AFC Totton
Stage denied by feisty Burnham
Attendance – 290
By Talia Jones
TRIBUTES to the late Alf Peckham were held at the Testwood Stadium before the match against Burnham FC, but Totton couldn’t break the Blues’ resistance, falling to a 1-0 defeat, a very feisty ending, and the home side feeling hard done by.
The first half was largely uneventful as both teams struggled to keep the ball. Totton had the majority of the play for the first 20 minutes but couldn’t convert their possession into an opening goal.
Mark Lilley kept the Stags with a clean sheet early on after blocking Joseph Jarra’s dangerous header on the line, but Totton were to be undone just moments later by an innocuous free kick.
Liam Hibberd gave away a foul for blocking in the 34th minute, and Paulo Cicero, who was Burnham’s biggest threat in the first half, found the head of striker, Michal Gorniak, and nodded it past ‘keeper, Steve Mowthorpe.
Then it was the turn of the bad boys. First Ian Oliver, then Lilley found themselves with a stern telling off and another booking for the season before the break.
After the half time whistle, the Stags onslaught began, with Mowthorpe allowed to have a fairly stress-free afternoon, or at least that’s what the crowd thought.
Defender, Patrick Wilson, bundled the ball into Burnham’s net just after the hour mark, with the Stags believing they had equalised. However, the referee overturned his original decision due to a foul on goalkeeper, Cesare Vernazza , much to the dismay of the home fans.
Totton kept pressing, with most of their possession in and around the Blues’ box but chance after chance fell wide or were expertly saved. But it was the decision from Mike Gosney’s trademark free kicks that got the Stags’ blood boiling.
Burnham’s defenders gave away two cheap fouls on the edge of the box in the space of just five minutes, with the Totton striker stepping up to take both free kicks, and on both occasions, his effort was tipped over the bar by an outstretched glove.
But both of these incidents were overturned by the referee who signalled for goal kicks, which infuriated manager Steve Hollick, and resulted in a few choice words with the match official and a premature end to his game on the touchline.
As the match entered extra time, the Stags were getting closer and closer, including an effort off the post by Nathaniel Sherborne, but there were still a few moments left for another fiery encounter.
In an attempt to snatch a point, Mowthorpe joined the rest of his squad in the Burnham box for the final free kick of the match. Despite not being able to head the ball into the net and secure a point, he did walk away with a yellow card to his name after his involvement in the subsequent melee.
Totton remain mid-table with the second loss in a row, and will look for improvements across the pitch and a better disciplinary record against Shortwood United in the rearranged match on Tuesday night.
Totton starting line-up: Mowthorpe, Hibberd, Diaper***, Williams, Oliver, Wilson, Lilley*, Burgess, Knight**, Gamble, Gosney.
Substitutes: Rolls***, Silvestre, Watts*, Sherborne**, Brewer.
