AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH | Matchday#19
Thursday 26 December 2024 | Charters Community Stadium, Winchester | Att: 568
TOMMO & TEGA BOTH ON-TARGET AS TOTTON WHIP WINCH
WINCHESTER CITY 1
Jamie Barron 49mins
AFC TOTTON 4
Tony Lee 7mins; Adam Tomasso 26mins;
Tom Blair 74mins; Tega Agberhiere 75mins
FOUR BOXING DAY GOALS at Winchester City took AFC Totton to their second Hampshire derby victory in as many matches, while also extending their unbeaten run in the Southern League Premier Division South to eleven games.
Striker Tony Lee got The Stags off to a flying start, running onto a long pass down the middle of the pitch to squeeze a well-placed shot past his marker and beyond the goalkeeper after just seven minutes. Adam Tomasso doubled the lead with his first goal of the season, firing home left-footed from a partially-cleared corner.
Having switched to a more offensive stance at the interval, the home side deservedly reduced the deficit four minutes into the second half through Jamie Barron. But two goals in a minute - one from winger Tom Blair and substitute Tega Agberhiere’s first for the club - put the result beyond doubt.
WINCHESTER CITY: 1. Luke CAIRNEY; 2. Joshua McCORMACK; 3. Daniel KING; 4. Oliver GRIGGS; 5. Callum BUCKLEY; 6. Kieran DOUGLAS; 7. Max SMITH; 8. Jamie BARRON (Capt.); 9. Trevor CABORN; 10. Daniel BRADSHAW; 11. IK HILL. Substitutes: 12. Alex WILKIE; 14. Luka CHALWELL; 15. George BRITTON; 16. Daniel BARTLETT; 17. Simba MLAMBO. Substitutions: MLAMBO for BRADSHAW (46mins); BARTLETT for GRIGGS (69mins); CHALWELL for BARRON 76mins); BRITTON for DOUGLAS (82mins); WILKIE for CABORN (82mins). Yellow Cards: None.
AFC TOTTON: 13. Ryan GOSNEY; 2. Joe OASTLER; 3. Ben JEFFORD; 5. Charlie KENNEDY; 8. Adam TOMASSO; 9. Scott RENDELL (Capt.); 10. Ethan TAYLOR; 12. Luke HALLETT; 15. Roddy COLLINS; 18. Tony LEE; 19. Tom BLAIR. Substitutes: 1. Max EVANS; 4. Mike CARTER; 7. Ashley CLARKE; 16. Luke BENNETT; 20. Tega AGBERHIERE. Substitutions: AGBERHIERE for JEFFORD (62mins); BENNETT for RENDELL (80mins); CLARKE for BLAIR (80mins). Yellow Cards: OASTLER (Foul); AGBERHIERE (Foul).
Although the traditional Boxing Day football included a full complement of Southern League Premier Division South fixtures, the match at Winchester’s newly-refurbished Charters Community Stadium was the only game in the division to kick-off early; Tom Blair and Tony Lee reverted to an old-school two-man start from the centre spot of the 3G pitch at 1:00pm on Thursday 26 December 2024. Totton wore their away kit of light grey shirts with turquoise shorts and socks, while Winchester City were adorned in their usual red-and-black shirts with red shorts and socks.
The early exchanges resembled a baseline tennis rally, with the ball spending a lot of time in the air while spectators turned their heads this way and that to follow its flight back-and-forth. Ryan Gosney rose above the crowd in his penalty area to confidently claim the ball from a deep free-kick on the Winchester right. Then, Trevor Caborn almost capitalised upon a fortunate ricochet from Joe Oastler’s clearance but was eventually crowded out by retreating Totton defenders.
EARLY LEAD: Striker Tony Lee fires AFC Totton into a seventh-minute lead in the Boxing Day encounter at Winchester City's Charters Community Stadium.
