AFC Totton
CITY of SOUTHAMPTON SUNDAY FOOTBALL LEAGUE Div.1
Matchday #5
AFC TOTTON SUNDAY 5
Tom Rafferty 4mins; Nathan Gray 10mins, 13mins; Jason Calcutt 17mins; Mike MacLeod 45mins
CHAMBERLAYNE ATH. SUNDAY 0
In what was arguably the biggest match in the history of the AFC Totton Sunday team, the Sunday Stags faced the only other side in the City of Southampton Sunday Football League Div.1 with a 100% record for the 2021/22 season to date, and they emerged triumphant with an exhilarating performance based on diligent preparation and team togetherness.
Prior to today, Chamberlayne Athletic Sunday had not tasted defeat in any league match for almost two years, while Totton - who were known as AFC Forestlake last season, before being taken under the wing of the Southern League club during the summer - had, in the same period, only been beaten once, after their promotion from Division 2 had already been secured.
This week was already a memorable one in the household of Totton manager Sam Conway, who, with his partner Abbie, welcomed the slightly-overdue arrival of their son, Ralph - the future Southampton & England striker weighing in at a bonny 8lb just in time to help Mum cheer Dad's team on to victory. But with the aid of Assistant Manager Marc Watts, Conway did not allow his charges to be distracted from this "must win" encounter, ensuring they all arrived well before kick-off to be put through their paces in an intense warm-up session.
WARM-UP: AFC Totton Sunday prepare to take on Chamberlayne Athletic.
AFC TOTTON SUNDAY
Starting Line-Up
1. Leon TATAVOSSIAN
2. Luke SCOULER
3. Simon ROWSON
4. Tom RAFFERTY
5. Dan GAIN
6. Jason CALCUTT
7. Lewis GUNDRY
8. Jordan CANNING
9. Matt HARRINGTON
10. Nathan GRAY
11. Tom MUNDAY
Substitutes
13. Michael MacLEOD
14. Jay BRADING
16. Josh CAREY
Buoyed by the presence of a strong swell of friends and local residents who had answered the call on Facebook to come and lend their support, AFC Totton Sunday kicked-off in their now familiar blue-and-white kit, attacking towards the Hammonds Lane allotments.
Despite the absences of the injured pair of goalkeeper Mitch Coleman and central midfielder Gary Bagley, the home side had their tails up from the very start. First, Lewis Gundry, wearing the captain's armband, went close with a long-range volley after Chamberlayne goalkeeper Rhys Griffiths' underhit clearance left him vulnerable to being lobbed. Then, winger Jordan Canning fed Nathan Gray in the inside-right channel and he flashed his angled shot narrowly over the crossbar.
Clever link-up play between Canning and Tom Munday down the Totton left in the 4th minute created another shooting opportunity for Gundry, but his effort was deflected wide of the left-hand upright for a corner. Gray's in-swinging cross bounced in the middle of the 6-yard box and, with Dan Gain charging in to add to the confusion, the ball bounced up and hit Tom RAFFERTY on the knee and diverted past Griffiths for the opening goal.
HEADS UP: Nathan Gray takes a corner for AFC Totton Sunday vs Chamberlayne Athletic Sunday.
It was a dream start to the match for Totton but they were not about to rest on their laurels. Centre-forward Matt Harrington's flick-on bounced back to him via a defender, so he played the ball out to Canning on the right. He took a touch to size up the situation and then let fly with a strong shot that sailed over the bar.
Stunned by the early onslaught, Chamberlayne didn't manage a shot on the Totton goal until the 9th minute, and even then, Gundry managed to get his body in the way enough to take the sting out of the shot to make it easy for makeshift keeper Leon Tatavossian to save.
Then, in the 10th minute, a Chamberlayne corner from the right was headed out by Rafferty and helped on its way by Gundry. His flick on released Tom Munday to lead a rapid counterattack down the left wing. He advanced to a position level with the edge of the penalty area and played in a low cross, which was slightly behind Canning and was prodded out by a defender. But Nathan GRAY ran onto the loose ball and, from 18 yards, curled it past Griffiths with the inside of his right foot into the bottom-right corner.
