AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH - Matchday#41
Monday 22 April 2024 | Bolitho Park, Plymouth, Devon | Att: 396
TOTTON SWEEP PARKWAY ASIDE TO CLIMB INTO SECOND PLACE
PLYMOUTH PARKWAY 0
AFC TOTTON 3
Joan Luque 12mins; Leon Maloney 32mins;
Adam Tomasso 57mins
AFC TOTTON PRODUCED a confident away day display to record an impressive 3-0 win at relegation-threatened Plymouth Parkway in Devon on Monday evening (22 April 2024).
Jimmy Ball made five changes to the side that beat Merthyr Town at the weekend. Benny Read and Sam Magri were restored to the back four for their first starts since the defeat at Chesham United on 16 March. Jordan Ragguette and Leon Maloney both made welcome returns to the starting line-up after recent injuries, the former making his 100th AFC Totton appearance. Joan Luque was also named in the starting XI. Scott Rendell was named among the substitutes, so Charlie Kennedy took the captain’s armband.
AFC TOTTON
Starting XI
13. Joshua GOULD
2. Benny READ
6. Luke HALLETT
15. Sam MAGRI
3. Jordan RAGGUETTE
5. Charlie KENNEDY (Capt.)
8. Adam TOMASSO
17. Leon MALONEY
10. Ethan TAYLOR
12. Joan LUQUE PRADOS
18. Tony LEE
Substitutes
9. Scott RENDELL
11. Matty BURROWS
14. Ben JEFFORD
16. Luke BENNETT
19. Perri IANDOLO
Having made the 144-mile journey to Plymouth’s Bolitho Park ground, AFC Totton got the game underway wearing their changed kit gun metal grey with fluo yellow trim. The home side wore yellow shirts with dark blue shorts and socks.
The match started at a rapid pace, with both sides attempting long balls to stretch the opposing defensive lines. A foul on Benny Read on the Totton right gave Joan Luque the chance to deliver into the hosts’ box. Charlie Kennedy had a shot charged down at the penalty spot; Adam Tomasso kept the ball alive and Ethan Taylor saw his volley blocked within a crowd of defenders.
Sam Magri released Jordan Ragguette down the left flank with a glorious pass. Ragguette’s first touch was excellent but his cross sailed behind the goal at the near post, despite numbers arriving in the middle in eager anticipation of a more composed delivery.
Luke Hallett’s defensive header from within his own half bounced kindly for Taylor, allowing him to escape his marker and, with Tony Lee making a clever run to drag a central defender out of the way, Taylor was able to drive infield and pick out Luque on the right. The Spaniard arced a cross to Lee on the far side, the striker missing his kick with his first attempt and then firing narrowly over the bar with his second.
A long kick from Plymouth goalkeeper Adam Parkes was knocked on by Rio Garside, causing a moment of confusion between Read and his goalkeeper Josh Gould, which Read resolved by clearing into touch. From the throw-in, the home side worked themselves into a shooting position at the edge of the area but it was quickly shut down by a combination of Tomasso and Magri. Then, Luque tried to play Maloney in at inside-right but the pass was a bit too heavy.
Another promising Totton attack was prematurely halted when Lee was penalised for grappling with his marker. But The Stags took the lead, soon after. Magri had the ball at his feet in the middle of his own half and found Ragguette on the left, whose beautifully-weighted pass down the line floated over and behind the full-back Shane White, allowing Taylor to get in behind him and lift the ball over Parkes to the far post, where Joan LUQUE arrived at pace to fire into the top-left corner for his sixth AFC Totton goal.
Totton were soon on the front foot again, looking to increase their advantage. Ragguette scampered up the left wing once more, feeding Taylor infield who went past one man only for the next defender to slice his clearance back into Totton possession on the right, but Maloney and Lee eventually got stuck among the retreating home defence who cleared the danger.
Despite the extensive rainfall in Plymouth in recent weeks and the number of home matches that Parkway have had to re-arrange, the Bolitho Park pitch was in good condition and Totton were able to get the ball down and pass it around in their usual preferred style, which forced their hosts to sit off them even though they were already in need of a goal to get back into the game.
