AFC Totton
VENUE:
Platinum Hyundai Park, Meadow Lane, Westbury, Wiltshire BA12 3AF
Saturday 31 August 2024 | Kick-Off at 3:00pm
AFC TOTTON WILL MAKE the relatively short trip to Wiltshire to take on Westbury United in First Round Qualifying for the 2024/25 Emirates FA Cup on the last day of August.
The White Horse Men overcame Hamble Club in the Extra Preliminary Round, triumphing by a single goal in a replay at their own Platinum Hyundai Park ground after holding The Monks to a goalless draw in their first meeting on Saturday 03 August.
This past weekend, they notched another 1-0 victory to defeat Wessex League Premier Division high-fliers AFC Portchester, thanks to a Harvey Flippance winner scored on the counter-attack with eight minutes to go.
Westbury finished 17th in the 19-team Southern League Division One South last season; following the early-season withdrawal of Hamworthy United, only one team was relegated from the Step 4 division, meaning that Westbury were some eight points clear of the drop by the season’s end.
FA Cup commitments have so far restricted the division to just two rounds of matches. Westbury suffered an opening day defeat at home to Cornwall-based Western League Premier Division Champions, Helston Athletic. The away side notched two goals in three minutes, shortly after the hour mark. Marcel Lewis halved the arrears but it proved to be only a consolation goal.
Lewis was on-target again, two minutes into stoppage time at the end of their fixture at Bemerton Heath Harlequins, to hand Westbury their first league win of the new season.
Totton and Westbury last encountered one another during The Stags’ triumphant Southern League Division One South campaign in 2022/23. Jimmy Ball’s men came out on top of an eight-goal thriller at the Snows Stadium in mid-November 2022. The now departed pair of Matty Burrows and Conor Whiteley both scored on their debuts to add to a Scott Rendell brace and a Freddie Read strike to secure a 5-3 home win for The Stags. Two more goals from Rendell were enough to take all three points from the return match at the end of January 2023. His second goal of the game was a penalty, and he had the chance to complete his hat-trick with another spot-kick near the end of the game but struck it against the right-hand post.
This year’s First Round Qualifying tie will take place at Westbury United’s Platinum Hyundai Park ground on Saturday 31 August, kicking-off at 3:00pm.
At the same stage of last season’s Emirates FA Cup, The Stags put a significantly under-strength Sholing to the sword with a dominant 5-1 home win. Leon Maloney and Alfie Stanley both scored twice, with Scott Rendell also chipping in. Joe Oastler made his AFC Totton debut in the 3-0 success at Gloucester City in Second Round Qualifying – a result that ultimately cost The Tigers’ boss Tim Flowers his job. Rendell may have struck all three goals on the 3G surface at Meadow Park but for many travelling Stags fans, it was one of the best team performances of the entire season. Rendell was on-target again to overcome by-now familiar foes Berkhamsted in Third Round Qualifying, before Ramsgate brought a big following and a premature end to Totton’s dreams of making the First Round Proper by inflicting a 0-1 defeat at the Snows Stadium on 14 October.
The cup tie at Westbury United comes sandwiched between a Bank Holiday Monday trip to the recently relegated Havant & Waterlooville on 26 August, and a tricky home fixture against the Southern League Premier Division South’s early front-runners Basingstoke Town, who lead the way from AFC Totton at the top of the league table by goal difference.
By Ben Rochey-Adams