A little more than six minutes into the game, Charlie Kennedy - operating at right-back - did well to head away a dangerous cross-field pass. Tom Blair brought the ball under control and laid it back for Luke Hallett to send a long pass into the Winchester City half, dropping it just behind the defensive line. Lee ran onto it, initially bundling his way past and away from his marker before Kieran Douglas made up ground at the edge of the penalty area. But Tony LEE only had eyes for the bottom-left corner of the net and steered his shot through the defender’s attempted block and beyond goalkeeper Luke Cairney to put The Stags in front.
Winchester came forward and won a free-kick about 25 yards out, left of centre, which resulted in Joe Oastler being shown the yellow card. Jamie Barron lifted the ball to the far post where it was headed back across goal, forcing Gosney to stretch his right arm up and tip over the crossbar. The resulting corner was punted away before Winchester regained possession on their right. A high angled pass towards the left-hand post sought to make use of the fact that the tall central defender Douglas was still in an advanced position but he couldn’t reach his right leg high enough to make meaningful contact, and the ball bounced out for a Totton goal-kick.
Scott Rendell knocked down to Lee, whose pass to Blair on the right-wing touchline enabled the winger to bend a high cross into the area that Cairney punched clear with Taylor loitering. Gosney then had to rush out to kick clear from the edge of his box, before a Winchester free-kick from their right presented Oliver Griggs with a chance that Hallett charged down. IK Hill gathered the rebound but his effort was similarly blocked by Roddy Collins.
The home side kept searching for a way in and managed to convert a left-wing throw-in to a corner. Kennedy headed the delivery away, and when the ball came back into the Totton box, Rendell and then Oastler ensured The Stags’ stable door remained firmly shut.
A timely intervention by Ben Jefford dismantled the next Winchester attack on their right wing, prodding the ball forward for Ethan Taylor to hit a cross-field pass that sent Blair away on the counter-attack. His cross flew a fraction too high for the leaping Lee but dropped towards the far post where Jefford, having sprinted from left-back to maintain his part in the move, flung himself at it and made connection with a diving header that flew wide of the post.
Hill dispossessed Blair midway inside the Totton half but immediately ran into Adam Tomasso before he could lay the ball off to a well-placed colleague peeling away dangerously to the left. Hill soon had another chance to create something, slipping a short through-ball beyond Kennedy to put Daniel Bradshaw in; Hallett read the situation and whisked the ball away at the byline.
Two miss-kicks in quick succession had the Winchester defence rocking, until Lee’s low drive from 20 yards was bravely blocked by a defender. Taylor then took the ball under control at the left corner of the Winchester box and laid off to Jefford on the flank, whose high cross had Cairney flapping with an unconvincing one-handed clearance that fell to Blair - but the whistle went for a foul by Lee on the goalkeeper before Blair could benefit.
PARTY ANIMAL: Adam Tomasso celebrates scoring his first goal of the 2024/25 campaign.
Jefford disrupted another attack from the Winchester right, then Totton raided forward on that same side of the pitch, Taylor playing a square pass across the edge of the box for Blair to line-up a shot that deflected wide for a left-wing corner. Blair took it, bending a high cross towards Rendell at the near post; Daniel King got there first and headed out but only as far as Adam TOMASSO whose first-time left-footed strike arrowed into the bottom-right corner for his first goal of the season.
Appeals for hand-ball against Tomasso in the Totton box yielded nothing for the home side. Totton soon had a more convincing claim of their own, when Taylor’s cross from the left struck a red-sleeved arm in the Winchester area, but again the referee turned a blind eye.
A timely shove by Kennedy resulted in King colliding with the perimeter fencing at the left-wing byline, the referee showing concern for the left-back’s health but little interest in remonstrating with the Totton No.5. Then, Caborn received the ball high on the left flank in a position to run at Hallett, but he stood on the ball before he could gain any momentum and Hallett stepped in to remove the threat.
Oastler’s strong aerial presence repelled three long balls in quick succession, two of them from goalkeeper Cairney, as Winchester continued to struggle to find a way through the Totton defence. Then, neat footwork from Hill beat Kennedy but not the covering Hallett.
