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SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIV.1 SOUTH
Matchday #28


AFC TOTTON                                                1
Hisham Kasimu 66mins (pen)

CIRENCESTER TOWN                             0


In a match that saw third host second in the Southern League Div.1 South yesterday (Saturday), Hisham Kasimu’s penalty mid-way through the second half was enough for a defensively resolute AFC Totton to take all three points against promotion rivals Cirencester Town.

After the mid-week defeat to Eastleigh in the Semi-Finals of the Hampshire Senior Cup, Rob Flooks and captain Harry Medway were reinstated as the central defensive pairing with Ben Jefford returning to his usual left-back spot. Adam Tomasso came back into the midfield. Ethan Taylor and Hisham Kasimu operated in the two wide forward roles, with Brett Williams keeping his place as centre-forward.

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On a warm afternoon, the two sides were welcomed onto the pitch by a group of 40-odd young mascots, made-up of the sons and daughters of employees of the Snows Group, which is currently celebrating its 60th Anniversary. Totton wore their usual blue-and-white home kit, while Cirencester wore their own home kit of two-tone red shirts, black shorts and red socks.

Brett Williams had an early chance to threaten the visitors’ goal when a cross into the box bounced high enough to enable him to challenge Alexander Harris, but the Cirencester goalkeeper beat him to the ball and was able to grab it safely to his chest. Then, Jake Adams clipped a pass over a defender and onto the foot of Ethan Taylor, who had pulled out to the right to make space and found Hisham Kasimu in the middle. The striker controlled the ball under pressure but was unable to get his shot away.

Ben Jefford saved the blushes of his goalkeeper in the 10th minute when Lewis Noice’s pass out from the back went straight to a red shirt and suddenly left the Totton defence exposed. Cirencester quickly worked the ball out to the left wing and sent in a cross that Jefford was able to head away for a corner on the visitors’ right. It was initially taken short but then Shayne Anson sent in a cross for the towering figure of Nicholas Peare - the two-goal hero of the Centurions’ win over Frome Town in January - made a firm connection with his head despite the attentions of Rob Flooks, directing the ball over the bar.

The taller average height of the Cirencester team may have been in part responsible for why the ball spent so much time in the air during the early period, with a lot of up and under passes being interspersed with plenty of honest endeavour in midfield but very little in the way of quality football. The Totton front line was too far isolated from the play, while the biggest threat at the other end was the misplaced passes of Stags defenders rather than the attacking might of the Centurions.

A Cirencester corner from their left-hand side was too high but Peare managed to retrieve the ball on the other side, showing nimble skills for such a large frame to beat Flooks before Adam Tomasso picked his pocket with a well-timed tackle inside the Totton penalty area. Then, Jefford had to duck low to head the ball to stop Thomas Anderson making meaningful progress from the Cirencester left, but Tomasso stumbled as he attempted to complete the clearance, forcing Flooks to throw himself into a tackle that might - on another day, with another Referee - have resulted in a spot-kick to Cirencester.

Right winger Ethan Taylor came close to giving Totton the lead in the 25th minute, shoving his marker aside to claim Freddie Read’s forward pass, before instigating a quick one-two with Kasimu to steal in behind the defensive line and rolling his shot across Harris and narrowly wide of the far post.

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CLOSE CALL: AFC Totton winger Ethan Taylor threatens the Cirencester Town with a low shot that rolled narrowly wide of Alexander Harris's goal.

Five minutes later, a high bouncing ball mid-way inside the Cirencester half enabled Williams to feed Kasimu on the left-hand side. He ran at the defender and unleashed a left-footed effort from an angle, that Harris had to tip over the bar for a corner. Read’s first delivery was headed behind by a defender. His second attempt was only cleared as far as Jake Adams, who played off Read to work his way into the left-wing corner before crossing to the near post area where Williams beat his man to it, heading wide from about 10 yards.

A promising attacking collaboration between Adams and Taylor broke down and, within seconds, Noice had to come out of his area to head the ball to Medway to prevent Joseph Shepherd latching onto it.