Enthused by a tremendous start to such an important encounter, the AFC Totton Sunday players started to enjoy themselves, while still revelling in the focus, hard work and unified engagement required to overwhelm a team of Chamberlayne Athletic's undoubted quality.
In the 12th minute, the Stags strike partners Matt Harrington and Nathan Gray probed the left side of the visitors' defence, who did well to intervene. But a minute later, Harrington positioned himself under a long ball and flicked it on for Gray to chase. With two defenders for company, Nathan GRAY managed to wrong foot both of them and slide the ball beyond Griffiths to make it 3-0 to Totton.
Somewhat shellshocked, Chamberlayne staggered forward far enough to win a free-kick 20 yards from the Totton goal, to the left of centre. Midfielder Brad Johnson struck his effort well but Tatavossian managed to save it with his feet, at the expense of a corner that was subsequently cleared. Then, Tatavossian's long punt upfield tempted Griffiths to rush out from his goal to attempt a clearing header, only to send the ball straight up into the air, leaving himself with no choice but to scramble back into position as Gray took control and hit a shot that was deflected wide by a covering defender.
Then, on 17 minutes, Totton pressed home their advantage when Tom Munday's throw-in from the left touchline caused confusion in the Chamberlayne defensive ranks and Jason CALCUTT struck a left-footed half volley from the edge of the penalty area against the right-hand post and into the back of the net, for 4-0.
ALL SMILES: A beaming Tom Munday leads the celebrations of another goal vs Chamberlayne Athletic Sunday.
Chamberlayne tried but they just could not find a foothold in the match. They were shut down at every turn, whether it was Gundry and Calcutt hassling them out of possession in central midfield, Harrington dropping deep from his forward position to get stuck in or full-backs Luke Scouler and Simon Rowson refusing to give an inch to their opponents on the flanks, with Munday and Canning ever-willing to lead the Charge of the Light Brigade on the counterattack.
They did manage a couple of attempts on Tatavossian's goal, though. Rafferty did well to clear a dangerous looking cross from the left wing with a diving header at the near post, after some skilful wing play by the visitors. Then, Chamberlayne's James Johnson was unfortunate to see his well-struck angled drive from the right diverted wide by the goalkeeper's right shin.
Gray twice went close to completing his hat-trick in the 33rd minute. Tatavossian, who usually plays as a midfielder, hit an early clearance over the Chamberlayne defence but Griffiths came out to claim the ball before Gray could connect. Then, the livewire striker latched onto Harrington's flick on, twisting his marker into knots before firing over the bar from around the penalty spot.
It took two Chamberlayne defenders just to foul Matt Harrington, in the 35th minute, to the left of the centre-circle. Gray's beautifully floated delivery dropped over the defender's head at the back post and Dan Gain, impressively sneaky for a man of 6'7", ghosted in but glanced his header wide when he should have hit the target.
A strong tackle by Jordan Canning on half-way forced the ball down the right wing to Gray, who centred for Matt Harrington. The defender's intervention only redirected the ball to Tom Munday and his shot from 20 yards was well saved by Griffiths, catching the ball above his head. Canning stayed down and, after brief treatment, had to be withdrawn with an injury to be replaced by AFC Totton Sunday debutant, Mike MacLeod, a former Athletico Romsey teammate of Munday and Rafferty who signed for the Stags on Thursday.
Chamberlayne forced a corner when a low 25-yard shot was deflected wide, but found themselves on the back foot again when Totton sprung another energetic counterattack, that only a last ditch interception prevented the home side from further capitalising upon. Then, Calcutt put Munday in behind the right-back to shoot for the near post area, but Griffiths reacted quickly to save.