Cairney came under more pressure from high crosses into his box, particularly with Lee ever-ready to challenge, but he managed to grab Blair’s left-footed in-swinger. When Winchester managed to get forward again, the presence of Collins on the edge of the area prompted Barron to reconsider taking a shot, a moment of hesitation that allowed the Irish midfielder to reclaim the ball. And Collins continued to put the kibosh on Winchester’s attacking ambitions as the first-half entered two minutes of stoppage time, before Taylor assisted Jefford in defending Totton’s left flank to ensure The Stags went in with their two-goal lead in tact.
HALF-TIME: WINCHESTER CITY 0-2 AFC TOTTON
Winchester signalled their attacking intent with the half-time introduction of forward Simba Mlambo for Bradshaw, and the urgency with which The Citizens went about their business suggested they had received very specific instructions from manager Craig Davis during the interval.
Taylor and Jefford again teamed up to form a road block as Winchester tried to drive forward down their right. Then, Gosney had to react quickly to kick clear from the edge of his box as Mlambo tried to intercept Tomasso’s back-pass.
Totton were pressed into their own left-back area and as they tried to advance, an ill-considered back-heel flick by Taylor was charged down, gifting possession back to the home side. A low-angled pass found Jamie BARRON in space at inside-right and, after advancing towards the byline, he fired in a low cross-shot that flicked off the sliding Oastler’s foot and into the net to give Winchester City a lifeline.
Kennedy won the ball on the edge of his own box before a trip on him handed Totton a free-kick and allowed them to regroup, the floodlights around the ground choosing that moment to flicker into life. Mlambo tried to make his presence felt down the right-hand side but Oastler was never more than a stride away from him. But Winchester were now enjoying the greater share of possession and causing the Totton defence to burn off more of those Christmas dinner calories.
Lee was knocked over on the edge of the Winchester penalty area, but not unfairly according to the referee. Then at the other end, Caborn tried to close down a back-pass but Gosney completed his clearance in the nick of time. Rendell was then frustrated to be penalised for a foul on Cairney, when it appeared that all the Totton centre-forward did was kick the ball against the goalkeeper’s shins as they clashed to the right of the Winchester six-yard box.
BIG BEN: AFC Totton left-back Ben Jefford sizes up his options during the Southern League Premier Division South match at Winchester City on Boxing Day.
Cairney got a fist to Blair’s right-wing corner delivery and although Collins regained possession, his pass back to Blair wrong-footed his teammate. Then Taylor, operating on the Totton right, tried to dribble into the box. He ran into a defender and the ball popped loose to Tomasso, who fired another snapshot narrowly over the bar.
Tomasso reclaimed the ball into Totton possession at half-way, after Taylor’s attempt to switch the play was initially intercepted. The Totton Terrier then drew a foul about 25 yards from the Winchester goal, from which Blair floated the ball towards the far post. Oastler could only get a glancing connection on the ball but as it dropped, a retreating defender inadvertently prodded towards his own goal, forcing Cairney to save low to his right.
Two minutes past the hour, Tega Agberhiere came on for Ben Jefford - one left-back for another. Agberhiere’s first contribution was to concede a free-kick within shooting range for pulling Caborn’s arm. However, rather than go directly for goal, Hill played Josh McCormack in to the right of Totton’s four-man defensive wall and when the cross came in, it was too high for those in red-and-black to capitalise, allowing Tomasso to punt clear.
Agberhiere committed his second foul, and was duly booked, against Douglas who was embarking upon a rare foray beyond he half-way line. Barron’s high free-kick was headed firmly away by Lee. Then at the other end, Lee directed Oastler’s up-and-under clearance wide to the right for Taylor, whose cross was turned away by the sliding Douglas.
Kennedy made a strong tackle to halt Winchester’s progress at the half-way line, shortly before played had to be stopped to allow Hallett to receive treatment. Craig Davis sent on Daniel Bartlett in place of Griggs for the last twenty-odd minutes.
MY BALL: Ethan Taylor holds off an opponent during Totton's 4-1 victory at Winchester City.
