AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH | Matchday#06
Saturday 07 September 2024 | Snows Stadium, Totton SO40 2RW | Att: 1,378
STAGS AND ‘STOKE SETTLE FOR POINT-A-PIECE
AFC TOTTON 2
Charlie Austin 7mins;
Scott Rendell 10mins
BASINGSTOKE TOWN 2
Liam Ferdinand 11mins, 18mins
IT WAS A CASE OF DÉJÀ VU in the 2024/25 season’s first Southern League Premier Division South meeting between AFC Totton and Basingstoke Town on Saturday (07 September 2024) as — just like they did last season — The Stags took a two-goal lead only to be pegged back to draw 2-2.
Totton and Basingstoke came into this game occupying first and third place in the table, respectively, both still yet to taste defeat in the league despite suffering elimination from the Emirates FA Cup last weekend.
Totton boss Jimmy Ball brought Charlie Kennedy back into his starting line-up, with Adam Tomasso making way. Tom Blair and Tony Lee both also returned, in place of Ethan Taylor and Marcus Daws, who were named among the substitutes.
AFC TOTTON: 13. Joshua GOULD; 2. Joe OASTLER; 5. Charlie KENNEDY; 6. Sam MAGRI; 9. Scott RENDELL (Capt.); 11. Charlie AUSTIN; 12. Luke HALLETT; 14. Joshua OWERS; 17. Declan ROSE; 18. Tony LEE; 19. Tom BLAIR. Substitutes: 7. Harvey REW; 10. Ethan TAYLOR; 15. Marcel McINTOSH; 16. Luke BENNETT; 20. Marcus DAWS. Substitutions: DAWS for OWERS (77mins); TAYLOR for AUSTIN (86mins); McINTOSH for BLAIR (89mins). Yellow Cards: MAGRI (Foul); BLAIR (Dissent).
BASINGSTOKE TOWN: 1. Simon GRANT; 2. Marcus JOHNSON-SCHUSTER; 3. Curtis ANGELL; 4. Rudy APPIAH-ALLEN; 5. Jack BALL; 6. James CLARK (Capt.); 7. Paul HODGES; 8. Robbie GALLAGHER; 9. Nnamdi NWACHUKU; 10. Liam FERDINAND; 11. Benjamin COOK. Substitutes: 12. Alfie BRIDGEMAN; 14. Daniel WARRE; 15. Harry BOWDEN; 16. Joshua GRANT; 17. D’Andre BROWN. Substitutions: J.GRANT for GALLAGHER (80mins); BROWN for COOK (80mins); WARRE for NWACHUKU (86mins). Yellow Card: GALLAGHER (Foul).
Totton were escorted onto the pitch by members of the club’s new Under-7s team, two of whom had dyed their hair blue for the occasion. Basingstoke kicked the game off, wearing their changed kit of red-and-black striped shirts with black shorts and red-and-black hooped socks. The Stags were in their home kit of all-Royal blue with white trim.
An unfortunate ricochet off an opponent following a Josh Owers tackle on the edge of the Totton box forced Luke Hallett to dart across to prevent Nnamdi Nwachuku stealing in at inside-right. Then, ‘Stoke right-back Marcus Johnson-Schuster floated in a dangerous cross that the Totton defence were happy to watch bounce across the face of goal without a red-and-black shirted player in place to apply the finish.
OFF THE MARK: Striker Charlie Austin scored his first AFC Totton goal in the seventh minute of The Stags' home encounter with Basingstoke Town.
Hallett’s quickly-taken throw-in from the Totton right enabled Declan Rose to spin, close to the corner of the penalty area, and loop a speculative shot narrowly over the crossbar. Rose was brought into the game again shortly after, when Charlie Austin hit a delightful outside-of-the-right-foot pass cross-field to Tom Blair, who rolled the ball back for Rose to cross. Basingstoke repelled it at their near post but Totton regained possession. They worked the ball to Owers on the left and the midfielder clipped a pass into the space behind the defence, where Charlie AUSTIN beat the offside trap to control the ball on his chest, side-step goalkeeper Simon Grant and slot home his first AFC Totton goal.
