AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH - Matchday#26
Tuesday 30 January 2024 | Silver Jubilee Park, Kingsbury, London | Att: 183
DONS RALLY IN STOPPAGE TIME TO DENY STAGS VICTORY IN LONDON
HENDON 3
Niko Muir 9mins, 90+4mins;
Hamza Semakula 90+3mins
AFC TOTTON 3
Jordan Chiedozie 18mins;
Joan Luque 46mins:
Ethan Taylor 65mins
FA TROPHY HEROES HENDON pulled a couple of rabbits out of the hat during stoppage time at their Silver Jubilee Park home on Tuesday night to deny AFC Totton a valuable away win in the Southern League Premier Division South. The Stags recovered from an early, self-inflicted set-back and appeared to be coasting at 3-1 up, with loanee winger Joan Luque Prados among the goal-scorers for the first time in an AFC Totton shirt. But the hosts struck twice after the 90-minute mark to salvage a point.
Right-back Benny Read was recalled to the starting line-up for the first time since the 2-2 draw at Walton & Hersham on New Year’s Day. Charlie Kennedy missed out due to injury, while Ethan Taylor was named among the substitutes, enabling Jimmy Ball to start both of his most recent signings in the shape of the Spaniard Luque and debutant Zidan Akers, following his arrival from Beaconsfield Town last week.
AFC TOTTON
Starting XI
1. Lewis NOICE
2. Benny READ
6. Luke HALLETT
15. Sam MAGRI
3. Jordan RAGGUETTE
7. Joseph OASTLER
17. Leon MALONEY
9. Scott RENDELL (Capt.)
11. Joan LUQUE PRADOS
12. Jordan CHIEDOZIE
19. Zidan AKERS
Substitutes
8. Adam TOMASSO
10. Ethan TAYLOR
14. Ben JEFFORD
18. Joseph TURNER
20. Luke BENNETT
On a cold but bearable night in North West London, the home side wore green-and-white stripes with white shorts and green socks, while Totton turned out in their changed strip of gun metal grey shirts and shorts with fluo yellow trim, and yellow socks.
The new man Akers was in early defensive action to charge down a half-cleared corner at the edge of the Totton penalty area. Then, Leon Maloney was caught in possession in midfield, enabling Hendon to work an opportunity to drive in an angled shot from the right-hand side that required Lewis Noice to save low to his left with his foot.
Jordan Ragguette was given two bites of the cherry to cross from the left-wing byline. But goalkeeper Matthew Kerbey took Maloney’s cross comfortably and immediately released Niko Muir down the left for Hendon. With runners around him and Totton scrambling back to their defensive stations, Muir progressed to the left corner of the box and dragged the ball infield before shooting narrowly wide of the near post.
Benny Read stood up well to Kai Brosnan’s trickery, as Totton struggled to get out of their own half in the early exchanges. When they were able to nick the ball and spring forward on the counter-attack, Akers tried to feed Joan Luque but struck his pass too hard.
Jordan Chiedozie controlled Noice’s long kick on the right wing, before laying it back to Joe Oastler, whose forward pass found Read pushing up, the full-back winning a corner for The Stags. Maloney took the corner short to Luque, who tried to squeeze a low shot into the narrow gap at the near post, but it was deflected wide by a defender. From the subsequent corner, Luque received on the corner of the penalty area but his ball into the middle drifted wide of the far post.
Hendon took advantage of a misplaced Oastler pass to win a corner on their left, which Totton initially defended well. But, when they had a throw-in close to their own left-wing corner flag, Totton shot themselves in the foot. Ragguette threw the ball back to his goalkeeper but Noice appeared to stumble on the ball just as Niko MUIR closed in to nick the ball off his toe and, despite Luke Hallett’s attempt to get his body in the way, the Hendon striker turned the ball into the empty net. Noice had to receive treatment before play could continue.
Scott Rendell was being forced to drop deep to try and get into the game. Read, Oastler and Chiedozie combined again down the right-hand side, as Totton tried to get back into the game. Chiedozie twisted his way through a couple of green-and-white striped defenders but the third cleared for the home side.
