SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH | Matchday#17
Saturday 14 December 2024 | Ian Moorcroft Stadium, Ladysmead, Tiverton, Devon | Att: 306

BLAIR PLUNDERS LATE WINNER AS TOTTON TOPPLE TIVERTON

TIVERTON TOWN 0

AFC TOTTON 1
Tom Blair 90+1mins

TOM BLAIR’S STOPPAGE TIME WINNER saw AFC Totton come away with a valuable away win from a scrappy and increasingly acrimonious affair at Tiverton Town’s Ian Moorcroft Stadium in the Southern League Premier Division South on Saturday (14 December 2024).

On a heavy pitch, both sides struggled to produce football of any real quality throughout a turgid first half. Tiverton were reduced to 10 men midway through the second period when home debutant Toby Down was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Tony Lee. Totton huffed and puffed to make their numerical advantage count but the simultaneous introductions of Tom Blair and Scott Rendell from the bench added fresh impetus that eventually resulted in Blair poking home from close range, after Roddy Collins and Rendell had both headed on Lee’s left-wing throw-in a minute into added time.

Goalkeeper Ryan Gosney, who was cup-tied for the midweek FA Trophy trip to Biggleswade Town, came in for his fourth AFC Totton outing. Luke Bennett returned from suspension and Ben Jefford made his first start in the league this season, having previously only started the Hampshire Senior Cup tie against AFC Bournemouth in mid-September. Scott Rendell and Tom Blair both dropped to the bench, with Charlie Kennedy moving into midfield and Ethan Taylor lining up on the left of The Stags’ attacking trio.

TIVERTON TOWN: 1. Joseph DUNCAN; 18. Bailey KEMPSTER; 4. Toby DOWN; 8. Asa HALL; 9. Oliver JENKINS; 2. Niall THOMPSON; 3. Dylan JONES; 6. Matthew BRITTON; 10. Kai CHURCHLEY; 19. Joe PARKER; 16 Tor SWANN. Substitutes: 5. Joshua JONES; 7. Jevan WRIGHT; 11. Marcus DAY; 20. Daniel HARMER. Substitutions: No.17 (not identified) for SWANN (55mins); WRIGHT for PARKER (61mins); DAY for CHURCHLEY. Yellow Cards: KEMPSTER (Foul); DUNCAN (Time-Wasting); THOMPSON (Foul). Red Card: DOWN (Second Bookable Offence).

AFC TOTTON: 13. Ryan GOSNEY; 2. Joe OASTLER (Capt.); 3. Ben JEFFORD; 5. Charlie KENNEDY; 8. Adam TOMASSO; 10. Ethan TAYLOR; 11. Charlie AUSTIN; 12. Luke HALLETT: 15. Roddy COLLINS; 16. Luke BENNETT; 18. Tony LEE. Substitutes: 6. Sam MAGRI; 9. Scott RENDELL; 14. Toby STEPHENS; 19. Tom BLAIR; 20. Tega AGBERHIERE. Substitutions: BLAIR for JEFFORD (69mins); RENDELL for AUSTIN (69mins). Yellow Cards: OASTLER (Foul); JEFFORD (Foul); TAYLOR (Foul); HALLETT (Foul); BENNETT (Foul); BLAIR (Foul).

Although the pitch looked heavy it was in considerably better condition than on Totton’s previous visit to Ladysmead in March, when Tiverton had gone several weeks without a home game. The weather was both dry and mild for mid-December. The home side kicked-off, wearing yellow-and-black striped shirts, black shorts and socks that faded from black at the top to yellow at the bottom. The Stags wore their away kit of light-grey shirts with turquoise shorts and socks.

Luke Hallett was forced into early evasive action to prevent Tiverton getting in down their left wing, conceding a throw-in that left-back Dylan Jones lobbed into the Totton box. The visitors cleared it at the second attempt only for the ball to come flying back at them; Roddy Collins and then Tony Lee both made important defensive headers as Totton dealt with the early onslaught.

The opening exchanges were end-to-end, in the sense that players from both teams just kicked the ball from one end of the pitch to the other with little obvious intent or creative purpose. On the few occasions the ball was allowed to make contact with terra firma, it would get stuck on the muddy surface with players struggling to get it under proper control, especially when moving at pace.

Hallett misjudged a header but had Oastler covering behind him to concede another throw-in, from which Jones’s next delivery was dealt with by a combination of Charlie Kennedy and Hallett. Then, a cross-field pass from Tiverton right-back Niall Thompson allowed Tor Swann to isolate Luke Bennett in Totton’s right full-back position; Swann bided his time and rolled the ball to the edge of the penalty area where Oliver Jenkins had his shot smothered by the charging frame of Adam Tomasso.

