AFC Totton
PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY#8
Saturday 03 August 2024 | Snows Stadium, Salisbury Road, Totton | Att: 480
STAR SIGNING MAKES HIS BOW AS STAGS SHOW CLASS AGAINST NATIONAL LEAGUE OPPOSITION
AFC TOTTON 2
Scott Rendell 42mins;
Tom Blair 48mins
FOREST GREEN ROVERS 1
Christian Doidge 62mins
CHARLIE AUSTIN MADE HIS STAGS debut as a second-half substitute to help his new AFC Totton teammates triumph over National League side Forest Green Rovers at the Snows Stadium on Saturday, thanks to goals from Scott Rendell and Tom Blair.
In a well-balanced game featuring plenty of chances for both sides, Scott Rendell nudged the home side ahead three minutes before half-time with a close-range finish from Sam Magri’s centre. And Totton increased their lead just three minutes into the second half, when Joe Oastler flicked on a Josh Owers corner at the near post for Tom Blair to poke home from just in front of the Forest Green goalkeeper. The visitors pulled one back shortly after the hour through Christian Doidge, then piled on the pressure towards the end of the game but The Stags stood firm and held on to win.
AFC TOTTON: 13. Joshua GOULD; 2. Joe OASTLER; 6. Sam MAGRI; 8. Adam TOMASSO; 9. Scott RENDELL (Capt.); 12. Luke HALLETT; 14. Joshua OWERS; 17. Declan ROSE; 18. Tony LEE; 19. Tom BLAIR; 20. Marcus DAWS. Substitutes (All-Used): 4. Owen PELHAM; 5. Charlie KENNEDY; 7. Harvey REW; 11. Charlie AUSTIN; 15. Logan LAIRD.
FOREST GREEN ROVERS: 22. Jed WARD; 3. Tom KNOWLES; 4. Ben TOZER; 5. Ryan INNISS; 7. Kyle McALLISTER; 8. Charlie McCANN; 10. Christian DOIDGE; 12. Adam MAY; 14. Liam SERCOMBE; 16. Sean LONG; 17. Jamie ROBSON. Substitutes: 2. Marcel LAVINIER; 6. Teddy JENKS; 9. Tyrese OMOTOYE; 11. Jacob MADDOX; 18. Harvey BUNKER; 20. Jamie SEARLE; 21. Emmanuel OSADEBE.
LONG TIME, NO SEE: Like his boss Jimmy Ball, Luke Hallett came up against his former club in National League side Forest Green Rovers.
Totton kicked-off wearing all-royal blue in contrast to Forest Green Rovers’ all-green with black features, attacking towards the Calmore Industrial Estate.
The pace of Marcus Daws forced Jamie Robson into an early sliding intervention at one end, and within a minute, Robson popped up at the other at inside-left to clip in a cross that just eluded two of his teammates arriving at the far post. Then, Sean Long got forward from right-back to latch onto an incisive forward pass, requiring three of the boys in blue to crowd out the former Cheltenham Town player inside the Totton box.
Sam Magri stepped out of defence to intercept a pass on the advanced side of the centre-circle and, after a few strides, picked out Tony Lee on the left of the D. The striker took a touch and then whipped a right-foot shot towards the bottom-left corner, bringing a save from goalkeeper Jed Ward with his right forearm.
Kyle McAllister exploited open space on Rovers’ right wing to cut infield and go for goal, catching the ball with the outside of his left foot and causing it to curl away from the far post. Then, Tom Blair came off worse from a challenge with Liam Sercombe that left the Totton man writhing on the turf after feeling the full force of the Forest Green No.14’s boot on his lower calf.
Joshua Gould was fortunate not to be caught out by Tom Knowles, who spotted the Totton goalkeeper off his line and tried to convert with a long-shot from the half-way line, which drifted wide to the left. Then, a poor ground kick from Gould while under pressure from a Forest Green forward gave the visitors an opening, but Sercombe hesitated to shoot and instead passed square, allowing Adam Tomasso to arrive from the Totton right to take charge of the situation.
