AFC Totton
VENUE:
Snows Stadium, Salisbury Road, Totton, Southampton SO40 2RW
Saturday 07 September 2024 | Kick-Off at 3:00pm
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BASINGSTOKE TOWN BRING THEIR UNBEATEN Southern League Premier Division South record to the Snows Stadium tomorrow for an early-season top-of-the-table clash with Jimmy Ball’s AFC Totton.
Third-placed ‘Stoke sit two points behind the league-leading Stags, with Walton & Hersham sandwiched in-between despite their opening day defeat alongside Salisbury Road on Saturday 10 August.
Dan Brownlie’s Basingstoke kicked-off their campaign with an away win at Plymouth Parkway, in which they came from behind to triumph 3-1. They followed that up three days later with a 3-0 home win over Swindon Supermarine and made it three wins from three with a 2-0 home success against Dorchester Town on Saturday 17 August.
Their first dropped points of the 2024/25 season came at Privett Park, in a game they led 2-0 and 3-1 before eventually being pegged back by Gosport Borough for a 3-3 draw. Ex-Stags’ striker Alfie Stanley scored twice for the home side, including the 85th-minute equaliser. Basingstoke also drew their next league game on Bank Holiday Monday, despite taking the lead within the first two minutes at home to Bracknell Town, for whom Jordan Esprit levelled just before half-time.
Like Totton, Basingstoke’s FA Cup run proved to be much shorter than they would have liked. Goals from Sholing’s Charlie Gunson, Dan Wort and the ever-reliable Dan Mason swept ‘Stoke aside on their own Winklebury Football Complex ground in a 1-3 defeat.
This weekend’s game will provide an opportunity for both managers to demand their players produce improved performances to remedy their early cup exits and to get their season back on track, as soon as possible. And after a week in which both Totton’s first team and the FA Cup Youth side have gone out of their respective versions of the oldest cup competition in World football, a home victory would be well-timed, not just to lift the spirits of the camp but also to mark the birthday of boss Ball, who turned 49 on Wednesday. He celebrated by watching AFC Totton U23s win handsomely at Dorchester Town in their Hampshire Combination & Development Football League U23 Premier Division encounter, in which several players on the fringes of the first team were involved.
Last season’s first meeting between Basingstoke and Totton took place in North Hampshire, on the 3G surface at Winklebury, in that same early-season Bank Holiday Monday slot. Defensive errors cost The Stags dearly in a 2-3 defeat, despite goals from Sam Magri – his first for the club – and that man Alfie Stanley. In the return match at the Snows Stadium on Boxing Day, Totton appeared to be coasting to a routine victory at 2-0-up, courtesy of a Leon Maloney goal and a Scott Rendell penalty. But two goals in three minutes shortly after the hour mark saw ‘Stoke leave with a share of the spoils.
While the first and third-placed teams lock horns on the South Coast tomorrow, second-placed Walton & Hersham will travel to Plymouth Parkway, who are yet to record their first league win of the 2024/25 season. Fourth-placed Gloucester City travel to Marlow, while Poole Town in fifth go to Swindon Supermarine.
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By Ben Rochey-Adams
