AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH | Matchday#37
Saturday 05 April 2025 | Town Ground, Bulpit Lane, Hungerford | Att: 620
STAGS STRIKE THREE TO COMPLETE LEAGUE DOUBLE OVER CRUSADERS
HUNGERFORD TOWN 0
AFC TOTTON 3
Charlie Austin 15mins;
Scott Rendell 24mins;
Tony Lee 51mins
GOALS FROM EACH OF THE SENIOR strikers ensured that AFC Totton completed the league double over the only team to do it to them last season, with a comprehensive victory in the springtime sunshine at Hungerford Town’s Bulpit Lane home in Berkshire.
After an inauspicious start, during which both teams struggled to control the ball on a hard, uneven surface, dogged determination to win the ball by Luke Bennett carved open an opportunity for Charlie Austin to volley The Stags into the lead, and Scott Rendell was the beneficiary of similar endeavour from Ethan Taylor nine minutes later. Tony Lee wrapped up the win with a stunning free-kick shortly into the second half of a game in which the hosts never gained a firm foothold.
Jimmy Ball stuck with the three central defenders who secured a point against Dorchester Town last weekend, making a change at left wing-back where Ethan Taylor replaced the Oxford United loanee Richard McIntyre. Captain Mike Carter returned to the midfield for his first start in four games, with Craig Tanner and Ben Seymour both dropping to the bench to enable Charlie Austin, Scott Rendell and Tony Lee to all feature in an aggressive-looking starting line-up.
HUNGERFORD TOWN: 1. Ryan CLARKE; 4. Max RAM; 5. Jordan ROSE; 6. Matthew BERRY-HARGREAVES; 7. George SMITH; 8. Bradley HOOPER; 10. Joseph MARQUEZ-ESPADA; 12. Kyle TOOZE; 16. Louis McGRORY; 19. Joseph SHEPHERD; 20. Rhys TYLER (Capt.). Substitutes: 2. Curtis ANGELL; 3. Ramarni MEDFORD-SMITH; 11. Gerson DA COSTA RAMOS; 17. Louie PAGET; 18. Jerry LAWRENCE. Substitutions: ANGELL for TYLER (46mins); MEDFORD-SMITH for ROSE (61mins); PAGET for HOOPER (61mins); DA COSTA RAMOS for TOOZE (61mins); LAWRENCE for SMITH (81mins). Yellow Cards: BERRY-HARGREAVES (Foul); MEDFORD-SMITH (Foul); SHEPHERD (Foul); ANGELL (Foul).
AFC TOTTON: 13. Ryan GOSNEY; 2. Joe OASTLER; 4. Mike CARTER (Capt.); 6. Sam MAGRI; 9. Scott RENDELL; 10. Ethan TAYLOR; 11. Charlie AUSTIN; 12. Luke HALLETT; 15. Roddy COLLINS; 16. Luke BENNETT; 18. Tony LEE. Substitutes: 3. Ben JEFFORD; 5. Charlie KENNEDY; 7. Ben SEYMOUR; 14. Craig TANNER; 20. Richard McINTYRE. Substitutions: McINTYRE for BENNETT (53mins); SEYMOUR for AUSTIN (61mins); KENNEDY for CARTER (73mins); JEFFORD for TAYLOR (88mins); TANNER for LEE (90mins). Yellow Cards: CARTER (Foul); LEE (Timewasting).
The Crusaders wore white shirts with black shorts and socks, while Totton turned out in their usual home kit of all-Royal blue with white trim. A decision to switch ends after the pre-match toss of the coin ensured that Hungerford were facing the sun in the first half, and it was noticeable during the early exchanges that it was causing the home side’s defenders some difficulty with them often raising their hands to shield their eyes when the ball came flying towards them.
On a hard, bumpy playing surface that was not watered immediately prior to the game, both teams appeared to be wary of trying to pass the ball along the deck, favouring instead the airborne approach that — bright shiny orbs in the sky, notwithstanding — favoured central defenders over centre-forwards and led to a scrappy first 10 minutes of little incident.
Dogged defensive work by Tony Lee, dropping back from the front line to hassle Hungerford players in possession, first aided Ethan Taylor in completing a clearance on the Totton left and then resulted in a free-kick on the opposite flank when Lee hooked Rhys Tyler’s ankle. The delivery into the Totton box was poor and Ryan Gosney was able to help himself to an early touch of the ball, unopposed.
Hungerford goalkeeper Ryan Clarke took a chance in trying to shield the ball out of play at his right-wing touchline while Lee tried to nick the ball off him; had the striker been successful, he would have had a clear shot at an open goal, albeit from a narrow angle, but Clarke managed to wrestle with the striker long enough for the ball to roll across the touchline for a Hungerford throw-in.
A free-kick from deep on the Hungerford right was headed out to the edge of the penalty area, where Joe Marquez-Espada scuffed his right-footed volley wide of the left-hand post. Then, Taylor showed good awareness of his surroundings to guide the ball back to Gosney with his head at the left corner of the box, while white shirts buzzed around them.