McAllister withstood Luke Hallett’s challenge, driving infield from the right flank to the centre-circle. The ball fell to Knowles towards the left corner of the area, and his angled shot flew wide of the near post. From Gould’s goal-kick, Blair headed on from the left touchline to enable Josh Owers to control the ball on his run towards the inside-left channel, but he was bustled off the ball before he could provide service into the danger area.
McAllister and Sercombe worked an opening from the visitors’ right but the latter blasted over. Then on 29 minutes, Gould misplaced his pass straight to McAllister, but immediately redeemed himself with a flying one-handed save.
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: Marcus Daws takes his marker on a guided tour of the Snows Stadium pitch.
Daws darted into the middle of the pitch from the Totton right to find Rendell, who spread the play to the left for Blair. The winger’s cross was hooked out by a defender. Daws retrieved it and fed Rendell about 20 yards out, to the right of the D; his shot was blocked at the edge of the area.
Lee and Rendell combined to press and force an error from Ryan Inniss, who sliced his clearance out for a Totton corner. Owers bent an in-swinging corner in from the right, which Lee glanced with his fringe before it flew agonisingly wide of the far post.
Hallett was caught in possession in his own half. Inniss attacked the inside-left channel and centred, but Christian Doidge arrived a stride too late to apply the finish. He was able to retrieve the ball and tee up McCann at the edge of the box, the midfielder droving his shot over the bar.
A smart one-two from McAllister and Sercombe enable the former to cross from the Forest Green right. Hallett, playing against his former club, rose well to head clear. Totton were then awarded a free-kick for a foul on Owers. Blair lifted the ball to the edge of the area, where Lee couldn’t get enough power behind his header to trouble Ward in the visitors’ goal.
When Totton won their next free-kick in the 42nd minute, it led to the game’s opening goal. Daws slipped between two defenders before being tripped just shy of the right corner of the Forest Green Rovers penalty area. Blair’s delivery arced over most of the bodies in the box and fell to Magri, who had time to bring it down and use the outside of his right foot to drive it across the six-yard box to where Scott RENDELL was poised to finish, despite a defender on the line diverting the ball high into the net.
ON A PLATE, SIR: Sam Magri's deft outside of the right foot pass (he says it was a pass) makes a beeline for goalscorer Scott Rendell.
Forest Green went straight on the attack from the restart. McAllister again found space on the right, checked inside onto his left foot and shanked his effort high and wide with the Totton defence stretched. Then, Sercombe went McAllister away down the right, once more. His cross was knocked down by Doidge towards the right-hand post where Knowles was closing in, but he couldn’t hook the ball past Gould from the narrow angle.
HALF-TIME: AFC TOTTON 1-0 FOREST GREEN ROVERS
The visitors fashioned the first shooting chance of the second half, when Doidge’s deft flick header from their left-wing touchline fell invitingly for Knowles to shoot from distance, blasting high over the bar.
Just three minutes into the second half, Totton doubled their advantage. Lee held the ball up outside the Forest Green area to enable Daws to come across and combine with Declan Rose to win a corner on the Totton right. Owers bent his cross towards the near post area where Oastler’s flicked header diverted the ball into the six-yard box and Tom BLAIR poked it home before Ward could gather. The goal was originally attributed to Blair on the public address system, and then corrected to Oastler. However, having checked with the players after the game, Blair is now confirmed as the goalscorer.
BACK OF THE NET: Tom Blair pounces to direct Joe Oastler's near post flick on past Forest Green Rovers goalkeeper Jed Ward.
The Stags went in search of a third goal, mounting an attack that swept from right to left, with Blair controlling the ball to step infield and let fly with a 25-yarder that Ward did well to parry with two strong hands. Then, from Gould’s placed goal-kick, Lee flicked the ball on and then went after it himself, wrestling enough room from his marker to square the ball into the middle from the left of the six-yard box, but there were no other blue shirts far enough forward to engage.
