AFC Totton
PRE-SEASON 2022/23 - MATCHDAY 04
Tuesday 19 July 2022
AFC TOTTON 1
Yemi Odubade 86mins
HAVANT & WATERLOOVILLE 5
Jason Prior 33mins, 38mins; Paul Rooney 56mins, 80mins; Danny Wright 78mins
National League South side Havant & Waterlooville breezed into the Snows Stadium on the hottest day since records began and melted AFC Totton away with a scorching five-goal display worthy of a club from two tiers higher up the English Football Pyramid, in Tuesday night’s pre-season friendly.
Stags boss Jimmy Ball opted to use the occasion to look at some tactical alternatives, naming three recognised centre-backs in his starting line-up with Scott Rendell and Brett Williams partnering each other up front.
AFC TOTTON - Starting Line-Up
1. Lloyd THOMAS
2. Pascal KPOHOMOUH
3. Jordan RAGGUETTE
4. Mike CARTER
5. Luke HALLETT
6. Harry MEDWAY
7. Callum BAUGHAN
8. Adam TOMASSO
9. Scott RENDELL
10. Brett WILLIAMS
11. Jake ADAMS
Substitutes
14. Jireh OYEBAMIJI
15. Freddie READ
16. Yemi ODUBADE
17. Lewis WATERFIELD
18. Ethan TAYLOR
19. Michael GREEN
20. Enrique RUSSELL
Havant, wearing all-white, were on the front foot early on. Luke Hallett had to dig the ball out from within his own 6-yard box to clear a dangerous cross from the visitors’ right. Then, Gianni Crichlow broke through Totton’s defensive ranks, forcing Lloyd Thomas to come off his line and save with his legs. And Thomas was called into action again, shortly after, having to snatch the ball up with a Hawks forward ready to swoop, when Mike Carter tried to use his chest to divert a cross back to his keeper but didn’t get strong enough contact on the ball.
Jake Adams showed some nice skill, taking the ball in midfield and turning his marker to advance upon the opposition penalty area. But Havant defended the situation well, even gaining a free-kick out of Adams in his attempt to win the ball back.
Lloyd Thomas was having to endure some good-natured, if slightly potty-mouthed barracking from a small group of Havant fans who (he later explained) he grew up with. Harry Medway was the next to sell the Stags keeper short with an under-strength headed back-pass, but Thomas was able to intervene before the shock-blonde haired centre-forward Danny Wright was able to nick the ball past him.
MIDFIELD GENERAL: Mike Carter takes possession as ex-Saint Oscar Gobern watches on.
Freddie Read’s brother Benny was playing at right-back for Havant & Waterlooville, and he came close to opening the score in the 17th minute with a right-footed effort that flew across goal and too high, after a right-wing set-piece routine. Then, Wright managed to find some space to the left of a crowded penalty area to drive a low shot across Thomas’s goal, missing wide to the right.
Totton were struggling to get out of their own half for sustained periods, and found themselves defending consecutive corners when Callum Baughan first had to head away an edge of the area attempt by James Roberts. Then, Thomas had to punch away a corner delivery from Havant’s left, with blue-shirted bodies getting in the way of two follow-up shots.
Carter and Adam Tomasso both tried to assert themselves in the midfield tussle, succeeding in getting Adams on the ball in more advanced positions. But the young playmaker had his work cut-out trying to weave his way past multiple Havant defenders closing him down from all sides. A quickly taken throw-in by Baughan on the right-hand touchline enabled Adams to square to Tomasso in the middle, and an immediate lay-off had Jordan Ragguette looking to exploit space down the left. But Benny Read stuck to his task well and quashed the chance before the St. Vincentian could get past him.
On 25 minutes, Wright clipped a delicious pass over Medway and into the path of Benny Read, whose early cross struck Pascal Kpohomouh, pulling smart reflexes out of Thomas to stop the ball flying in at the far post.
Havant looked sharper and more alert all over the pitch, often preventing Totton from playing out from the back and giving them little time on the ball inside their own half. Williams and Rendell won a corner on the right for Totton after a good tackle by Carter in midfield. Adams’s delivery was headed out, setting Crichlow and Ragguette in a foot race for the loose ball. They got to it at the same time, but Crichlow’s challenge was stronger and he came away with the ball down the Havant right-wing, with other white shirts racing through the middle to join him on the counter-attack. Mike Carter read the situation and intercepted the cross near the penalty spot to preserve Totton’s clean sheet a little longer.
