ goalscoring ambitions, before Tomasso cleared.

Taylor took advantage of a high bounce to wrestle possession from his opponent, and played a one-two with Rendell to advance to inside-left and centre for Seymour, who looked certain to score before the assistant flagged for offside. Then, Taylor plucked a high ball out of the sky, just off the left corner of the penalty area, and went down under a challenge that he clearly thought was deserving of a free-kick but the referee didn’t.

During the last few minutes, the game took on a decidedly end-of-season feel, with the players of both teams looking as though they had had enough for the day. Dugan managed to get to the right-wing byline and dribble infield to shoot from a narrow angle, but Gosney was in no mood to give up his third successive clean sheet — his 10th in 29 games since joining AFC Totton at the start of November. The referee decided against inflicting any additional time upon the 506-strong crowd, and brought the regular season to a close with his full-time whistle.

Watch JIMMY BALL’S Post-Match Interview

Watch RODDY COLLINS’ Post-Match Interview

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Next Up: AFC TOTTON vs DORCHESTER TOWN
Southern League Premier Division South | Promotion Play-Off Semi-Final | Snows Stadium, Salisbury Road, Totton, Southampton SO40 2RW | Wednesday 30 April 2025 | Kick-Off 7:45pm

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By Ben Rochey-Adams