Owers tracked back to ensure Totton didn’t get overloaded in their own area. Then, Gould had to come off his line to smother a loose ball before green-shirted forwards could latch onto it from an over-hit pass from the left.
Oastler interrupted Sercombe and McAllister’s attempts to build something down the Forest Green right, at the expense of a corner. The delivery into the Totton box was over-hit, as was the follow-up cross from the opposite flank.
On the hour mark, Charlie Austin stepped off the bench to make his unofficial AFC Totton debut, with Tony Lee making way. The new man’s first opportunity to shine came when Daws forced the ball to him from the right-hand side, and he hooked it forward towards the top-right corner. Ward caught it and Austin’s gesture to Rendell suggested he had intended to pass rather than shoot.
Daws tripped Robson near the half-way line and, after a period of sustained possession, McAllister received the ball in the middle and fed Robson on the Forest Green left, to bend a cross into the Totton box. Rose tried to clear with a diving header but could only deflect the ball across the six-yard box where Christian DOIDGE drove home with a low shot into the bottom-left corner.
Austin fired over with a neat touch and shot-on-the-turn, after more good work down the Totton right from Rose and Daws. Then, Owers intercepted a pass in midfield to redirect the ball to Blair on the left. He strode forward and took a shot that was deflected; Daws couldn’t quite reach the rebound.
READY, AIM, FIRE: Charlie Austin takes aim with a shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Austin’s lay-off about 15 yards outside the Forest Green box found Blair on the left touchline, which Tomasso made a dash into the inside-left channel. Tomasso controlled the pass on the run and looped his cross into the centre. A deflection diverted the flight of the ball to the edge of the area, where Daws met it with a left-footed volley that was bravely blocked by a defender. Totton tried to keep the attack alive, but Ward was eventually able to claim the follow-up cross at his left-hand post.
Doidge had his header deflected wide from a right-wing corner. From the subsequent delivery, Austin was in place to contribute to his new team’s defensive efforts with a clearing header. Then, Oastler had to make a sliding tackle to prevent the visiting side taking advantage of a poor touch within the Totton back line.
Substitute Marcel Lavinier drifted in from the left touchline to drive in a shot that Hallett deflected wide for a corner. Gould leapt high to punch the corner clear from above a ruck of players clustered in and around his six-yard box.
Jimmy Ball withdrew Luke Hallett, Tom Blair and Marcus Daws, to send on Owen Pelham, Harvey Rew and new central defensive signing Logan Laird.
Pelham did well while under pressure from the considerably taller Lavinier to force the ball back to the safety of Gould’s grasp. Then, Rose showed impressive determination to prevent Robson making progress on the visitors’ left. Rose was at fault, however, when he conceded a free-kick about 25 yards from the Totton goal. Teddy Jenks struck the wall with his shot. Forest Green regathered the ball quickly and worked it out to Jacob Maddox on the left, whose cross was steered back across goal and narrowly wide by Harvey Bunker - the only player still remaining at Forest Green since Jimmy Ball’s tenure with the New Lawn club.
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Josh Owers competes for possession.
A well-timed run by Lavinier broke the offside trap but Pelham was alert and made a sliding tackle to avert the danger for The Stags, as Forest Green began to dominate possession in the latter stages. Austin used his experience to earn some respite for his team by winning a free-kick inside his own half. Then, Rose and Pelham were both integral to keeping the visitors at bay as they came forward again in search of a late equaliser.
Rovers worked possession from left to right, and when it was delivered into the crowded penalty box, the ball somehow managed to bounce between all the bodies and squirm its way across goal and out of play for a goal-kick.
Tyrese Omotoye crossed from the left for Doidge to direct a header on-target, which Gould gathered low, shortly before the referee signalled the end of the game.
Watch JIMMY BALL’s Post-Match Interview
Next Up: DOWNTON vs AFC TOTTON
Pre-Season#9 | Brian Whitehead Sports & Social Club, Wick Lane, Downton, Wiltshire SP5 3NF | Wednesday 07 August 2024 | Kick-Off at 7:30pm
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Sayers Sports Photography