Ragguette was bossing the left flank from his full-back position, getting forward again to latch on to Luque’s pass and bring Taylor into the game once more at the left corner of the Plymouth penalty area. He picked out Lee on the far side, who had enough room to chest the ball down before his marker made a challenge, encouraging him to rush his shot and blaze it over the bar.
Plymouth managed to regain possession from another Ragguette foray and after Magri had half-cleared a long ball forward, it fell to the deep-lying midfield playmaker Jamie Lowry, whose clipped cross from right to left invited left-back Callum Hall to try a shot from a tight angle which crashed into the side-netting, bringing applause and encouragement from the home crowd.
Totton were awarded a free-kick on their right, in front of the Plymouth Parkway dug-out. Luque’s high delivery to the far side of the box was knocked down by Lee for Taylor, whose half-volley flew a long way over the top. Taylor was soon presented with another chance when a poor cross-field pass out of the Plymouth defence handed the ball to Maloney on the right. He looked up and picked out Taylor on the left corner of the box, who side-stepped his marker and shot narrowly wide of the top-left corner.
Oscar Halls demonstrated good control and composure on the ball to neatly turn away and avoid being dispossessed by the scurrying Taylor, after Lowry had briefly dropped into the left-back position and put his central defender under unnecessary pressure with an ill-considered square pass. Then, the home fans loudly appealed for a hand-ball against Hallett when the ball dropped between him and Rio Garside, the Referee seeing nothing wrong and allowing play to continue with Hallett’s clearance.
A clever dummy by White wrong-footed Ragguette to give Dylan Jones the opportunity to race into the right corner. Magri tracked him but Jones had the skills to get round the experienced defender and set-up Garside at the near post, Hallett stretching to deflect the shot wide for a corner. The cross was partially cleared and Ragguette ducked in bravely to prevent a scissor-kick volley from the edge of the area. Plymouth regathered the ball and Jones tried to turn Hallett to get to the left-wing byline, but ran out of pitch before he could complete the manoeuvre.
Plymouth successfully defended a Totton counter-attack led by Maloney and Luque, but it proved to be only a temporary reprieve. The clearance once again presented the ball to Magri with time and space in his central defensive slot. He passed to Luque, close to the half-way line, who spotted the forward run of Maloney and dropped his pass in behind the Plymouth defensive line where Leon MALONEY controlled the ball while moving from the right across the middle of the penalty area and, with his left foot, deftly cut the ball back, past the incoming Parkes, to roll it into the bottom-right corner his 13th goal of the season in all competitions.
The second goal was no less than Totton’s possessional dominance deserved. Magri fed Ragguette in space on the left wing, and once again he brought Taylor into game with a short pass infield. He was tackled but managed to poke the ball to Lee, who in turn pushed it to Maloney. From 20 yards out, left of centre, Maloney struck a right-footed shot that curled just wide of the far post.
Hallett’s forward pass sent Read scampering to the right-wing byline, where he beat the first defender but found his cross turned behind for a corner by the second. Luque and Lee attempted a short corner routine that looked like something from the training ground, but it didn’t come off and Plymouth managed to get the ball out. The home defence had to remain alert to prevent Lee capitalising upon Maloney’s incisive pass. When Plymouth had the chance to attack from a deep free-kick, Lowry’s high delivery was comfortably taken by the giant figure of Joshua Gould, despite the number of players around him.
Totton spent the single minute of stoppage time probing the Plymouth box from either side, with Magri, Taylor, Luque, Lee, Kennedy and Read all getting involved, but they couldn’t find a way around the Parkway defence and had to settle for a two-goal lead at the break.
HALF-TIME:
PLYMOUTH PARKWAY 0
AFC TOTTON 2
With games in-hand over their rivals in the relegation dogfight rapidly running out, Parkway Manager Lee Hobbs rolled the dice by bringing on two substitutes at the start of the second half. Callum Rose replace Shane White in defence and Jack Crago - who scored the only goal of the game on Totton’s previous visit to Bolitho Park, two seasons ago - came on for Rio Garside up front.
