AFC Totton
Photo courtesy of Fin Hall
By Josh Cole
The Stags fell to a tough defeat at Arbour Park against Slough Town.
It was a superb start from Totton, with Malachi Linton opening the scoring within three minutes!
A Craig Tanner free-kick found the head of Tyler Cordner at the back post, his header ricochet back into his path and he put the ball on a plate for Linton to smash into the top right corner.
Just four minutes later a miscued pass from Slough gifted the ball to Linton inside their half and he attempted to chip the goalie but he recovered well.
The game then hit a bit of a lull, both teams opting for the long balls and nothing really being fashioned of note.
Until the 22nd minute when Jaiden Drakes-Thomas slipped in Wiktor Makowski and his shot flashed past Max Evans and clipped the outside of the far post.
In the 36th minute, Malachi Linton had his, and Totton’s second!
The Stags hit Slough on the counter, a long ball from Tanner found Linton in behind and bearing down on goal he buried the ball into the bottom corner!
Totton entered half-time with a two-goal lead but it wasn’t a straightforward half.
Things would get difficult as just two minutes into the second 45’, Slough got a goal back.
Jared Myers, who was one of the four half-time substitutions, received the ball on the edge of the box and curled a beautiful effort past Max Evans and into the corner.
On the 55th minute, Scott Rendell had put the ball in the back of the net but the offside flag was up against the Stags skipper.
Not even a minute later, The Rebels attacked down the other end and a shot from range by Wiktor Makowski skimmed the top of the bar and went over.
On the 80th minute, Adam Desbois pulled off a mighty-fine save from point-blank range to deny Tony Lee, a quite magnificent save, a shot which he ahd no right to keep out…
86 minutes on the clock and Slough equalised, a scrappy goal at that but the home side didn’t care.
The ball was bouncing around in the box and Peter Ojemen managed to get the last touch as it was poked over the line and the hosts had their leveller.
Then, just a minute later, Slough had a penalty. A corner wasn’t properly dealt with at the front post and The Rebels kept the chance alive and Dan Roth was bundled over by Lee in the box.
Johnny Goddard stepped up and buried the pen, just left of centre with Evans diving the wrong way.
Straight from the kick-off, Dec Rose hit a volley from just inside the box which was tipped over the bar by Desbois.
Despite late attacks and pressure, Totton fell to a disappointing defeat in Berkshire.
