AFC Totton AFC Totton Pitching In - Partners with Southern Football League

SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIV.1 SOUTH
Matchday #30


AFC TOTTON                                        4
Ethan Taylor 19mins; Ben Jefford 48mins; Hisham Kasimu 60mins; Shaquille Gwengwe 83mins

BIDEFORD AFC                                    2
Craig Duff 68mins, 72mins


New AFC Totton Manager Jimmy Ball watched his side achieve victory in his debut match at the Snows Stadium yesterday (Saturday) but not before they came close to throwing away a three-goal lead, relying on goalkeeper Lewis Noice to make a superb penalty save to prevent Bideford AFC drawing level, before Stags substitute Shaquille Gwengwe scored to put the points beyond doubt.

The new boss set his team up in an aggressive formation, foregoing regular full-backs in favour of a 3-4-3 system that utilised attacking players in the wide areas. Rob Flooks, Harry Medway and Ben Jefford lined up in a central defensive three, with Adam Tomasso and Freddie Read flanked by Sam Griffin and Ethan Taylor across the midfield. Brett Williams, making his fourth consecutive start, partnered top-scorer Hisham Kasimu up front. New signing Issiaga Kaba, a defender who joined on loan from Portsmouth this week, was named among the substitutes.

Bideford were without a number of players, including their recent signing Louis Jagger-Cane, naming only three substitutes from the permitted five.

AFC Totton vs Bideford AFC_Starting Line-Ups_SLD1S_26Mar22.png

On a hot spring afternoon, the game got off to a sluggish start, with neither side able to fashion a shooting chance of note in the first 10 minutes. The Robins, decked out in all red, awoke from the early slumber first, when a few step-overs from centre-forward Charles Hanson near the left-wing touchline bought him enough distance from Rob Flooks to deliver a cross that Joe Charles was hurtling into the penalty area to connect with until Ben Jefford headed away for Totton.

A miss-kick by Jefford in a more advanced, central area forced Brett Williams to close down an attempted clearance by a Bideford defender, the ball landing at the veteran Stags striker’s feet. With the goalkeeper slightly exposed to his left-hand side, Williams tried to lob him from the edge of the box but his effort drifted well wide of the far post.

On 19 minutes, a first-wave AFC Totton attack appeared to have broken down but the ball came out to Jake Adams to the left of the penalty area. With two defenders in close attendance, the mercurial playmaker bided his time by twisting this way and that before finding a yard of space to attack the byline and quickly centre with a low cross. Kasimu arrived at the front post but a defender’s foot poked the ball away from him; Ethan TAYLOR needed no second invitation to drive his shot into the middle of the goal from around the penalty spot to register his 22nd goal of the season in all competitions - and the first AFC Totton goal of new Manager Jimmy Ball’s rein.

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OFF-THE-MARK: AFC Totton winger Ethan Taylor got the goals flowing with the opener in a six-goal thriller against Bideford AFC at the Snows Stadium.

Adams created another opportunity for his team just four minutes later, when his curling pass into the inside-left channel gave Hisham Kasimu the chance to race away from his marker and go clean through on the goalkeeper with the offside flag down. With the ball on his favoured left foot and just Adam Seedhouse-Evans to beat, Kasimu drove his shot into the keeper’s left shin. The ball was only half cleared by the Bideford defence, Taylor taking possession on the right and letting fly from distance but his shot was too high.

Perhaps eager to make up for the miss, Kasimu led a one-man press that had centre-back James Mayne passing back to his keeper, and Seedhouse-Evans almost dwelt on the ball too long, hurriedly clearing it in the end as Kasimu closed in. Kasimu’s Stags teammates followed his example and began to assert their dominance on the game. Taylor turned his man on the right-hand side and sent in a high in-swinging cross to the far side, which Adams tried to volley but couldn’t connect with.

Around the half hour mark, the effective Ethan Taylor won a free-kick 25 yards out, to the right of centre. Jake Adams took it and struck the ball against the defensive wall. Freddie Read took control and looped the ball into the penalty area where it was smuggled out for a corner on the left-hand side. A short corner routine initially broke down but then Taylor received the ball deep on the right and crossed to beyond the penalty spot. Jefford headed across goal and the unmarked Kasimu, from just a few yards out, somehow missed the target with his stooping header.

Play had to be stopped when Bideford midfielder Joe Charles took the ball full in the face at close range as Sam Griffin attempted to switch the play to the opposite flank, causing the entire watching crowd of 634 to wince in sympathy. Fortunately, he was none the worse for wear after receiving treatment for what could have been a nasty injury.

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ALL-ACTION DISPLAY: Veteran striker Brett Williams made an influential contribution to AFC Totton's Southern League Div.1 South victory over Bideford.

Shortly after play resumed, Williams was brought down on the half-way line and Craig Duff was shown the first yellow card of the afternoon. Williams almost got on the scoresheet a few moments later when Taylor, Kasimu and Read combined on the right-hand side to work the ball into the centre, where Williams aimed a snapshot for the bottom-left corner but dragged his effort narrowly wide.

