AFC Totton
Purchase your tickets online now now and save: https://afctotton.ticketco.events/uk/en
TOTTON ENTERTAIN POOLE TOWN in their second home game of the 2023/24 season, hoping to get back to winning ways after the weekend’s defeat to Salisbury. Poole are a non-league team with a rich history, so let’s find out a bit more about them…
THE BASICS
Poole Football Club came about as the result of an 1890 merger between Poole Rovers FC and Poole Hornets FC, both of whom had been in existence since 1880. Financial problems caused the liquidation of the club in May 1930, but within two weeks Poole Town Football Club was created and were accepted to the Western League in time for the 1930/31 season. They play home matches at the 2,500-capacity Tatnam Ground in Dorset. Poole is located on the Dorset coast, hence the club’s nickname is The Dolphins.
HAVE THEY GENERALLY BEEN SUCCESSFUL?
Poole Town have an honours list as long as your arm. They have won the Dorset Senior Cup 18 times and been runners-up on 19 occasions. Since the 1999/2000 season, they have climbed from the Hampshire League Division One, up through the Wessex League and into Step 3, with a brief spell one step higher in the National League South for two seasons from 2016/17.
HOW DID THEY GET ON LAST SEASON?
The Dolphins finished fourth in the Southern League Premier Division South table last season, with 80 points from 42 games. However, they missed out on promotion when Truro City beat them in the Play-Off Semi-Final.
HAVE AFC TOTTON PLAYED THEM RECENTLY?
The two sides haven’t played each other since the 2014/15 season, when Poole won 4-1 at Totton in a cup tie. But that was only The Dolphins second win over The Stags in 11 matches, of which Totton won seven. Totton’s biggest win came at the very beginning of that sequence in 1999/2000, when goals from Kevin Reacord, Andy Gray, Alex Totten and Steve Hartley led The Stags to a 4-1 home win in the Second Round of the Russell-Cotes Cup.
WHO IS THEIR MANAGER?
Poole’s manager is Tom Killick, who is coming up on 20 years in the job having taken on the role in May 2004. He was a prolific striker during a playing career that saw him named as Wimborne Town’s Player of the Year during their FA Vase-winning season of 1991/92. Tony was an Assistant Manager at Salisbury City before taking on the managerial hotseat at Poole, where he guided The Dolphins to promotion in his first season on his way to establishing Poole as a powerhouse team in the Wessex Premier Division. They won three titles before eventually being promoted to the Southern League South & West in 2011/12, which they won the following season while continuing to regularly collect Dorset Senior Cups.
DO WE HAVE PAST PLAYERS IN COMMON?
Defender Jamie Whisken was one of several players who left AFC Totton to go to Poole in the summer of 2013 having been with the club since 2009, making 188 appearances and scoring 21 goals. Jamie was a product of the AFC Bournemouth Academy and played for The Cherries first team in a League Cup tie against Wigan Athletic. He also played for Basingstoke Town, Bognor Regis Town and Farnborough. He is The Dolphins’ skipper.
Striker Tony Lee was Poole’s top scorer with 34 league goals in 2021/22, despite missing a couple of months due to injury. Last season, he notched 24 league goals. Tony lists Wimborne Town, Eastleigh, AFC Totton and Weymouth among his former clubs. He had two spells with Totton, the first while on loan from Eastleigh in 2015. He only played three games but scored two hat-tricks; one against Bashley in a 7-2 win over Bashley in the Red Insure Cup and the other against Burnham in a 5-1 away win in the league. His second spell was also as a loanee, this time from Poole. He made 29 appearances and scored 12 goals, including another hat-trick at Burnham in November 2017 in a 3-1 victory.
WHEN AND WHERE IS THE GAME?
The game takes place at the Snows Stadium on Salisbury Road in Totton SO40 2RW. Kick-off is at 7:45pm. Purchase your tickets online now now and save: https://afctotton.ticketco.events/uk/en
By Ben Rochey-Adams and Malcolm Tombs (Club Historian)
