AFC Totton
MANGOS SWEEP AWAY LACKLUSTRE STAGS
Mangotsfield United 3-0 AFC Totton Attendance – 157
The Stags travelled to Bristol this afternoon in search of their second away win of the season, having won 2 out of their last 3. Missing from Wayne Mew’s squad were Mike Gosney, Nathaniel Sherborne, Dave Allen and Pat Wilson.
The game started off fairly even with both sides offering an early threat. First, for The Stags, Dan Munday lost his man but could only fire Nick Watts’ cross over the bar. Then it was Mangos turn, although the ball was eventually punched away by Mowthorpe following a corner. Stags captain Liam Hibberd was called upon to clear off the line after Mangotsfield had gotten in behind the defence, but in general the opening exchanges were fairly even, with both sides tussling for possession and the upper hand in the contest.
The first real shot in anger came after 20 minutes, when Kerry Morgan tested Mowthorpe from distance, but it was gathered comfortably by The Stags’ stopper. After a good save, just a minute later Stags supporters hearts were in their mouths as Mowthorpe skewed a clearance straight to Mangos hitman Lewis Powell, who fired back against the upright ultimately letting Totton off.
However, in the 25th minute, Powell was to have his way. After picking up the ball on the edge of the area, POWELL got himself in a good position to shoot and found the bottom left hand corner with a tidy finish. The Stags responded fairly well and managed a short but unsustained spell of pressure, which included some nice interchanges of passing, but nobody could get a shot away at goal to end the spell the visitors had. With 30 minutes gone, Morgan again had a go from distance and yet again, he saw his dipping volley gathered by Mowthorpe. By now, Mangotsfield were more or less in control, pushing The Stags back in their own half for the most part and the pressure soon told as Mangos and Powell added their 2nd. After Matt Groves did well to skip his way past challenges flying in from Totton’s defence, his shot was saved well by Mowthorpe, but the rebound fell straight to POWELL who could make no mistake.
As the afternoon wore on, it looked as though Powell was determined to get his hat-trick (to no avail) and 4 minutes from the break, he shot from a tight angle, but could only find the side netting. The Stags ended the half on a more positive note. Watts swung in a free kick, which ended up on the edge of the area with Charlie Gunson and his shot was deflected wide for a corner which came to nothing. HT 2-0
Totton came out and started the first few minutes of the second half fairly well. Nick Watts managed to pressurise the home defence into conceding a corner, but Shaun Semmens, the Mangos keeper managed to parry the ball away to safety. Although moments later, Mangos had a corner themselves, which was headed wide by Matt Coupe. Then came Totton’s best opportunity of the game in the 53rd minute. Ian Oliver managed to force his way down the left wing and put in a good cross that was met by Watts at the back post, he caught the ball okay but unfortunately the chance went begging as he fired wide. From that point on, it was Mangotsfield’s afternoon.
The home side really took the sting out of the game and the whole affair became very flat – again – suiting the home side. The next chance of note fell to Olly Mehew who got free of his man, but his shot from a tight angle ran all the way past everybody and away from danger. The Stags had another half chance from a corner, as Watts delivered into the area and his cross was met by Jack Vallis, who could only steer the header wide.
Then, after almost pulling his side back into the game, moments later down the other end of the pitch, Vallis tangled with an opponent and appeared to push him to the floor, the referee then duly sent the big central defender for an early bath. Even down to 10 men, The Stags battled away and managed to have another half opportunity as Declan McCarthy picked the ball up on the edge of the area and looked to curl a left footed shot into the far right hand corner, it was a good effort, but lacked pace and power to beat Semmens. The Stags made a couple of substitutions to try and shake the game up, but it just wasn’t to be. McCarthy and Munday made way for Hellyer and Knight, but unfortunately neither could make the desired impact in the game, especially being a man short.
Mowthorpe kept Totton in with a shout with 10 minutes on the clock with a fantastic save at point blank range from Powell who was still on the hunt for a hat-trick. The Mangos 3rd and final goal came with just 7 minutes left on the clock. A ball came in from the left hand side and looked to be a fairly routine catch for MOWTHORPE to make, but the slick conditions allowed the ball to squirm away from him and into the back of the net to seal Mangotsfield’s victory. Although in injury time, The Stags had another couple of opportunities to pull a goal back. Firstly, Ian Oliver carried the ball into a decent position before letting fly from all of 30 yards, but the shot went over and finally, the impressive Gunson shot at goal, Ashley Jarvis tried to direct it goal wards, but in reality it was easy for Semmens to claim. FT 3-0
There can be no real complaints from The Stags about today’s result. Although there was a couple of half chances, there wasn’t enough done to be able to take anything from the game. Totton suffered from missing so many senior 1st team players this weekend and of course the current managerial situation must be difficult to contend with.
Stags Lineup: Mowthorpe, Hunt, Hibberd (c), Williams, Vallis, Oliver, Watts, Gunson, Munday**, Jarvis, McCarthey*.
Subs: Knight**, Hellyer*, Haynes, Ockwell
Match report by Adi Rose