The first moment of real quality in the game came in the 15th minute, when AFC Totton took the lead. Collins played the ball forward to Rendell, whose flick-on found Taylor on the left wing. He switched the play to the right, where Bennett initially attempted a headed flick-on. The ball struck Tyler in front of him but bounced kindly to enable Bennett to reclaim possession and charge forward, going past both Tyler and Max Ram, giving himself enough room to bend an inch-perfect cross to the left of the penalty spot where Charlie AUSTIN arrived to volley home powerfully with his right instep for his 12th goal of the season.
An awkward bounce in front of central defender Jordan Rose enabled Lee to knock the ball on to Collins at the edge of the Hungerford box; his left-foot strike was well held by Clarke. Then, a high cross from the home side’s right flank caused Gosney some difficulty as it arced beyond the far post, but nobody in a white shirt was able to take advantage, and when they regained possession midway inside the Totton half, the attempted through-ball by Rose was overhit and ran straight through to The Stags ‘keeper.
Totton doubled their lead in the 24th minute. A direct punt towards the Totton defence was returned with interest by Bennett. Matt Berry-Hargreaves took a heavy touch that enabled Lee to nudge the ball back to Collins, who tried to feed Taylor on the left. The pass was overhit, and Louis McGrory managed to get his body between the ball and Taylor, with another white shirt also in attendance and the plan seemingly to allow the ball to run out to touch. Taylor had other ideas, though, wrapping his left foot around McGrory to flick the ball between the defender’s legs and dart into the left side of the penalty area. He pulled it back to Lee on the edge of the box who, with two defenders in front of him, sidestepped the nearest and clipped the ball towards the edge of the six-yard box at the far post where Bennett’s volley deflected off a defender and fell invitingly for Scott RENDELL to sweep the ball past the over-exposed Clarke.
Kyle Tooze sprung the offside trap to go clean through at inside-right for Hungerford, but Gosney performed a handball-style star jump to deflect his shot wide for a corner. The delivery to the far post was won in the air by Rose, but strong challenges by first Joe Oastler on the six-yard line and then Mike Carter, with a well-timed sliding tackle that cleared the ball out of the box, kept the stable door firmly shut for The Stags.
Sam Magri shifted the ball forward to Bennett on the right flank, and he picked out Lee on the corner of the penalty area. With a cleverly improvised flick and a sharp turn of pace, Lee first deceived then beat his marker to the byline and crossed to the back post where the unmarked Rendell headed back across goal and narrowly wide of the right-hand post.
George Smith wound up a long throw in an advanced position on the Hungerford right, which Gosney made light work of plucking out of the air, despite the many bodies around him. Then, a moment of confusion in the Totton defence while they appealed for offside against Tooze, who was not involved in play at that point, allowed Marquez to scamper free down the left wing and aim a low cross into the centre which Tooze had to stretch to connect with and couldn’t direct on-target.
Hungerford had a spell of possession, but their attacking ideas were limited to high balls into the box that Magri, Hallett and Oastler dealt with comfortably, when the pass wasn’t too strong and flew straight into the gloves of Gosney.
Tyler did well to clear the ball into touch before the fleeter-footed Bennett could latch onto Lee’s headed flick-on to burst through on goal. Then, a poor back-pass by Rose put Clarke under pressure with Rendell closing in; the ‘keeper came out of his box but scuffed his clearance straight to Collins at halfway, who quickly fed it forward again for Lee to run in behind the defence. He went down under a challenge but the ball squirmed left to Austin in a more central position, whose snapshot was diverted wide by Clarke amid appeals from several Totton players for a penalty-kick, that went unheeded from the referee.
Oastler took a throw-in on the left, level with the edge of the Hungerford box. He found Austin, who appeared to be pulled down from behind, but once again Totton’s penalty appeals fell on deaf ears. Tony Lee then picked up a yellow card for delaying a Hungerford free-kick, close to the halfway line.
An angled clearance from right-to-left by Gosney flew over a stretching defender and dropped to the feet of Austin on the left corner of the box, who instantly controlled it and set himself for a volleyed lob that carried a fraction too high over Clarke’s goal.
Gosney did well to catch an overhit cross from the Hungerford right that threatened to drop in behind him, as Tooze closed him down inside his six-yard box. The Crusaders regained possession before the interval, but poor service when trying to get forward resulted in the ball simply returning to the gloves of The Stags’ No.1.
HALF-TIME: HUNGERFORD TOWN 0-2 AFC TOTTON
Hungerford withdrew their captain Rhys Tyler and sent on Curtis Angell for the second half, to operate at left-back. Berry-Hargreaves conceded an early corner on the Totton right, from which Taylor’s cross was headed wide by Oastler at the far post. Then, an up-and-under cross by Carter from deep on the right flank saw Austin sneak in behind his marker and head narrowly wide.
A long ball into the Totton half was allowed to bounce, which briefly wrong-footed the Totton defence and left Hungerford with a two-on-two situation that Oastler was able to remedy by putting his body in the way of Marquez’s shot from 20 yards, before Totton successfully defended the resulting corner.
