AFC Totton
Photo courtesy of Fin Hall
By Josh Cole
Two injury time goals from The Stags see them turnaround a 1-0 scoreline to a 1-2 win away from home!
The Stags were finding a lot of joy from wide areas and set pieces, a lot of space was being offered by the hosts and Totton took the opportunities to get into good areas.
On the 18th minute, a Dec Rose corner found Tyler Cordner, but he couldn’t get a shot off so instead, played the ball to Ash Clarke on the edge and his shot went wide of the goalposts.
Ten minutes later, Alfie Merritt was marauding forward and he was found by Towns, Merritt then delicately chipped a ball to the back post, but Vaughn Covil was unable to connect.
Another good chance came in the 40th minute, and once more, it was great interplay between Towns and Craig Tanner which eventually saw the ball find Merritt and he crossed for Malachi Linton who couldn’t steer his header on target.
Half-time came around and despite controlling the majority of the game in that first 45’ we went into the break level.
Two minutes into the second half, AFC Totton continued in the same vain of the first half, and Clarke got in behind the Generals defence and lifted the ball over Goode but it trickled the wrong side of the post.
51 minutes on the clock and Chesham had their first real sniff of goal forcing Gosney into a good save.
On the 60th minute, the home side took the lead, they had just wrestled control of the game and Totton failed to clear their lines, Mitchell Weiss found Giorgio Rasulo and his power-shot went in at the near post.
Eight minutes later, Totton had more shots on goal through Dan O’Connor, Towns and Covil but Chesham were putting bodies on the line, a real staple of the reason they had the joint-second best defensive record in the league.
Despite being 1-0 up, the home side went one man down, as Connor Stevens was given a second yellow for a late foul on Tanner.
This gave The Stags the impetus to go on and find that equaliser, deploying Luke Hallett as a striker.
Seven minutes were added on at the end of the second half, and one minute in, Totton found their equaliser!
Hallett latched onto a long ball, and crossed from the right to lee, he knocked it down to Jaiden Bartolo and his shot trickled over the line.
Then… in the 96th minute, Totton were patient with getting the ball forward, they waited for the opportune moment and final a ball in found the head of Hallett and who clicked it into the path of Tony Lee and he slipped his sot underneath the ‘keeper and in for the win!
A first win on the road for The Stags on a Tuesday night this season in the ENLS and we’ll be looking to continue that momentum on Saturday against Worthing back at home!
AFC Totton XI: 13. Ryan Gosney, 2. Alfie Merritt (Luke Bennett 80’), 5. Luke Hallett, 6. Dan O’Connor, 7. Ash Clarke, 11. Malachi Linton (Jaiden Bartolo 80’), 17. Dec Rose, 24. Vaughn Covil (Tony Lee 75’), 26. Tyler Cordner ©, 27. Craig Tanner, & 28. Jacob Towns.
Unused subs: 23. Ralph Vigrass & 25. Sam Tinubu.
Attendance: 421
GO STAGS