The diminutive figure of Freddie Read was busily charging around midfield, winning loose balls and driving Totton forward. But Cirencester were happy to sit deep and frustrate Taylor and Kasimu in the wide areas by limiting their space to manoeuvre. Taylor’s best chance of running into space was when Lewis Noice picked him out with direct drop-kicks, but the combination wasn’t quite coming off, with the ball often bouncing out of reach or out of play before the winger could get it under control. Kasimu, in the meantime, was experiencing a physical battle with the formidable Shayne Anson, whose strength and athleticism was central to the Centurions’ 2-0 victory at the Corinium Stadium two months ago.

Cirencester’s best chance of the first half came as it was drawing to a close. Callum Baughan missed his header, allowing Aidan Bennett to run onto the ball in a diagonally left direction, just outside the Totton area. But skipper Harry Medway closed him down quickly enough to make Bennett rush his shot, which he blasted over the top.


HALF-TIME
AFC TOTTON                                               0
CIRENCESTER TOWN                            0


With Southampton playing today (Sunday), their midfielder Oriel Romeu chose to join the throngs at the Snows Stadium for his Saturday afternoon’s entertainment and spent the half-time break posing for photos with Stags fans.

When the match restarted, Totton were enjoying the lion’s share of possession but their final ball was too often lacking, preventing them from creating any clear cut chances. Not that they can’t improvise; an Adams pass was intercepted in midfield but promptly won back by Callum Baughan’s strong tackle. He laid the ball off to Ethan Taylor who, from all of 40 yards out, decided to test Harris’s concentration - and his eyesight - in the Cirencester goal, the keeper passing the test by pushing the rasper over his crossbar. Read took the corner short from the left-hand side, passing to Adams whose cross to the near post was flicked on by Kasimu with a backwards header that dropped over the bar.

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HEAD-TO-HEAD TUSSLE: Cirencester Town right-back Shayne Anson gets to grips with AFC Totton striker Hisham Kasimu, in one of the more intriguing individual battles of the afternoon.

Totton swept down the left when a pocket of space opened up, about 10 minutes into the second half. Read sent Adams away beyond Anson, and the playmaker’s low cross into the 6-yard-box had to be kicked clear by Ellison Dunton, shortly before the screams of Cirencester manager John Brough, imploring his side to stop giving the ball way, turned the early-spring Hampshire air a deeper shade of blue than even AFC Totton fans usually like it.

The home side got away with one when, believing the ball to have crossed the touchline, they stopped while Cirencester forward Levi Irving played to the whistle, scampering down the left wing and crossing to the centre where the ball eluded Shepherd, enabling Noice to sprint after it before it escaped out the other side of his penalty area.

Ethan Taylor had the ball in the Centurions’ net on the hour, when he latched onto a long ball and fired it under Harris into the middle of the goal. But the Assistant Referee had her flag raised for offside. Then, Baughan missed his kick but recovered immediately to prevent Irving capitalising from the left-hand side of Cirencester’s attack.

It was proving to be a tough day at the office for Hisham Kasimu, having to tussle with Shayne Anson every time the ball came near them. While the full-back gave nothing away, Kasimu was causing problems for him, too, and at one point they just ran out of pitch to wrestle on. But Freddie Read continued to inject purpose into the Totton midfield, taking up possession near the centre-circle in the 63rd minute and bringing Taylor into the game on the right-wing touchline. With defenders retreating to fill the space, Taylor drifted infield with the ball on his left foot, and smashed a low effort from 25 yards that needed Alexander Harris to dive to his right, thrusting two strong wrists behind the ball to brilliantly parry the shot away. The ball came out to Kasimu on the left but his cross was overhit, allowing Cirencester to regather their defensive composure and clear their lines.

Taylor almost stole in between the Centurion centre-backs when Adams dipped the ball into space behind them, but goalkeeper Harris came out to scoop the ball up while Taylor was still trying to muscle his way through.

AFC Totton Head Coach Dan Sackman then decided to withdraw Jake Adams from proceedings, replacing him with the more defensively-minded Nathan Hurst. And shortly after, Cirencester took off the physically imposing Nicholas Peare, who had struggled to get into the game, replacing him with the experienced midfielder Michael Pook, who played more than 100 matches in the Football League for Swindon Town in the early part of his football career.