Parkway began the second half with renewed energy, sending high diagonal passes for Totton to defend, which they did competently until conceding a free-kick about 30 yards out on the Plymouth right. Lowry over-hit the free-kick and despite Callum Rose’s best efforts to keep the ball in play, it drifted behind the Totton goal to let the visitors off lightly. Gould’s long goal-kick put Taylor in at inside-left, route one-style, but his attempted lob over Parkes was too hard and dropped over the crossbar.
The opening exchanges of the second half continued to come at a break-neck pace, with the ball spending a lot of time in the air. When they did manage to get into advanced positions in wide areas, though, Plymouth’s crossing was often too strong for the danger men in the middle to profit.
Gould’s long drop kick had Luque trying to run through the middle, after Halls skewed his defensive header while under pressure from Taylor, but Rose made a well-timed defensive tackle to prevent El Matador escaping and running through on goal. Shortly after, Totton won a corner on the left. Luque’s first cross was miss-hit and cleared low at the near post for another corner. His second effort had Magri poised to head at goal at the far post, had Rose not risen to flick it away for Totton throw-in on their right. Maloney received the ball from Read’s throw and took on Michael Williams, who fell to ground but still managed to get in a good tackle in the process before Tomasso was called up for a foul trying to wrestle the ball back into gun metal grey possession.
Luque’s eyes lit up when Parkes came out of his goal but scuffed his clearance along the ground, enabling the Worthing loanee to intercept on the advanced side of the centre-circle and try a speculative long range effort while the Parkway ‘keeper scrambled back into position. The ball drifted an inch or so over the crossbar and loudly crashed into the roof of the short stand, to an appreciative collective “Oooh!” from the AFC Totton Blue-and-White Army huddled behind the goal.
Totton may have already been two goals to the good but Adam Tomasso was still prepared to throw his body in the way to block a fiercely struck shot from Matthew Wright at the edge of the Totton box. And The Totton Terrier was at it again soon after to cut out Lowry’s attempted through-ball, before Hallett stepped in to dismantle another Plymouth attack in progress just outside The Stags’ area.
A miss-hit clearance from Williams from the Plymouth left-back area was intercepted by Tony Lee, who side-stepped one challenger only to be tripped by captain Toby Down, who was booked for his troubles. Taylor played it short to Tomasso and got it back, before lobbing the ball over the defender in front of him for Read to dart in and attack from the right side of the penalty area, his low cross being turned away before it could find its way to Lee. Then, Callum Rose did well to deal with a high bouncing ball from Ragguette’s forward pass, with Taylor threatening to burst clear down the Totton left.
The third goal of the game came on 57 minutes. Magri was once again afforded time with the ball at his feet in his own half, and looked up to see Luque in space on the left-hand side. He controlled the ball on the run and knocked it infield for Taylor, who appeared to swipe at the ball - though, he might say it was a clever dummy - and it ran to Lee on the edge of the box. With defenders in his way, he pushed it to Maloney in a wide-right position, whose low, curled cross was met by the in-rushing Adam TOMASSO, crashing the ball into the top-right corner of the net via a deflection off Rose’s outstretched foot, before running to embrace one of the travelling Totton fans behind the barrier.
Totton underlined their confidence in possession by sending Read on another attacking raid down the right. He lost the ball but hassled his opponent well enough to force an error that presented it to Maloney. He crossed to the far side, where the defender could have just let it fly behind for a goal-kick, but instead kept it in play with a header that fell to Luque in space on the left. He rolled it across the penalty area and Kennedy fired narrowly over the bar.
Plymouth’s third and final substitution saw Cameron Sangster coming on for Tom Purrington. Tomasso continued to endear himself to the home fans by aggressively getting about the Parkway midfielders. Sangster’s first significant contribution was to head the ball out for a corner on the Totton right. Hallett and Taylor both got headers on the ball from the cross but Parkway scrambled it away. Read stepped in to kibosh any thoughts of a counter-attack.
Maloney darted into the box to receive Luque’s pass at inside-left, forcing Parkes to make a low, near-post save to his right. Maloney kept the rebound in play at the byline and attempted to curl it over Parkes and into the far corner of the goal, but Downs read it well and got back in time to head off the line. From the resulting right-wing corner, Hallett tried to head home from close to the edge of the area, but Parkes had plenty of time to adjust his feet and make the catch.