The Stags drew level on 18 minutes. Neat footwork from Luque got him clear of his marker, before he back-heeled to Oastler who was brought down by Billy Leonard for a Totton free-kick close to the half-way line on Totton’s left. Luque lifted the free-kick high into the Hendon penalty area, flighting the ball towards the far post. Kerbey came off his line but got caught under the flight of the ball, allowing the spring-heeled Hallett to climb above two opponents to head towards goal. As a defender closed in to hook the ball away, Jordan CHIEDOZIE beat him to it to nudge the ball over the line from close range.
Zidan Akers made rapid progress down the right wing, but his low cross was turned away at the near post. When it came back to Akers, he was brought down for a free-kick. Luque floated it into the box where Chiedozie was unmarked but his looping header was too high.
Chiedozie won a free-kick near the half-way line, which Totton took short and recycled possession amongst their defenders and midfielders. Read chipped the ball up the right flank and Chiedozie brought it under control with an excellent first touch, before he whipped a cross into the Hendon box but there was nobody there to connect with it.
Defensive midfielder Blaise Riley-Snow found Muir on the Hendon right, who took on Ragguette before the Totton left-back’s sliding block forced him back. Leonard picked up the ball on the edge of the area, as he drifted inside from the left flank, and curled a right-footed effort just wide of the far post.
Ola Adenola intercepted Oastler’s square pass and played it out to the right. A high cross found Brosnan at the far post, who had the time and space to take a touch and bring the ball down, but his shot lacked the venom to beat Noice at his right-hand post. Then, Read struggled to sort his feet out in time to deal with another cross from the Hendon right. It bobbled free for Brosnan who scuffed his shot into a Totton defender. It came back to him as Totton tried to scramble clear, but his curled shot was comfortable for Noice.
Jimmy Ball made an early substitution, bringing Leon Maloney off to be replaced by Adam Tomasso on 27 minutes. Read and Oastler worked the ball forward down the right, Chiedozie joining in by flicking on for Read to attack the byline and win a corner. Luque’s cross was flicked on by Hallett for Chiedozie to strike at the far side, but Kerbey was equal to it. Hendon countered and Read had to get back quickly to block another Brosnan effort. From the corner, the ball dropped in the box but Totton cleared, and when the ball came flying back in again, Noice claimed it.
Muir won his team a corner on their right, from which Hallett beat the Hendon skipper Joe White to a high ball. His header fell to Riley-Snow at the edge of the area; his shot was smothered by two Totton defenders charging it down.
Sam Magri played Ragguette into an attacking position on the left wing. He centred but his delivery was too far ahead of both Rendell and Chiedozie, as they tried in vain to catch up with the flying wing-back.
Totton hearts were in mouths when another Hendon corner delivery was allowed to bounce inside the six-yard box. They managed to get enough bodies in the way to prevent any shots on target, before Hallett sliced his clearance over his own crossbar for another corner. This time, the ball travelled to the far post where a Hendon header struck a Totton player on the back, but the visitors managed to get the ball away.
Ragguette ran at Finlay MacNab and went for goal, but his effort lacked power. Then, Muir and Brosnan attacked the Totton box from the left to prompt another goalmouth scramble, leading to another corner with Read headed away from the front post.
Tomasso lost the ball to his opposite No.8, Billy Leonard, but Magri won it back on the edge of his own area and set Luque away to carry the ball forward down the middle, with Chiedozie making a run ahead of him. Unfortunately, the two players are not yet on the same wavelength; Luque’s pass went one way and Chiedozie went the other.
HALF-TIME:
HENDON 1
AFC TOTTON 1
There were no further changes during the break. And within a minute of the restart, The Stags took the lead. Read received a square pass from Tomasso mid-way inside his own half and, under pressure from Brosnan, dropped back towards his right-back station to turn and clear the ball up the line. Maloney leapt well to head the ball on from about the half-way line, and as central defender Ethan Light struggled to control the bouncing ball, Rendell muscled his way into possession before setting himself and threading a short forward pass into the path of Joan LUQUE; the Spaniard darted between two defenders and, from the right corner of the six-yard box, rolled the ball under the advancing Kerbey into the opposite bottom corner for his first ever AFC Totton goal.