A sliding tackle by Tony Lee won the ball back for the home side when the visitors tried to mount an immediate response, and Totton sprung forward to win a corner on their right flank. A re-hearsed short corner routine ended with Lee taking a low shot which pinballed off a defender and an attacker, before ‘Stoke hacked it clear.
Totton went two-nil up on 10 minutes. Austin tried a stepover trick high on the left wing, which didn’t come up properly but immediate pressure from Owers forced the defender into a rushed clearance across field. Rose intercepted and found Blair, who whipped a bouncing cross into the middle where Scott RENDELL headed home from eight yards.
The Stags were flying, but they were in a similar position in the home game against Basingstoke last season when they had to settle for a point. And the visitors began their 2024/25 comeback straight away. Joe Oastler had to stoop to head out a left-wing cross but the ball fell to Nwachuku just outside the D. He passed to Liam FERDINAND at inside-right, who wrong-footed Oastler with a quick shuffle to put the ball on his right foot and fire low into the far corner, beyond Josh Gould’s reach.
Rose and Blair combined on the right but Rose’s cross was headed away. Then, Sam Magri had to cover behind Hallett to turn away a left-wing cross from Basingstoke. Magri and Gould collided as the ball bounced in the Totton box with Ferdinand poised to pounce, but both players were fine to continue. Then, a moment of confusion between Magri and Hallett enabled Robbie Gallagher to steal possession but, under pressure from the covering Oastler, he shanked his shot over the bar.
MY BALL: Charlie Kennedy wins the ball in the midfield for AFC Totton.
Austin drew applause from the home crowd for another pinpoint diagonal pass, which put Blair in on the right-hand side. The winger advanced into the area and clipped the top of the crossbar with his angled shot. But, within two minutes, Basingstoke were level.
Totton played the ball across their own defensive line, until Hallett saw an opportunity to release Blair down the right-hand side. His pass was intercepted en route and redirected to send the Basingstoke No.10 in behind Oastler, who appeared to recover the ground with a sliding tackle. But Liam FERDINAND did well to ride the challenge before rounding Gould at full-stretch inside the area and rolling the ball into the empty net to restore parity.
Four goals scored, and the game hadn’t even reached the 20-minute mark. Austin thought he had added a fifth when he tucked the ball into the visitors’ net from 10 yards out but the offside flag was up from Rose’s right-wing cross. Then, Owers had to scamper back to cut-out a threatening attack with a clearance from around the penalty spot.
A well-timed shoulder shove from Johnson-Schuster stopped Austin connecting with another Rose delivery from the right. Then, another sloppy pass out of defence from Hallett forced Magri into a sliding challenge that he mistimed to earn the game’s first yellow card.
Austin had another goal ruled out for offside after clever build-up play initiated by Lee from the centre-circle moved the ball to Blair to pick out the striker for a tap-in at the far post. Basingstoke responded with a snapshot from Nwachuku, which Gould dealt with comfortably. And the end-to-end encounter continued when Lee’s diving header from Blair’s right-wing cross bounced off a defender and fell to Austin, just outside the box. His shot deflected off another red-and-black shirt and fell back to Lee, who squeezed between the goalkeeper and a defender and went down. The referee took a long, hard look at the situation and waved play-on.
Nwachuku, working high on Basingstoke’s left wing, managed to isolate Hallett at the corner of the penalty area and, after a couple of stepovers, sent in a low cross that was cut-out by the out-stretched leg of the sliding Scott Rendell before Ferdinand could strike. The ball was only partially cleared, though, and a snapshot from Rudy Allen from outside the box was deflected wide of the left-hand post.