Tom Munday was involved again, on the stroke of half-time, receiving possession in the centre and playing the ball forward to Gray. With two defenders to contend with, Nathan Gray showed good ball control skills and composure to find his new teammate on the right-hand side, and, shifting the ball onto his left-foot, AFC Totton Sunday debutant Mike MACLEOD fired across Griffiths' and into the bottom-left corner of the net, to send his new team in at the break 5-goals-to-the-good - a late booking for Brad Johnson for a late shoulder charge on Munday, born more out of frustration than malice, doing nothing to dampen the home team's enthusiasm during a spirited half-time team talk.
HALF-TIME
AFC TOTTON SUNDAY 5
CHAMBERLAYNE ATH. SUNDAY 0
Sam Conway and skipper Lewis Gundry were ebullient in their praise of the team's attitude and application during an excellent first-half display. But the whole team agreed that Chamberlayne have a lot more footballing talent than they had shown, so there was an emphasis on guarding against complacency and continuing to do their jobs properly throughout the team.
To their credit, Chamberlayne demonstrated greater resolve during the second half and, despite the occasional verbal spat that is commonplace in Sunday League, they never allowed their disappointment or frustration to get the better of their attempts to play football. But Totton, having put themselves in such a commanding position, were not in a gift-giving mood, continuing to hunt the ball in midfield and challenge for every fifty-fifty, all over the park. And so, while the first 45 minutes had been a joyous display of attacking football by the Stags, in the second period they were content to contain their opponents and to protect what they had, rather than going Gung Ho for more goals and risk leaving themselves open to any kind of fightback.
HE'S A KEEPER: Leon Tatavossian struts his stuff between the sticks for AFC Totton Sunday.
Brad Johnson had a couple of speculative long-range efforts that didn't trouble Tatavossian, and then, in the 62nd minute, he was about to try his luck again when Luke Scouler made a lunging tackle that sent the Chamberlayne midfielder tumbling and earned Scouler a yellow card. Johnson picked himself up to take the free-kick, but curled it over the bar from 25 yards out.
Hat-trick hunting Nathan Gray was denied by a well-timed sliding tackle, as he looked to latch onto an incisive through-ball from the left-hand side by Munday. Then, a Chamberlayne raid down the left-wing had Totton players throwing themselves into the line of fire, an eventual snapshot going wide of the left-hand post.
As a largely uneventful second half entered its last 10 minutes, the voice of Tom Rafferty could be heard cajoling his teammates into maintaining their concentration, but they had little more to deal with defensively than watch Chamberlayne constantly overhit crosses out of harm's way.
There was a late flourish of attacking play by the home side. Simon Rowson got forward down the left wing and centred for Matt Harrington to finish, only to be flagged offside. Then, Harrington was denied again by the goalkeeper's legs, after a similar move had momentarily run aground within a crowd of defenders. Substitute Josh Carey headed wide at the back post, after Gundry and Munday combined in midfield to enable Munday to send over an inviting in-swinging cross from the right-hand side.
ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK: Jordan Canning (near side, blue) and Tom Munday (right) lead an assault on the Chamberlayne Athletic goal, with Matt Harrington in support.
And the dynamic Tom Munday picked up possession inside his own half and drove through several opposition midfielders as he advanced down the centre, before spreading the ball out to Harrington on the right wing. His high cross to the back post was headed back across by Carey and, having made it to the front lines, Munday got under the ball to attempt an audacious backwards header that Griffiths had to be alert to catch above his head.
When the referee blew his whistle for full-time, the Sunday Stags faithful afforded their team a well-deserved, loud congratulatory cheer, as AFC Totton Sunday strengthened their position at the top of Division 1 with a maximum haul of 15 points from 5 matches. Thank you to everyone who turned out to support the team today - your encouragement was much appreciated by the players and touchline team, alike.
Man of the Match: Tom MUNDAY and Jason CALCUTT
AFC Totton Sunday would like to thank our sponsors Gentlemen's League Barbers and Hurst Auto Assistance for their invaluable ongoing support.
Match Report: Ben ROCHEY-ADAMS