Enjoying plenty of the ball, Williams tried to work his way through the Robins defence in the 40th minute with a one-two with Taylor. Bideford managed to poke the ball away but Rob Flooks came charging out of the Totton defence to re-energise the attack, exchanging passes with Kasimu until the French striker found himself with the ball at his feet inside the D, striking a shot that deflected over off a defender. Read’s delivery carried over the heads of everyone, but Williams ran round the back to meet it on the volley with his right in-step, sending the ball into the outside netting behind the right-hand post.

A moment later, the all-action Williams was chasing down Charles on the half-way line, bundling into his opponent and conceding a free-kick. Alexander Moyse sent a high ball towards the edge of the Totton area, where Matthew Buchan rose early and wrapped his neck muscles around the ball to make a strong connection with his head. As the ball careered towards goal, Stags keeper Lewis Noice stumbled but the ball dropped wide of his left-hand post.

As half-time approached, Totton reasserted their pressing game, harassing red shirts all over the pitch to deny them the time and space to pick a pass or build any kind of constructive team move, until the Referee’s whistle sent the Stags in one goal to the good at the break.


HALF-TIME
AFC TOTTON                                         1
BIDEFORD AFC                                    0


Whatever Jimmy Ball said to his team during the half-time interval, the Stags came out keen to impress and were straight on the attack in the second half. Strong hold-up play by Brett Williams outside the Bideford area enabled Read to chip a pass into the path of Jake Adams, running in behind the defender from the left-hand side. His low cross was turned away but Taylor regained possession in the middle and played Williams in down the right-hand side. His low cross flicked up off a defender, taking the goalkeeper out of the game by looping over him to the back post, where Ben JEFFORD arrived to stab the ball home from close range on 48 minutes.

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NO.3 FOR NO.3: Ben Jefford's goal was his third of the season.

Bideford mounted an attack down their right wing, working the ball infield to where Buchan hit a ferocious effort that Noice reacted brilliantly to parry, the follow-up attempt deflecting over the bar for a corner, which Bideford didn’t capitalise on. But, a long ball down the right by Moyse reached Hanson, who teed up Duff to strike, bringing another save out of Noice, diving low to his left to get his hand to it. From the corner, the Totton goalkeeper stood his ground among a posse of red shirts to pluck the cross out of the air.

In the 55th minute, Taylor flung himself at Griffin’s right-wing cross but failed to connect with his diving header by a whisker. Five minutes later, tenacious midfield play by Adam Tomasso prevented Bideford from getting out of their own half, forcing the ball to Kasimu who was able to feed Adams in space on the left-hand side via Ethan Taylor. Adams glided past his marker and drove in a shot from a tight angle, winning a corner for Totton on the left. Adams took it short to Griffin who slipped it back to him to enable Adams to advance along the byline and flash the ball low across the goalmouth. Flooks was held off by a defender but the ball ran on to Hisham KASIMU on the far post who had the simplest of tasks in converting from virtually on the goal-line.

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GOAL!: Strike partners Hisham Kasimu and Brett Williams celebrate the French striker's goal that put AFC Totton 3-0 up against The Robins of Bideford.

Totton continued the onslaught, Taylor driving a shot over the bar from 30 yards, via a deflection. Read’s corner was headed out but it sat up for Williams to volley from the edge of the area, but he couldn’t generate enough power on the shot to trouble Seedhouse-Evans.

Shortly after the hour mark, Jimmy Ball sent on new signing Issiaga Kaba for Sam Griffin, and Shaquille Gwengwe replaced Hisham Kasimu.

Three goals up with less than 25 minutes to go, it should have been plain sailing for the Stags and a comfortable first-game victory for the new boss. But the match was turned on its head in the space of four minutes, starting with a Bideford attack in the 68th. Moyse got the better of Jefford in a fifty-fifty challenge on the Bideford right-wing touchline, the midfielder taking the ball and scampering in behind the Stags defender to where he was able to tee-up the incoming Craig DUFF to thunder an unstoppable right-foot piledriver into the Totton net from the edge of the penalty area, Lewis Noice reduced to the role of spectator as the ball blazed past him.

As the Snows Stadium fell silent, only the rallying calls of the Bideford players and management team broke the silence. And, on 72 minutes, the deficit was reduced to one goal when a Bideford throw-in from their right was allowed to bounce inside the home side’s area. Medway and Flooks were both drawn to the ball and a second bounce took them both out, leaving Craig DUFF unmarked near the penalty spot to stroke the ball into the left side of the goal, beyond the reach of Noice.

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PLAYMAKER: With his father watching from the crowd, workaholic midfielder Jake Adams was at his creative best for AFC Totton at the Snows Stadium.