The corner was taken short before the ball was crossed high towards the near post. Gould came out to punch clear from a ruck of players but didn’t get a convincing connection, the ball dropping to captain James Clark who fired into the side-netting. Then, Nwachuku cut in from the left-hand side and struck a right-footed shot that Gould tipped over the bar for another corner, which Totton successfully defended.
MIDFIELD PLAYMAKER: Josh Owers threads a forward pass down the Totton left wing.
Rendell flicked-on Gould’s long kick to Blair, who popped up on the Totton left to play a square pass to Lee. The striker curled a shot from the edge of the area but Grant caught it comfortably. Then, Rose shrugged off the attention of Benjamin Cook to get a shot away that was deflected wide for the first of a succession of corners, as Totton tried to restore their early lead, but Basingstoke managed to keep them out.
Rendell knocked the ball down for Austin, whose lobbed pass towards inside-right forced Simon Grant out of his goal to head away before Blair could latch onto it. Lee retrieved the ball on the Totton right but they couldn’t take advantage of the momentary chaos in the ‘Stoke defence. Then, Oastler won the ball in the centre-circle and fed Blair on the right. He tried to play Austin in but the striker was quickly surrounded and crowded out by three defenders.
A combination of impressive ball skills and perseverance from Tom Blair won Totton another right-wing corner during first-half stoppage time. Blair took the corner, which was headed out as far as Owers, who dragged his shot to the right. Lee tried to latch onto it but was penalised for tripping a defender, shortly before the half-time whistle sounded.
HALF-TIME: AFC TOTTON 2-2 BASINGSTOKE TOWN
Neither side made any changes during the break. Totton got the game back underway, attacking what will soon become known as the Aldi End. Basingstoke defender Jack Ball did well to head away Blair’s cross from the right but needed treatment for a resulting head injury. Then, Rose fed Lee at inside-right, who tip-toed through three defenders before firing in a low cross that was cut-out before it could reach Rendell.
Blair won a free-kick for a trip, just off the right corner of the penalty area, but while his delivery cleared the one-man wall, the next defender kicked it clear before it could reach anybody in a blue shirt. The busy Blair was involved again when Rose shifted the ball out to him on the touchline, and he drifted infield, stepped away from Paul Hodges to line-up a left-foot shot that was about a foot wide of the near post.
CONSTANT THREAT: Tom Blair posed several problems for Basingstoke Town from Totton's right wing and came very close to scoring a winning goal for The Stags.
A swift Basingstoke counter-attack posed a problem for Totton, until Gallagher’s low cross flashed behind the run of Ferdinand. Then, Gould had to concentrate to claim a Curtis Angell cross from the ‘Stoke left with a player from either side hurtling towards him at the edge of the six-yard box.
Hallett did well to dismantle a left-wing raid from the visitors, but then a dispute over the award of a throw-in led to Tom Blair being booked for dissent. Basingstoke kept the ball for a while without threatening the Totton defence, then a poor kick from Gould enabled the hat-trick hunting Ferdinand to try a pot-shot from distance, leaving the goalkeeper to raise his hand in acknowledgment of his error as the ball flew harmlessly over the bar.
Rose and Blair were getting plenty of the ball on the Totton right, and Blair repeated his trick of cutting infield to shake off Angell and let fly with a left-foot shot that Grant parried before the ball was cleared. Then, Oastler met Blair’s right-wing corner to head on-target. The ball struck Lee and deflected over the bar for a goal-kick, although Lee insisted it should have been another Totton corner.
A foul on Rose resulted in a Totton free-kick, right of centre, 25 yards from goal. Owers struck the ball left-footed and saw his effort cannon back off the crossbar at the top-left corner. The ball remained in play and soon came back to the Totton right where Blair took possession and struck a similar left-footed effort a fraction higher than Owers had just done, sending the ball soaring just over the bar.
