AFC Totton
HAMPSHIRE COMBINATION & DEVELOPMENT FOOTBALL LEAGUE
U23 PREMIER DIVISION
Tuesday 20 August 2024 | Stoneham Football Complex, Stoneham Lane, Eastleigh
UNDER-23s MAKE WINNING START TO HAMPSHIRE COMBI CAMPAIGN
AFC STONEHAM U23s 0
AFC TOTTON U23s 2
Ebenezar Asare-Akoto 83mins;
Jack McGivney 85mins
AFC TOTTON U23s: 1. Nico TROJANOWSKI; 2. Leo TAYLOR; 3. Joshua OWERS; 4. Ollie ERDINC; 5. Logan LAIRD; 6. Luke BENNETT; 7. Harvey REW; 8. Owen PELHAM (Capt.); 9. Connor BENT; 10. Sa-Sean LUTUMBA; 17. Ethan TAYLOR. Substitutes (Rolling Substitutions): 12. Zachariah EARLEY; 14. Mason REDWOOD; 15. Jack McGIVNEY; 16. Ebenezar ASARE-AKOTO.
AFC TOTTON’S NEW UNDER-23 team made a winning start to their Hampshire Combination & Development Football League U23 Premier Division campaign with a 2-0 win at AFC Stoneham at the Stoneham Football Complex, despite an outstanding display from The Purps’ goalkeeper Fletcher Foot.
Bent came out wide to engage with Owers and Taylor, who were building an attack on the left flank, allowing Owers to make a dash to inside-left, where he tried to lift the ball over Fletcher Foot, who nudged it wide for a corner. Bennett took it short, and Pelham headed over under pressure from Erdinc’s clip to the edge of the six-yard box.
Totton were comfortable in possession, knocking the ball around on the 3G surface, as Stoneham filled their own half and awaited opportunities to counter. Their defence of their penalty area was impressive, with several defenders throwing themselves in the way of half chances and the occassional long-shot to protect their goal.
Rew saw a low shot from distance well-saved by Fletcher. Then, Ethan Taylor fell under a challenge from right-back Oliver Bowden, striking his head on the ground. After receiving treatment, he was taken off as a precaution. Rew shot narrowly wide of the right-hand post from a 22-yard free-kick, from right of the D. Then, Pelham had two bites of the cherry from Leo Taylor’s forward run and infield pass, the ball coming back off a defender for Pelham to shoot over the crossbar with his second attempt.
Redwood fed the ball into the near post from the right and Bent evaded a defender’s block to hook it past the post. Then, Bennett found Rew at inside-left whose well-struck effort from 25 yards pulled an excellent save from Fletcher, flying across his goal to push the ball away for a corner. The cross into the box was headed over by Bent.
Stoneham launched a counter-attack on 37 minutes, which was quickly dismantled by a Leo Taylor sliding tackle, coming across from the right to cover for Bennett.
Totton went straight on the attack in the second-half, Lutumba’s low centre fizzing across goal and wide of the far post. Then, a partially-cleared corner fell to Erdinc, whose half-volley veered narrowly over and wide of the top-right corner.
Bent tested Fletcher with a 22-yard shot, which the goalkeeper gathered to his chest. Then, Pelham followed up his own pass down the right wing to Redwood, picking up the loose ball from a defender’s tackle to dribble along the byline and poke wide of the near post, with other grey shirts better-placed to finish in the middle of a crowded box.
Lutumba and Bent both came close to breaking the deadlock with shots fractionally off-target, while Fletcher continued to perform wonders. Ethan Taylor — back on courtesy of the rolling subs rule — headed wide from Bennett’s in-swinging corner, and Fletcher saved again to deny Rew’s header from Ethan Taylor’s delivery from deep on the right.
The Stags eventually made the breakthrough on 83 minutes. Pelham headed Ethan Taylor’s right-wing corner at goal. It rebounded of a defender and fell to Ebenezer ASARE-AKOTO, who stabbed home through a forest of purple-clad legs.
Stoneham had a shot fly just wide of Trojanowski’s goal. But within two minutes of taking the lead, Totton went two-up when a swift passing move saw Owers and Ethan Taylor work the ball to the right wing. Taylor’s delivery came to Jack McGIVNEY on the far side of the penalty spot, who arrowed his shot into the right corner.
Fletcher brought down Ethan Taylor in full flight to concede a late penalty but then immediately redeemed himself by saving Taylor’s spot-kick, low to his right. Owers bent a low free-kick around Stoneham’s wall and just wide at the foot of the left upright.
After the match, AFC Totton Manager Jimmy Ball commented:
"We had a lot of the ball in the first half but I thought we could’ve been a bit more aggressive in our attacking play. The lads ran hard and fought well, but our passing wasn’t incisive enough to create much in the way of clear-cut scoring chances.
“In the second-half, we were much sharper and more willing to get at Stoneham, who defended very well, especially their goalkeeper, who was probably Man of the Match.
“But it’s not about the result for me, as much as getting 90 minutes into the legs of those players who are on the verge of the first team and those who are in a position to push their way into the reckoning.
“We had several 16-to-18-year-olds who all equipped themselves well. It will have been a valuable exercise for them tonight, particularly in the need for patience, to keep going until the end to get something from the game.
“I saw some good patterns in our play that show things we’ve been working on in training coming to fruition, so it was very pleasing, overall."
By Ben Rochey-Adams