Tomasso then popped up just outside the Tivvy box to nod the ball on for Charlie Austin, who had it nicked off his toe a fraction before he could pull the trigger from inside-right. 12 minutes into the game, Ryan Gosney caught the ball on his goal line from a speculative right-wing lob that allowed him plenty of time to position himself for a routine save.

Asa Hall grabbed the ball back as Tomasso tried to run it out of the Totton area, and shot narrowly wide of the top-left corner. Then, from the resulting goal-kick, Collins received the ball near the centre-circle and played Ethan Taylor in at inside-left, where he was able to hold off Thompson before driving a low shot across goalkeeper Joe Duncan and wide of the far post.

A firm shoulder from Hallett eased Joe Parker off the ball, as Tiverton threatened to burst through the middle of Totton’s defence. Then a left-wing throw for Totton high up the pitch had Taylor taking aim with a shot that rebounded across the defensive line to the right-hand side, where Kennedy fired just past the top-right corner of the goal.

Just as Totton were beginning to assert themselves, a poor cross-field pass from Taylor put them on the back foot, although the winger deserves credit for retreating quickly to tidy up his own error before the home side could inflict any damage. Totton countered and Tiverton did likewise, briefly opening up the Totton defence before Oastler recovered with an immaculately-timed sliding tackle on the edge of the penalty area.

Hallett demonstrated his best version of a Cruyff Turn within a few yards of his own penalty area, and was no doubt grateful for the rather generous award of a free-kick when he was bodychecked to the ground mid-manoeuvre. And the home fans were further incensed when Totton were awarded another free-kick 10 yards into the Tiverton half for a foul that appeared to have been committed by Kennedy rather than anyone in yellow-and-black. Bennett floated the ball into the box but Oastler lobbed it a long way over the bar.

Two crosses were removed from the Totton box, the second by Lee who did well to track the flight of an in-swinging cross and clear it from The Stags’ six-yard line. Austin flattened an opponent near Totton’s right-wing corner flag but again the referee saw nothing wrong, much to the surprise of the majority of the 306 observers.

Bennett got across his man to deal with Thompson’s searching cross from deep on the Tiverton right. Swann regained possession but had two shots blocked in quick succession, the second deflecting for a corner. The cross was floated high to the far post where Swann got above two defenders to head into the middle only for Asa Hall to head over the bar from close range.

Both Austin and Bennett had good cause to complain about shirt-pulling as they competed for possession in midfield, though to little effect. Tomasso and Taylor combined on the left to force a corner, but Bennett’s low delivery was easily cleared at the near post.

Taylor tried to scamper in behind Thompson, with whom he was well-matched for pace, especially given the difficulty of dribbling across the sticky surface. Taylor checked as the ball got stuck under his feet and tried to keep the attacking flow going, eventually receiving the ball back in the area and tumbling to the ground — not even the Totton fans behind the goal were buying it, though, and the ball was easily cleared by Thompson.

Luke Bennett was booked for a foul on Bailey Kempster, despite protesting his innocence. Then, Oastler headed away Thompson’s cross from the right and Collins got his body in the way of a follow-up shot from the edge of the area.

Collins clipped a pass out to Taylor on the left of Tiverton’s area. The winger produced an excellent first touch to bring the ball under control and give himself an extra yard away from Thompson before teeing up Tomasso, whose low drive hit a defender.

A solitary minute of added time suggested that at least the referee was experiencing the good will of the festive season, before he mercifully brought an abjectly awful first half of football to its welcome end.

HALF-TIME: TIVERTON TOWN 0-0 AFC TOTTON

Totton began the second half brightly, with Taylor flashing the ball across the Tiverton box from the left-wing byline. Lee appeared to have his shirt pulled as he went after it, but there was nothing doing from the referee.

Toby Down was shown the yellow card for a foul on Collins, near the half-way line. Gosney launched the free-kick long, bringing his opposite number directly into the game to punch clear with Lee jumping to challenge. Totton hooked the ball back into the box and Hallett, still forward from the free-kick, produced a touch, turn and shot to remind the world he was once a striker, a Tiverton defender’s shin doing enough to steer it off course for the bottom-right corner of the net and wide for a corner. Taylor’s cross was headed goanward but Duncan made light work of catching it.

Tomasso burrowed forward on the left before laying back for Austin to curl a high cross into the area. Bennett was well-marked but managed to head down for Lee to take aim; the striker’s effort was blocked by a defender and Kennedy’s follow-up deflected wide.

Ben Jefford threw himself into a strong tackle to disarm Swann on the Tiverton right. Thompson picked up the loose ball and raided forward, before his cross was repelled by Oastler’s head.