Grant came out of his goal to clear the ball into touch. A replacement ball was quickly supplied to enable Blair to take the throw-in, get the ball back from Rose and curl a high cross to the far side where Rendell headed at goal and Grant saved. Then, Hallett headed clear for Totton to prevent Ferdinand connecting with Nwachuku’s cross.
Robbie Gallagher was shown a yellow card for a foul on Blair, resulting in a Totton free-kick in a dangerous area on the right flank. But the delivery was over-hit, seeing another chance to put pressure on the Basingstoke goal go to waste.
LATE IMPACT: Totton winger Marcus Daws looked dangerous after coming on as a second-half substitute.
Marcus Daws was introduced in the 78th minute in place of Josh Owers, and was soon involved when Magri’s pass out of defence set him free to attack down the Totton left. Daws’ direct running had Johnson-Schuster retreating but the low cross was turned away before it could reach Rendell. Rose picked up the loose ball and fired over from 20 yards, with a Basingstoke player trying to block the shot with a sliding challenge from his left.
Robbie Gallagher and Benjamin Cook were both withdrawn in the 80th minute, with Josh Grant and D’Andre Brown coming on to replace them for Basingstoke.
Daws continued to impact the game positively, attacking the left-wing byline before he went down clutching his foot by the advertising hoarding. No foul was given and the ball came back to Daws, who had gingerly picked himself up, and his cross looking for Rendell was cut-out for a corner on the Totton left. Blair’s in-swinging cross found Austin at the far post but once again, the striker was surrounded by opposition players and the ball was hooked away.
Johnson-Schuster chased back to cut-out Kennedy’s pass, intended to send Daws away down the left, again. Then, the visitors thought they had a claim for a penalty - or at least a free-kick in a dangerous position - when Rendell got back to defend and leant on Nwachuku as the forward made his way into the box from Ferdinand’s lay-off.
Kennedy had his pocket picked by Ferdinand in the centre-circle, who threaded a forward pass into the path of Nwachuku to allow him to run at Hallett. Nwachuku managed to get the ball on his right foot but Hallett did enough to limit the forward’s room to manoeuvre, resulting in a weak shot that Gould was able to gather.
Charlie Austin was replaced by Ethan Taylor with three minutes remaining, and Basingstoke withdrew Nwachuku to make way for striker Daniel Warre, who already has three league goals to his name this season. Hallett defended a cross from the Basingstoke right, enabling Taylor to collect the loose ball and instigate a one-two with Rendell that sent Taylor romping forward down the Totton left to send in a low cross that was turned away at the near post for a corner. Blair was replaced by Marcel McIntosh, before Daws’ corner was caught by Simon Grant at the near post, despite the numerous bodies around him.
Five minutes of stoppage time were indicated. Totton almost shot themselves in the foot with a series of headers passing defensive responsibility to one another on the edge of their own box, with Daniel Warre lurking with intent. The young striker managed to gain possession and attacked at inside-right. He withstood Oastler’s lunge to take a shot, but Gould rushed out to throw himself on top of it to make an important block.
Basingstoke got the ball into the Totton box again from a left-wing cross, but it bounced wide of the far post without anybody in red-and-black being on-hand to apply the finish. Totton had one last forward foray, with Rose and Rendell combining to attack from the left, before Rose’s clipped cross was caught by Simon Grant.
WELL DONE: Boss Jimmy Ball applauds the home crowd after the match.
Watch JIMMY BALL’S Post-Match Interview
Watch CHARLIE AUSTIN’S Post-Match Interview
Watch MATCH HIGHLIGHTS: AFC Totton 2-2 Basingstoke Town
Southern League Premier Division South LEAGUE TABLE
Next Up: AFC TOTTON vs WIMBORNE TOWN
Southern League Premier Division South | Matchday#07 | Snows Stadium, Salisbury Road, Totton, Southampton SO40 2RW | Tuesday 10 September 2024 | Kick-Off 7:45pm
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By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Tom Phillips Photography
Match Highlights video courtesy of Side of the World