Any concerns over Hallett’s condition were quickly abated when the defender performed one of his characteristic high leaps to head the ball away from an airborne Winchester incursion. Taylor received on the right wing and lofted the ball to Blair beyond the far post. Blair’s header found Rendell, whose shot was blocked; the rebound fell back to Blair and his low drive was kept out by Cairney’s shins.
Taylor took the next shot at the Winchester goal, flicking the ball up for himself and striking on the volley from just outside the box at inside-right; Cairney pushed it wide for a corner. Cairney tipped over from Blair’s delivery but was then given a free-kick for a push by Rendell.
Having adapted to Winchester’s early second-half revival, Totton were back on top and testing their hosts, once more. Oastler charged down an attempted long-shot from McCormack and set off on a forward run into the opposition half before laying off to Lee on the left. He fed the ball forward to Blair, whose shot from distance was blocked before he gathered the rebound and tried to float one into the box, only for Mlambo to head out.
But Winchester’s resistance could not last, and The Stags extended their lead on 74 minutes. A swift attacking move presented Lee with a shooting chance from inside-right, Cairney again saving with his legs. This time, the rebound came out to Rendell near the penalty spot; his path to goal was quickly shut down but ever the calm head, he rolled a short pass left to Tom BLAIR who opened up his body to guide his right-footed shot across the goalkeeper and inside the right-hand post.
Totton regained possession within seconds of the restart, and were again quick to advance by switching the ball from left to right, Blair playing the pass while Agberhiere made his way forward. Kennedy received on the right and threaded a short through-ball inside the left-back for Taylor to dart to the byline and pull the ball back across the area for Tega AGBERHIERE to side-foot home his first goal for AFC Totton from 10 yards.
Substitute Luka Chalwell had a shot blocked from outside the Totton box, then used the rebound to set-up Bartlett who fired wide of the right-hand post. With 13 minutes left on the clock, AFC Bournemouth loanee forward Ash Clarke made his Stags return as replacement for Scott Rendell, and he was joined by Luke Bennett, who replaced Tom Blair. Oastler took the captain’s armband, and he immediately set about his task of ensuring his charges maintained their inout and concentration to see the job through to completion.
Kieran Douglas took an errant arm to the face and, after receiving treatment on the pitch, was substituted. Winchester had more defending to do from Taylor’s right-wing free-kick that was headed across goal by Lee with Oastler among those trying to get the crucial touch. Clarke collected the clearance on the left wing and put the ball back into the box; it was knocked out as far as Tomasso who steered a low shot narrowly wide to the left.
Mlambo’s forward progress was halted by a strong tackle from Bennett. The rebound fell to Bartlett but he failed to generate any power into his long-range shot and it went harmlessly wide.
Protected by Tomasso and the ever-steady Collins, Hallett and Oastler exuded control at the heart of Totton’s defence. When the ball finally flew beyond them, Gosney controlled on his chest and took hold of the ball at his own leisure.
Cairney performed a a quick catch and release, intercepting Taylor’s cross from the right before setting McCormack away on the counter-attack on the Winchester right. Clarke demonstrated a willingness to track back that helped Totton to outnumber those in red-and-black and the threat was nullified.
Max Smith ballooned a shot high over the bar after a left-wing cross was turned away by the Totton defence. Then, Clarke was briefly through on goal from Taylor’s high ball forward, until an awkward bounce prompted a heavy touch that steered him off-course and allowed a defender to get back and make a challenge.
Winchester’s last chance to affect the final score was scuppered when Agberhiere made a timely interception at the edge of Totton’s box. Bennett found Taylor on the right, who fired the last shot of the game wide of the right-hand post.
Watch JIMMY BALL'S Post-Match Interview
Watch TEGA AGBERHIERE'S Post-Match Interview
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Next Up: AFC TOTTON vs POOLE TOWN
Southern League Premier Division South | Matchday#20 | Snows Stadium, Salisbury Road, Totton, Southampton SO40 2RW | Saturday 28 December 2024 | Kick-Off 3:00pm
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Those White Lines