Lowry continued to instigate forward operations from the back of the Plymouth midfield, but Totton were equal to everything Parkway could throw at them. One cross from the right took a deflection that caused brief confusion in The Stags’ penalty area, but Gould managed to grab the ball amid the ensuing scramble.
Hallett’s pass down the Totton right for the on-running Read brought Parkes a long way out of his goal to head into touch. With 22 minutes left on the clock, Jimmy Ball withdrew Leon Maloney and sent on Perri Iandolo. Taylor’s diagonal towards the left was flicked on by Luque for Ragguette to charge into the box and shot from a tight angle, bringing another save from Parkes.
Down chipped the ball forward looking for the tall figure of Jamie Lowry, but Hallett’s leap had him towering over the Parkway No.4 to head away. Then, Iandolo received possession about 20 yards from goal and shot just wide of the left-hand post. Lowry then burst through the Totton defence and tried a lob that was much too high to trouble Gould.
Dylan Jones spun away from Read on Plymouth’s left-wing touchline. As Read and Tomasso both gave chase, Hallett came across with a strong challenge that put the ball out of play and the forward on the Bolitho Park turf. Then, another cross from the Plymouth right was too firmly struck for the cluster of players huddled in the middle to affect its flight. When it was turned back across from the left, Jack Crago couldn’t sort his feet out and stabbed the ball wide.
Luke Hallett was booked for a foul on Lowry, who took the free-kick himself and found a Parkway head in the shape of Callum Rose, who got up well but thumped his header over the bar.
Benny Read was then withdrawn to make way for Luke Bennett. Rose rode Lee’s challenge and worked the ball infield for Callum Hall, whose long-range effort was wide of the right-hand post. Then, Plymouth managed to overload Totton on the left, until Iandolo’s robust challenge forced the ball out for a corner. Lowry floated the ball across and, for once, Gould was caught flapping, but Hallett flicked it out for a corner on the opposite flank. Lowry trotted over to take it but this time, Gould was out confidently to catch the ball between his six-yard box and the penalty spot.
Jones was still looking lively up front for Plymouth, but couldn’t stop Bennett stealing the ball off his toe as he tried to jink his way into the Totton box.
Totton’s final substitution brought Matty Burrows on to the pitch; Joan Luque made way. A miss-kick by Magri had Wright sniffing for a chance, despite pressure from Hallett. Wright went down appealing for a penalty while Jones tried to skip around Gould, who needed two attempts to grab the ball but got it under control to maintain his clean sheet.
A right-wing corner from Burrows was headed out as far as Taylor, who returned it to Burrows. He dribbled into the box from the right but was dispossessed before he could centre. Bennett tussled with Jones before Tomasso won a free-kick for Totton, much to the displeasure of the home fans in the main stand. Gould launched it forward and several of the Parkway defenders were caught ball-watching while Lee stole in at the far post and shot just wide.
Plymouth had the ball in a threatening position on their right wing, after Williams had intercepted Bennett’s pass to Burrows and switched the play. But the cross flew wide of Gould’s near post, summing up a frustrating evening for the home side.
There was time before the final whistle for an angry altercation between Callum Halls and Ethan Taylor, who were both shown the yellow card once the ensuing handbag convention had run its course. The final whistle sounded as soon as Totton took the free-kick.
The result moves AFC Totton up to second place in the Southern League Premier Division South table, with one round of matches left to play. A significantly superior goal difference means a draw at Dorchester Town on Saturday will be enough to secure the Runners-Up spot, irrespective of how rivals Salisbury get on at home to Hanwell Town. For their part, Plymouth Parkway have two chances left to save their Step 3 status. They entertain Hayes & Yeading United in a genuine relegation six-pointer on Wednesday evening, before an away trip to Buckinghamshire to face Beaconsfield Town; The Rams could yet fall through the trapdoor themselves, should the necessary sequence of results transpire on Saturday.
Watch Jimmy Ball’s Post-Match Interview
Watch Charlie Kennedy’s Post-Match Interview
Latest Southern League Premier Division South table
By Ben Rochey-Adams
