AFC Totton
HAMPSHIRE COMBINATION & DEVELOPMENT FOOTBALL LEAGUE | U23 PREMIER DIVISION
Wednesday 25 September 2024 | Bob Lucas Stadium, Weymouth, Dorset | Att: ~70
TOTTON TERRORISE TERRAS ON THEIR OWN TURF
WEYMOUTH U23s 1
Marcus Smith 53mins
AFC TOTTON U23s 7
Connor Bent 10mins, 44mins, 55mins, 62mins;
Owen Pelham 82mins, 87mins;
Remus Nixon 83mins
FOUR GOALS FROM CONNOR BENT helped AFC Totton U23s to climb to the top of the Hampshire Combination & Development Football League U23 Premier Division with a thumping 7-1 win at Weymouth’s Bob Lucas Stadium.
Totton attacked from the start. Pelham fed Blair on the right, who twisted and turned to make enough space to curl in a cross that a defender did well to head away before Bent could complete a close-range finish. Then, Blair intercepted a poor back-pass to force a corner, from which Rew’s cross was sent wide by Bent’s diving header.
Taylor’s perseverence ensured the visitors won the ball midway inside their own half in the 10th minute, and Pelham hooked forward. Nixon laid off to Blair on the right, whose angled pass freed Connor BENT to attack the inside-left and shoot under the ‘keeper.
Blair had a shot blocked during a spell in which Totton had a succession of corners on either flank. Stags ‘keeper Evans had to dive full-length to push away a dangerous cross from the Weymouth left. Then, from a Weymouth corner, Totton countered and Blair fired over from a tight angle on the right when he might have pulled it back.
Lutumba and Nixon combined down the left-wing touchline. Nixon’s low cross to the near post was steered narrowly wide by Bent. Then, Lutumba fired into the side-netting behind the left-hand post from just inside the box.
Totton deservedly extended their lead shortly before half-time. The Weymouth ‘keeper miss-hit a kicked clearance and his side struggled to recover their shape, as Bennett stood strong to reclaim the ball in the Totton half and Pelham’s pass played Connor BENT in to dart between the last defender and the ‘keeper to roll the ball home.
Evans made the first save of the second half, parrying a shot that was heading into his top-left corner. But Weymouth halved the deficit on 53 minutes, when Marcus SMITH met a cross from ex-Totton striker Jake Scrimshaw to fire home from a tight angle.
Totton’s two-goal cushion was restored within two minutes. Substitute Zach Earley swept the ball down the left wing and Bent wrestled possession away from a defender who was trying to let it run out for a throw, and advanced diagonally toward goal. As a covering defender closed in, Connor BENT kept his composure as he entered the six-yard box and fired into the roof of the net to complete his hat-trick.
Nixon went close with a low shot across goal from the edge of the area, then Earley tried his luck with a 30-yard bouncer that went narrowly wide. All Hell broke loose when Weymouth took exception to a Pelham challenge, which the referee deemed to have been a fair tackle. Pushing, shoving and even some fisticuffs (allegedly) ensued, resulting in one Weymouth player receiving a second yellow card to be sent off, while a teammate was sent to the Sin Bin, giving Totton a temporary two-man advantage.
The Stags immediately twisted the knife. A long shot by Blair was parried into the path of Connor BENT, who held off his marker and poked home his fourth goal of the night.
The Sin-Binner was back on the pitch by the time captain Owen PELHAM arrived in splendid isolation at the far post to fire home Nixon’s left-wing cross, after the centre-forward received Rew’s pass and spun away from his marker at the corner of the box.
McGivney dribbled to the left-wing byline and pulled back for Remus NIXON to strike home Totton’s sixth goal from close range. Then, three minutes from the end, Mason Redwood’s cross from the left looped off a defender’s head and dropped perfectly for Owen PELHAM to steer into the bottom-left corner with a right-footed volley.
Watch AFC Totton U23s Manager HARRY BROOKWELL'S Post-Match Interview
Next Up for the U23s: AFC TOTTON U23s vs WEYMOUTH U23s
Hampshire Combination & Development Football League | U23 Premier Division | Snows Stadium, Salisbury Road, Totton, Southampton SO40 2RW | Wednesday 02 October 2024 | Kick-Off 7:45pm
By Ben Rochey-Adams