Tiverton made the first substitution of the game on 55 minutes, when they withdrew Tor Swann and sent on a player wearing the No.17 shirt - even though their pre-match teamsheet did not list a No.17. And if having a player with no name is not trouble enough, Tivvy compounded their woes by going down to 10 men when Toby Down, already on a yellow card, hauled down Lee as he tried to latch onto a through-ball into the inside-left channel. The referee’s quick award of a free-kick frustrated Taylor as he had already raced onto the loose ball and broken free of the defensive line. A second yellow card for Down was promptly followed by the inevitable red, and from the free-kick, Taylor lofted the ball into the area where Hallett met it close to the right byline and looped his header onto the roof of the net.

Tomasso’s diagonal found Lee on the right. He knocked it down for Collins to shoot, the rebound almost falling to Taylor who had to stretch but couldn’t force it past Thompson. Tiverton then made their second substitution by replacing Joe Parker with Jevan Wright. Collins bustled his way through two challenges in midfield and chipped the ball into the box for Lee to head on-target, bringing an impressive save from Duncan before Lee was penalised for a push, anyway.

Ben Jefford was booked for pulling back Jevan Wright, who was poised to exploit open space on the Tiverton right. Kempster’s free-kick was turned away for a left-wing corner, which Totton also defended effectively.

Dylan Jones wound up a long throw from high on the Tiverton right flank. Oastler headed away at the near post but Jones anticipated it well, charging into the Totton box to regain possession before squeezing a shot between Totton defenders towards the near bottom corner, where Gosney responded by saving with his shins. The ball was hooked into midfield, where another foul gave Kempster another chance to send the ball into the danger area, but to no avail.

With 20 minutes to go, Jimmy Ball sent on Tom Blair and Scott Rendell in place of Ben Jefford and Charlie Austin. Bailey Kempster was booked for a late foul on Oastler, despite injuring himself in the process.

Rendell had a brief sight of goal from the edge of the Tiverton box, but scuffed his shot. Then, from a right-wing corner, Taylor’s in-swinging cross struck the near post and bounced out of play for a goal-kick. From his next corner on the same side of the pitch, Kennedy was presented with a chance to put Totton in front but headed past the left-hand post.

Tiverton were falling back into their own half now, taking a single point from the game representing the upper limit of their ambition, despite their home advantage. They were slow to return the ball to the pitch whenever it went out of play, prompting Gosney to take it upon himself to go and collect replacement footballs from the Tiverton dug-out to speed things along. And in one particularly absurd moment, a young steward was told to take his time about returning a ball that had landed at the front of the main stand, then when he tossed it to the Tiverton manager over the low roof of the sunken dug-out, the ball was theatrically fumbled back into the stand.

Blair’s cross from the right was smothered before Totton could get a shot away. Then, Kennedy fired over the top from Rendell’s knockdown.

Marcus Day, who briefly played for AFC Totton during the Southern League Division One South title-winning season of 2022/23, stepped off the bench to replace Kai Churchley for Tiverton. Taylor won a free-kick a few yards outside the Tiverton box, left of the D. Blair curled the ball towards the six-yard line where Rendell stooped to make a firm connection with a header that flew just past the left-hand post. Joe Duncan was booked for taking his time over the consequent goal-kick.

Oastler played the ball forward down the right flank for Blair to race onto and cross to the far side. Rendell’s volley was off target but kept the ball in the danger zone, until an offside flag was raised amid the ensuing goalmouth scramble.

Lee shot wide with an acrobatic overhead-kick, as the ball sat up invitingly at inside-right. Blair and Lee both tried to lead raids from the right wing but couldn’t find a light-grey shirt in the middle.

Tom Blair was booked for a foul, before the board went up to indicate seven minutes of stoppage time. But it took only one more minute for the away team to take the lead. Totton won a throw in an advanced position on the left-wing. Lee hurled the ball into the Tiverton box, where it was met at the near post by Collins, who headed it across goal. Rendell stretched to try and head it in at the far post but could only help it on to drop at the right edge of the six-yard box, where Tom BLAIR steered it beyond Duncan to spark celebrations among the travelling contingent and remorse among the home crowd.

Several people on either side of the white lines lost their heads, with the mood on the pitch becoming increasingly fractious. Niall Thompson and Joe Oastler were both shown the yellow card; Thompson for a late challenge on the Totton captain, Oastler’s crime was not so clear.

A goal down, Tiverton suddenly rediscovered their sense of urgency but a man down, they were reduced to lumping the ball forward more in hope than expectation. Totton stood firm but their attempts to counter were similarly thwarted.

Ethan Taylor was booked for time-wasting before the end, but Totton held on to secure a narrow win that will struggle to live long in the memories of football purists.

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By Ben Rochey-Adams