Austin ghosted in behind Berry-Hargreaves, who tripped the former Hungerford striker and then had an anxious wait to see the colour of the referee’s card, given that it was a last-man situation; a flash of yellow relieved the defender’s fear. But even that minor victory proved to be Pyrrhic; from 25 yards out, left of centre, Tony LEE bent a stunning free-kick around the right side of the defensive wall and past Ryan Clarke into the bottom right-hand corner to make it three-nil to the visitors.
A miss-kicked clearance by Carter, close to his own left-wing byline, was caught by Gosney, who then bowled the ball out to Austin on the right flank to spring the counter-attack. Austin scurried to the right-wing corner and sent his cross beyond the far post, where Taylor controlled it and centred low to Rendell; the centre-forward was heavily marked and could only hook his effort over the crossbar, possibly with the unwanted assistance of an untimely bobble.
Richard McIntyre came on in place of Luke Bennett, with Taylor switching to the right-hand side to allow McIntyre to take up the left wing-back role. Carter got his body in the way to disrupt a burgeoning Hungerford attack at inside-left. Then, only an unfortunate ricochet off his heel prevented Lee from racing clear of Rose through the centre, with Totton having opened up the home defence again.
Hungerford had two free-kicks within shooting range in quick succession, to the left of centre. The first was taken short, and Carter was penalised for lunging in with a sliding challenge that gave The Crusaders another go from just a few yards further forward. McGrory went the more direct route this time, but his shot was comfortably saved by Gosney.
Totton forced a corner on their right, but Joe Shepherd got above Oastler to win the aerial duel at the far post. Then, tempers flared when Carter made a clearance at the Totton left-wing touchline and McGrory came in with a late sliding challenge that caught the already-grounded Carter in the chest. Shoves and expletives were exchanged before the referee gave both players a warning, resuming play with a free-kick to Totton close to the halfway line. A high ball into the Hungerford box brought Clarke out to attempt a one-handed punch that caught more of one of his teammates than the ball, prompting another halt to proceedings.
Charlie Austin came off to be replaced by Ben Seymour, just past the hour mark, while the home side took that same opportunity to make three changes to their team. Hallett and Lee both made strong defensive headers to repel Hungerford’s ongoing aerial assault. Then, Shepherd won a corner on the home side’s right that flew over the leaping Hallett but was headed away by Rendell; McGrory latched onto the loose ball and fired in a long-range shot that Gosney parried and grabbed at the second attempt.
Good work from Lee on the right flank enabled him to feed in a low cross to Seymour at the near post, but the young striker missed his kick and the ball bounced off his standing leg, shortly before Remarni Medford-Smith earned himself a deserved yellow card for a late foul on Lee. Taylor took the free-kick, shortly to the right of the advanced edge of the centre-circle. He clipped it into the box, from where it was headed out to Rendell in the D. He played a short pass to the left to Joe Oastler, who suddenly juggled the ball away from his marker and sent a dipping volley narrowly over the top-right corner of the goal, in a scene not entirely dissimilar to the sort of thing that Matt Le Tissier used to regularly do to Newcastle United.
Mike Carter and Curtis Angell were both booked for an off-the-ball coming together in midfield. That was the Totton skipper’s last contribution, as he was then replaced by Charlie Kennedy, with Rendell taking the captain’s armband for the remainder of the encounter. Hungerford continued to send high balls into the Totton box, but the visiting defence was rarely tested or stretched.
Hungerford won a free-kick high on their left for a foul by Hallett; Magri headed clear at the front post. Then, Joe Shepherd was booked for a late challenge on Taylor that resulted in the Totton No.10 being replaced by Ben Jefford, who found himself in the unfamiliar role of right wing-back.
A throw-in by Jefford was miss-kicked behind for a Totton corner by Shepherd. McIntyre drilled it towards the near post but Hungerford forced it out, before Hallett’s attempt to return the ball to McIntyre at the edge of the box ran out for a goal-kick.
Totton continued to defend solidly against a Hungerford attack bereft of attacking ideas, as the game petered out. The Stags came close to adding a fourth when Magri’s cross-field pass from right to left was headed to Rendell by Collins. Rendell laid it back to Oastler, who clipped it down the left flank. Collins competed with the defender at the left corner of the box, forced the ball infield and then tried to hook a low snapshot into the bottom-left corner, firing narrowly past the post with Clarke rooted to the spot.
Another long Hungerford throw from an advanced position was easily claimed by Gosney. Then, Seymour galloped forward on the counter-attack, utilising an up-and-under clearance to elude his marker, take the ball to the right of the penalty spot, turn and tee-up the incoming Lee, who ran over the ball with defenders either side of him. Craig Tanner then came on for Lee for the last few minutes, to help Totton see out a comprehensive away win.
Watch JIMMY BALL’S Post-Match Interview
Watch ETHAN TAYLOR’S Post-Match Interview
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Next Up: TAUNTON TOWN vs AFC TOTTON
Southern League Premier Division South | Matchday#38 | Wordsworth Drive, Taunton, Somerset TA1 2HG | Tuesday 08 April 2025 | Kick-Off 7:45pm
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By Ben Rochey-Adams