Read got forward shortly after the restart, feeding Akers on the right whose cross had Chiedozie interested at the far post, but Hendon managed to hook it away. Then, Brosnan danced past Read on the Hendon left before his cross struck Hallett in the chest. The home side tried to mount another attack, which Akers put the kibosh on by tracking Adenola’s forward foray and dispossessing the full-back.
Totton were looking much livelier now, having come to terms with Silver Jubilee Park’s 3G pitch across which they pinged the ball with pace and purpose. Akers dropped to create space for Read to scamper forward into, the diminutive full-back slipping a pass inside for Chiedozie to prod at goal to force Kerbey into a fine reaction save at his near post.
The game had opened up by this point, and an extended period of end-to-end football culminated in Benny Read being shown the yellow card for a foul close to the touchline. As the clock ticked over to the hour mark, Jimmy Ball sent on winger Ethan Taylor to replace Jordan Chiedozie for The Stags.
Tomasso got back to clear for Totton, after two defensive headers hadn’t got the job done. Then, the Totton Terrier joined Rendell to press the opposition in their own half, with Ragguette and Akers also joining in. And the renewed energy paid off in the 64th minute when Totton extended their lead.
Hendon were attacking from their left, with plenty of players forward and the Totton defence well-manned. A loose pass rolled to Magri’s feet, and the centre-half lifted the ball up towards Rendell on the advanced edge of the centre-circle. For once, the experienced centre-forward was unable to make the ball stick but as it bounced off him into the middle of the pitch, Luque picket the pocket of his opponent and skipped clear to carry the ball forward down the middle of the pitch. Totton were suddenly four-on-three, with runners on either side of Luque. El Matador surveyed the situation in front of him before calmly rolling the ball right to Ethan TAYLOR, who checked on to his left foot as he reached the edge of the penalty area, throwing a retreating defender off balance, and curled a beautifully-weighted shot beyond the despairing right hand of Matt Kerbey to make it 3-1 to AFC Totton.
Ragguette charged past MacNab as Totton came forward again despite the Hendon player pulling his shorts, for which he was shown the yellow card when the ball next went out of play. Then, Ragguette and Read both had to scramble back to recover the ball after a loose pass from Hallett gave Brosnan the chance to cross into the Totton box.
Totton were let off again, when Niko Muir missed his kick with the goal at his mercy. Joan Luque was replaced by Joe Turner, shortly before Noice had to come out and claim bravely at the feet of a Hendon forward from a free-kick delivery.
A foul by Ragguette gave Hendon another free-kick on their right. Riley-Snow took it and a short one-two and cross led to Adenola directing a header at goal that looped into the arms of Lewis Noice. Riley-Snow then got away from Turner to cross from the Hendon right, but the ball fell kindly for Read to clear at the far side.
Turner’s persistence forced an error in the Hendon defence, the ball popping out to Taylor whose shot cannoned off a defender for a right-wing corner. Taylor played the ball into the box along the ground, and Rendell helped it on for Turner, who fired over the bar. Then, Taylor fed Rendell on the right-hand side, but his cross was too far ahead of Turner, who was trying to race to the far post.
The board went up to confirm five minutes of stoppage time. Akers continued battling for possession in the opposition half, as Totton’s furthest man forward, but with Hendon sending everyone forward, The Stags had already fallen back into their own defensive third in an attempt to batten down the hatches and protect their two-goal lead. Hallett charged down a long-range effort at source, then Dan Matsuzaka struck one at Hallett, with a follow-up shot striking Magri.
Hendon pulled a goal back three minutes into stoppage time, when the ball came out to the substitute Luca Allinson on their right wing. He fed the ball to the edge of the Totton penalty area where Muir took it under control, with his back to goal and a defender behind him. He laid it back to Hamza SEMAKULA whose shot from 20 yards took a deflection that lifted it over Noice but under the crossbar. Lewis Noice was booked for not relinquishing the ball from his net.
The home side was immediately on the attack again from the restart. Hallett headed out one high delivery into the box, then Taylor had to perform an acrobatic clearance to repel another right-wing cross from Allinson. The ball broke out to Hendon’s left flank, and when it was arced back into the box, the flight of the ball took it over Noice and left Niko MUIR with time to take a touch and pick his spot, despite two Totton defenders sprawling themselves across the goal line to try and block.
By Ben Rochey-Adams
