AFC Totton
Buy tickets online | Take advantage of our 3-FOR-2 offer covering our first three pre-season friendlies - scroll down more information
PORTSMOUTH-BASED OUTFIT Baffins Milton Rovers will provide the opposition for AFC Totton’s first pre-season fixture of 2023, when the two sides meet at Totton & Eling’s Miller Park ground on Saturday 01 July.
Baffins is an administrative district located on the eastern side of Portsea Island in the PO3 postal area. Baffins Milton Rovers Football Club was formed as recently as 2011, when two Sunday League clubs – Baffins Milton and Milton Rovers – who had enjoyed success in the Portsmouth Dockyard and Meon Valley Leagues, amalgamated and entered the Premier Division of the Portsmouth Saturday League, winning the title in their first season. Two years later, they finished runners-up to Waterlooville Social Club and were granted entry into the Hampshire League.
In just 11 seasons – two of which, remember, were all but cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic – the club have racked up an impressive haul of eight trophies, including two Hampshire Premier League Senior Division Championship titles and two Wessex League Cups, the most recent of which they collected in May with a 4-2 defeat of Petersfield Town in the final at AFC Portchester’s Wicor Recreation Ground.
For each of the last two seasons, Baffins have found themselves grouped among the Best of the Rest in the Wessex League Premier Division while a handful of others teams have opened up big gaps at the top end of the table. In 2021/22, they finished 8th with 66 points from 40 matches, some 33 points behind the runaway Champions Hamworthy United. And it was a similar tale last season; 63 points from 38 matches was enough to secure 7th place, but 29 points separated Portchester in 4th from Moneyfields in 5th.
Baffins were originally going to host the friendly against AFC Totton at their own PMC Stadium, located on the waterfront in the northern section of the Langstone Harbour Sports Ground, but ongoing construction work on the changing rooms required an alternative venue to be sought. Totton’s own Snows Stadium is still bedding in the newly-laid grass pitch. However, a short delay in the construction of a new 4G pitch at Miller Park provides a window of opportunity for Jimmy Ball’s men to get the pre-season campaign underway very close to home.
In addition to ground improvements, Baffins Milton Rovers have recently strengthened their off-pitch image, too, with the release of a new, modern-looking club badge. The roundel design features a Man of War-style ship in black silhouette floating on a light blue sea. The familiar eight-pointed star and crescent moon, which feature both on the crest of Portsmouth Football Club and on the city’s Coat of Arms, is including within the blue outer roundel that also contains the club’s name.
The match will also provide a first run-out in a Stags shirt for new signings Sam Magri, an experienced defender, and the young former Dorchester Town striker, Alfie Stanley. Midfielder Owen Pelham will be coming up against his former club, having been inducted into men’s football while with Baffins, prior to enrolling on the PRO:DIRECT Academy course at the Snows Stadium. Striker Harrison Cable, who had a brief spell with AFC Totton in the 2021/22 season before moving to Lymington Town, has also represented both teams.
Take advantage of our fabulous 3-FOR-2 offer to save money on tickets for AFC Totton's first three pre-season friendlies, covering the games against Baffins Milton Rovers, Volta Sports and Totton & Eling in the Linden Cup, all at Miller Park - and come support The Stags into the new season.
By Ben Rochey-Adams