Medway’s missed header on 28 minutes almost let Wright in on goal behind him, but the Stags defender recovered quickly enough to prevent the forward getting his shot away, amid claims from the player and the Havant fans behind the goal at that end that he’d been fouled and their side should be awarded a penalty.
MY BALL: Jake Adams takes on Havant & Waterlooville skipper Joe Oastler.
At approximately 8:15pm on Tuesday 19 July 2022, the Hampshire-based civil parish of Totton & Eling experienced its first strong breeze for four days, as the bright orange sun hid behind clouds to make conditions much more suitable for a football match. Jake Adams was ready to mark the moment by receiving Kpohomouh’s forward pass deep inside the Havant half, twisting his way through two defenders and taking aim from 25 yards with a left-footed, dipping shot that looped over the crossbar.
The visitors had been the better side, though, and deservedly took the lead in the 33rd minute. A pass played in from deep was flicked on by Wright for Jason PRIOR, who out-paced his man to latch onto the ball with a diagonal run taking him to the right of the penalty spot, his deft finish directing it wide to the left of a stranded Thomas but still inside the far post.
Baughan was sent crashing to the deck by a robust Joe Newton tackle, the Referee ruling that the Havant left-back had taken the ball fairly. But from a free-kick in the same place shortly after, Adams picked out the head of Pascal Kpohomouh whose header looped into the arms of Ross Warner in the Havant goal.
Hallett had to head Crichlow’s right-wing cross behind for a corner. Crichlow received a short pass on the edge of the box, but Baughan got out to him in time to smother his effort. Then, when Williams conceded a free-kick mid-way inside his own half, Kpohomouh had to stretch to divert Critchlow’s cross onto the roof of the net for a corner from the left. Prior got his head to the far post delivery but could only head the ball back across goal and wide.
Havant doubled their lead in the 38th minute with a sweeping team move. Danny Wright, with his back to goal, received the ball to feet inside the centre-circle and laid it off short to Jake McCarthy, who surged past two blue shirts in the middle before steering the ball out to the right-hand side. The lively Gianni Crichlow hit a first-time cross to the penalty spot for Jason PRIOR to thump his header inside the near post. An excellent piece of direct, quick-witted, attacking football.
Within a minute, Totton created their best chance of the first-half. Baughan managed to get forward on the right wing to deliver a high cross to the far side of the penalty spot where Scott Rendell, playing against his previous employers, met the ball with a firm header. Ross Warner, diving to his right, appeared to have already gone past the ball’s flightpath, until he thrust his left arm up to swipe it away, bringing appreciative applause from all around the ground.
Totton continued to look better for the remainder of the half, but good defending by McCarthy shut the door on Adams as he tried to create from the left wing, and the Stags were unable to get on the scoresheet before the break.
HALF-TIME
AFC TOTTON 0
HAVANT & WATERLOOVILLE 2
By the start of the second-half, the conditions had actually turned a little chilly. Havant again started with attacking intent, pressing Totton back, and Medway had to react quickly to clear under pressure when his defensive header from a Havant left-wing cross bounced off Adam Tomasso’s thigh and into a potentially dangerous area.
But when the home side did get forward, Adams was able to pick the pocket of Havant captain Joe Oastler near the right-wing corner flag and drive inward to let fly from a narrow angle, his shot going into the side-netting behind the near post.
Ethan Taylor, who took a heavy knock at Hythe & Dibden last week, came on to replace Brett Williams, and made his presence felt 10 minutes into the second half when he spread the play from the centre to the left wing, where Ragguette took control and curled in a low cross back to the far post for Rendell to shoot first time, the defender doing well to get something in the way to take the sting out of it.
Havant then sent on Paul Rooney in place of Jake McCarthy in midfield, and the newcomer wasted no time in making an impact on the game. Totton had men forward for a corner but the cross was cleared, allowing James Roberts to run clear down the left wing, holding onto the ball for a moment before floating a cross towards the penalty spot, where Paul ROONEY arrived to dart in front of his marker and flick the ball into the far corner with a deft volley on the outside of his right foot.
Totton kept trying to play their football. Ragguette received the ball in a wide left area and charged through two challenges before picking out Baughan on the right-hand side. Short passes between the Stags right-back, Kpohomouh, Carter and Taylor freed Rendell behind the Havant defence to strike a thunderous shot off the underside of the crossbar - but the offside flag would have ruled it out, anyway.
