AFC Totton
VENUE:
Snows Stadium, Salisbury Road, Totton, Southampton SO40 2RW
THE STAGS HAVE A DATE with Dorchester at the Snows Stadium on Satruday, as they look to bounce back from defeat.
Last time out, Totton lost 0-1 at Hanwell Town, despite having two goals disallowed for offside and two efforts cleared off the line. A tough one to take in West London.
DORCHESTER TOWN – THEIR SEASON SO FAR:
Dorchester began the league season with the visit of Havant & Waterlooville, and they managed to get a point from the newly-relegated side. They drew again in their second game, against Tiverton Town away, with Olaf Koszela scoring in both games. A 0-2 defeat followed at Basingstoke Town, but they bounced back to win versus a high-flying Gloucester City side and then held Winchester City to a 0-0 draw in Hampshire.
After an exit in the First Qualifying Round of the FA Cup to Banbury United, Dorchester won three consecutive home games at their own Avenue Stadium, beating Frome Town 4-0, AFC Totton 3-2 and Chertsey 3-1. That fine form continued with a penalty shoot-out success over Tiverton Town in Third Round Qualifying for the Isuzu FA Trophy. A draw with Marlow followed, before a handsome 5-1 away win at Sholing.
But Dorchester’s season hit a sticky patch in mid-October that ran through to the end of November, in which they won just won of nine games, drawing five and losing three, including the FA Trophy First Round tie the Snows Stadium, which saw The Stags win 1-0. Those five draws all came in a row, and actually sparked an unbeaten run which lasted for 14 more games in which they won seven and drew seven, before losing 0-3 to Hanwell Town.
This left The Magpies in a Play-Off spot, which they still currently occupy despite a loss to Gosport Borough but with two wins in their last two outings against Chertsey Town and Marlow – the latter a 6-0 mauling that featured a hat-trick from second-half substitute and debutant Brett Pitman.
AFC TOTTON – LAST FIVE:
Merthyr Town (Home) | SLPDS | Drew 1-1
Wimborne Town (Away) | SLPDS | Lost 1-3
Chertsey Town (Away) | SLPDS | Won 2-1
Bracknell Town (Home) | SLPDS | Won 2-0
Hanwell Town (Away) | SLPDS | Lost 0-1
DORCHESTER TOWN – LAST FIVE:
Taunton Town (Away) | SLPDS | Drew 1-1
Hanwell Town (Away) | SLPDS | Lost 0-3
Gosport Borough (Home) | SLPDS | Lost 0-2
Chertsey Town (Away) | SLPDS | Won 1-0
Marlow (Home) | SLPDS | Won 6-0
IN THE REVERSE FIXTURE…
AFC TOTTON suffered their first Southern League Premier Division South defeat of the season following a lacklustre display at The Avenue in Dorset against Dorchester Town that saw them beaten 3-2.
The Magpies still found themselves behind at the break due to the ball rebounding kindly for Charlie AUSTIN to tuck home his third goal in three games. Olaf KOSZELA equalised from the penalty spot on 56 minutes, after Declan Rose tripped Shaquille Gwengwe. And Olaf KOSZELA added a second three minutes later when he was allowed to drift infield from the left and fire into the bottom corner. Wayne ROBINSON ran onto a through-ball to extend the home side’s lead off the inside of the left post in the 68th minute. Austin had a chance to reduce the arrears when he ran through on goal from Tony Lee’s lay-off but fired wide. And although Scott RENDELL pulled one back with a header six minutes into stoppage time, converting a high left-wing cross from ex-Magpie Marcus Daws, Dorchester Town held on to win by the odd goal in five.
STAGS RADIO:
Not able to be at the Snows on Saturday? You can listen to coverage from all of the action via the StagsRadio space on our official X account. Build-up for the game will begin at 2:45pm with LIVE radio commentary starting when the match kicks-off at 3:00pm. Commentary will be provided by Benjy Rees and Josh Cole.
By Joshua Cole
#GoStags