Within a few minutes, the Stags took the lead with a goal that came out of nowhere. Ethan Taylor took control of the ball from a long punt forward, just inside the Cirencester penalty area. As the Centurions’ captain Jake Lee went to clear the ball, Taylor moved it out of way and caught the brunt of the defender’s boot in the side of his leg. The Referee pointed to the penalty spot straight away. Hisham KASIMU, who scored a peach of a penalty at Frome Town in early-February, stepped up and fired his shot into the bottom-right corner, the ball flashing past Harris’s outstretched hand before he could get down to it.

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HITMAN HISH: AFC Totton striker Hisham Kasimu celebrates his 66th minute goal from the penalty spot against Cirencester Town at the Snows Stadium.

Totton deserved their lead. After a fairly even first half, they had dominated proceedings in the second; always on the front foot, always looking to test the opposition’s defence in any way they could. As Cirencester tried to respond to going behind, the game became frantic, with players rushing their passes and showing more haste than technical ability, until Nathan Hurst slowed everything down by winning a free-kick in midfield.

Joseph Shepherd was perhaps unfortunate to be shown a yellow card when Adam Tomasso kicked the underside of his boot; an undoubtedly painful experience for Tomasso but the Cirencester man would claim he was making a genuine attempt to win the ball. Read’s free-kick from deep on the left was headed out by Lee and, just when it looked like the visitors might stage a swift counter-attack on their left-hand side, Ethan Taylor flew in with the kind of crunching tackle of which wingers usually find themselves on the receiving end.

Kasimu fulfilled his defensive duty to prevent Anson providing width to a Cirencester attack in the 74th minute, but gave away a soft free-kick in the process. Tom Handley’s delivery was allowed to bounce in the area, causing a mini-goalmouth scramble and a half-hearted penalty appeal for handball, before the Stags hacked the ball clear.

With 10 minutes to go, Totton’s Shaquille Gwengwe came on for Brett Williams.

Defending a one-goal lead, the Stags were almost the architects of their own downfall when a lack of communication between Medway and Noice had the defender clearing for a corner when the goalkeeper might have been able to collect the ball with his hands. From the left-wing delivery, Lewis Noice made an impressive reflex save from a point-blank header at his back post, then reached up from his prone position to punch the ball away from a crowd of players before it could be converted. A follow-up shot came in from an angle to the right of goal, but Noice was up in time to throw himself behind that effort, too, completing a remarkable triple-save that kept Totton’s lead in tact.

Gwengwe was booked for continuing a tussle with a defender after the whistle had been blown, though how much the Referee saw of it looking in the opposite direction is open to conjecture. Cirencester attacked down the right but the cross hit Ben Jefford and deflected kindly into the welcoming arms of Noice. Then, after Jack Masterton came on to replace the industrious Freddie Read in midfield, Jefford’s name was taken by the Referee for kicking the ball away after Cirencester had won a free-kick on their right, which Noice plucked out of the air at his near post with consummate ease.

Harry Medway was the next blue-shirted player required to introduce himself to the match official after charging into Irving while a high ball dropped between them. Once again, though, the Cirencester delivery was straight to Lewis Noice, who gathered gratefully.

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LAST LINE OF DEFENCE: Stags goalkeeper Lewis Noice played his part with an excellent triple-save to deny Cirencester Town late on at the Snows Stadium.

Into 4 minutes of stoppage time, a loose pass by Gwengwe threatened to initiate a Cirencester counter-attack, until Adam Tomasso bravely threw himself into a tackle on the half-way line to smother the possibility at source. Cirencester huffed and puffed but the Stags showed clever heads, wasting time here and there and slowing things down, until the Referee decided enough was enough and blew for full-time.

Following the postponement of Plymouth Parkway’s home match against Highworth Town, there were only three other matches in the Southern League Div.1 South this weekend. League leaders Frome Town were held to a goalless draw at mid-table Larkhall Athletic. Bristol Manor Farm, who visit the Snows Stadium next weekend, continued their challenge for a promotion play-off spot with a 2-0 home win over Willand Rovers. Sholing’s chances of making the cut suffered a blow with a 0-1 defeat at Melksham Town, the Boatmen unable to respond to Kyle Tooze’s 3rd minute goal. Parkway remain the division’s dark horses, currently sitting just outside the play-off places in 6th but with 6 games in-hand over several of their rivals.

The latest Southern League Div.1 South table


Match Report by Ben Rochey-Adams

Images courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography

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