THE SUNBURNT ASSASSIN: Scott Rendell takes aim at the Hawks’ goal.
There then followed a period in which both sides made a number of substitutions, which disrupted the flow of the game. Oastler took exception to a late challenge from Taylor, then Freddie Read was taken down in full flow in central midfield. When they could get forward, Totton found Havant’s offside trap a constant thorn in the side of their attacking ambitions.
Substitute Enrique Russell latched onto Thomas’s clearance from outside his own box, but the Bermudian striker was halted in his forward progress by Benny Read. Then, an ambitious long-range attempt from Lee Suk-jae, a South Korean midfielder on-loan at Havant from Gosport Borough, dipped narrowly over Thomas’s crossbar.
Havant threatened to open Totton up again in the 75th minute when a diagonal pass into the box was brought down by Roberts with an exquisite first touch. He made room for himself with Medway trying to get to him, but his finish didn’t match his touch and the ball trickled wide to the left.
Russell was spoken to by the Referee, after taking a tumble on the edge of the Havant area in search of a free-kick or penalty. A mistake by Havant sub Leon Baker, who trod on the ball, allowed another Totton sub Yemi Odubade to scamper away to the byline and square the ball short to the near post. Taylor arrived to apply the finish but steered the ball wide of the right-hand upright.
Totton were the architects of their own downfall 12 minutes from time when Luke Hallett’s pass out of defence deflected off a white shirt and landed at the feet of James Roberts. He slipped Lee in behind the Stags defence. Thomas managed to force him wide of the left-hand post, but the 19-year-old from Seoul kept his composure to turn on the ball and square it to the feet of Danny WRIGHT for an easy finish from close range. Wright had been a constant threat all night, particularly with his link-up play when dropping deep and his aerial presence, and deserved to get his name on the scoresheet.
And the visitors weren’t done, yet. Within two minutes, they made it 5-0 when Wright laid the ball off to Roberts on the left. He passed infield to ex-Saint Oscar Gobern just outside the D, and he helped it one a little further to the right for Paul ROONEY to drive a low shot past Thomas and into the bottom-left corner of the AFC Totton net.
Ethan Taylor tried to make things happen for the hosts, taking on opponents near half-way to utilise Russell on the left flank. But his cross eluded three blue shirts who had all made the run to the middle.
Hallett had to intervene to stop another Havant attack, at the expense of a corner from the left which Wright climbed well between two markers to meet on the back-post, but he couldn’t keep his header down. Rooney almost had himself a hat-trick when Wright and Roberts both dummied the ball coming across from the right-hand side to leave him free to strike the ball across goal from the left of the area, but he dragged his effort wide.
Totton pulled back a consolation goal four minutes from time, with a move instigated by Freddie Read. His pass enabled Jireh Oyebamiji to move infield from the left flank and slip Taylor in near the penalty spot. Warner tried to stand up to him but Taylor jinked around him to the left. The angle was too tight to finish, so he rolled the ball into the path of Yemi ODUBADE who gobbled up the open goal.
Havant saw out the match with a spot of keep ball, Totton headed crosses away when they came but unable to take any more meaningful possession against an impressively well-organised higher division club.
CONSOLATION GOAL: New Stags forward Yemi Odubade notched his first goal since arriving at the Snows Stadium.
After the match, Jimmy Ball told AFC Totton TV:
“Pre-season is about the players being fitter after every game. We’ve made some errors for goals tonight, but that wakes everybody up. I thought Havant & Waterlooville were fantastic in what they did - very, very organised and caused us problems. But we caused our own problems. There were a few good performances and a few good spells for us. But it’s about peaking at the right time and being ready for the league. Ethan Taylor returned tonight after what was a really poor tackle in an earlier game that could have been his season - he’s a bit sore but he’s come through it.
“I’ve changed the team in every game and looked for a couple of different systems. I haven’t played what I see in my mind as the team yet, that I was putting together in my head while signing players in the summer. We’re going to continue with our conditioning, so we peak at the right time. We still have a lot of work to do - a few of the players tonight would have seen that they’re a bit behind, fitness-wise, especially behind Havant & Waterlooville, so the lads have to look at that and decide whether they’re willing to go through a bit of pain, and have a bit of grit, to get to a level where their footballing ability will match.”
View AFC Totton’s fixture list for the 2022/23 season
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