From a comfortable three-goal lead, Totton were suddenly looking nervous, unable to hold onto the ball or construct any kind of meaningful forward move. Combative midfielder Nathan Hurst was introduced from the bench in place of Brett Williams in an attempt to steady the ship, and link-up play between Adams and Gwengwe on the left flank got the Stags moving in the right direction, again. Gwengwe held the ball up long enough for Adams to run past him and latch onto a back-heeled return pass, enabling Adams to cut in at the byline and feed the ball into the centre, once more. A defender’s outstretched foot nudged the ball out a little but only into the path of Freddie Read, whose side-foot shot was well-blocked. Bideford managed to carry the ball out towards the half-way line, where Jefford came in with a strong challenge that took out both the Bideford player and Nathan Hurst. Once everyone’s limbs were accounted for, Hurst’s name was taken by the Referee, presumably for a push just prior to Jefford’s tackle.

From the free-kick near the half-way line, Bideford sent plenty of players forward. The high delivery invited Lewis Noice to come a long way off his line and jump high to confidently claim the ball on the edge of his area, but just to his right, Harry Medway appeared to wrestle Bideford substitute Saddam Bello to the ground. The Referee pointed to the penalty spot and showed the Stags skipper the yellow card, presenting Craig Duff with the opportunity to complete both his own hat-trick and an unlikely three-goal comeback for his team. The Robins midfielder struck the penalty with a firm thump of his right boot, sending the ball to Lewis Noice’s left. But the AFC Totton No.1 flung himself down and got both of his forearms behind the shot to strongly parry the ball away to where Jefford could hack clear, maintaining the Stags’ 3-2 lead and eliciting the loudest cheer of the afternoon from the Snows Stadium crowd.

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MATCH-WINNING SAVE: Goalkeeper Lewis Noice denies Craig Duff his hat-trick goal with a magnificent save from the Bideford midfielder's penalty kick.

Bello got up early from a right-wing corner to head over the bar for Bideford. Then, a foul on Shaquille Gwengwe at the other end earned a free-kick for the home side. The position suited the left foot of Ethan Taylor, but his effort lacked his characteristic accuracy and Bideford were able to launch a counter-attack, bursting through half-hearted challenges from first Read and then Jefford, before a switch of play to the left-hand side presented substitute Scott Piper with a shooting chance that he sliced wide when he might have had time to take an extra touch.

Bideford lived to regret that let-off, because in the 83rd minute AFC Totton reestablished a two-goal lead. A long ball straight down the middle of the pitch was taken under control by Ethan Taylor, who shifted the ball left and right, trying to work an angle to shoot past two Robins defenders, until he noticed his teammate in space to the right of the penalty spot and squared the ball for Shaquille GWENGWE to finish with the outside of his right foot into the bottom-right corner.

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SHAQ-A-CAN: Substitute Shaquille Gwengwe's strike confirmed all three points for the Stags.

The visitors tried to get themselves back into the game but Noice’s cute header over an on-rushing forward just outside his penalty area found Jefford in space to the left and enabled him to bring the ball clear for Totton, prompting a prolonged period of possession from the home side as they began the process of running the clock down.

Gwengwe chased a weak back-header from Bideford captain Mayne into the left-wing corner, forcing Seedhouse-Evans to come rushing out of his goal and punt the ball onto Salisbury Road. From the throw-in, Adams worked his way into the left-hand side of the box, again, pulling the ball back into the centre for debutant Issiaga Kaba whose shot beat Seedhouse-Evans but struck the foot of the right-hand post and, like a Brett Williams effort in the previous match, squirmed across the open goalmouth and out for a goal-kick on the opposite side.

Kaba then stole the ball back for Totton in the right-wing corner, advancing infield and picking out Freddie Read who finished well with the inside of his right foot, only for the goal to be ruled out for a push on a defender as the ball came across. It mattered not, though, as the Referee brought proceedings to an end and AFC Totton could finally celebrate winning the three points.

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OFF TO A WINNING START: New AFC Totton Manager Jimmy Ball applauds the Snows Stadium crowd after watching his new charges get his rein off to a good start against Bideford.

Elsewhere, the top of the Southern League Div.1 South table tightened up a little as leaders Frome Town were held to a 1-1 draw at Larkhall Athletic, recent former Lark skipper Mike Baker scoring against his former club to level Josh Jones’s 85th-minute opener. Second-placed Cirencester Town suffered a surprise home defeat to Willand Rovers by a single goal.

Bristol Manor Farm kept up their good recent form with a 2-1 win at Cinderford Town, while Plymouth Parkway, who are finally catching up with some of those fixtures they had in-hand for so long, continued their climb up the table with a 3-1 comeback win at Slimbridge, with two goals from William Palfrey.

Winchester City matched Totton by moving to 58 points with a 2-1 win at home to Mangotsfield United. And Sholing maintained their outside chance of making the play-offs with an emphatic 4-0 defeat of Highworth Town, veteran left-back Marvin McLean with a brace for the Boatmen.

At the other end, Barnstaple Town’s 2-1 win at home to Evesham United reduces the gap between them and Mangotsfield to two points, with four games remaining for Barum to save themselves from the drop.

The latest Southern League Div.1 South table


Match Report by Ben Rochey-Adams

Images courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography

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