AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIV.1 SOUTH 2022/23
MATCHDAY 30 - Tuesday 28 March 2023
AFC TOTTON 7
Scott Rendell 30mins (pen), 66mins, 86mins;
Ethan Taylor 34mins, 52mins, 60mins;
Charlie Davis 89mins
PAULTON ROVERS 0
HAT-TRICKS FROM SHARPSHOOTING FORWARDS Scott Rendell and Ethan Taylor, plus a late strike from midfielder Charlie Davis, took AFC Totton to the top of the Southern League Div.1 South table for the first time under Jimmy Ball’s management, as they thumped seven goals past Paulton Rovers without reply at the Snows Stadium last night (Tuesday).
With Charlie Kennedy’s suspension for the red card he collected against Larkhall Athletic at the weekend not due to take effect until Saturday, the centre-back was permitted to keep his place in the starting line-up. Josh Carmichael, who picked up a knock against The Larks, was named among the substitutes with Adam Tomasso taking the No.8 shirt. Conor Whiteley and Ben Jefford, who have both performed well for Totton & Eling in recent matches, were also selected for inclusion on The Stags’ bench.
AFC TOTTON
Starting Line-Up
1. Lewis NOICE
2. Benny READ
3. Jack MASTERTON
4. Mike CARTER (Capt.)
5. Charlie KENNEDY
6. Luke HALLETT
7. Charlie DAVIS
8. Adam TOMASSO
9. Scott RENDELL
10. Ethan TAYLOR
11. Tommy WRIGHT
Substitutes
14. Matty BURROWS
15. Mitchell SPEECHLEY-PRICE
16. Josh CARMICHAEL
17. Conor WHITELEY
18. Ben JEFFORD
The Stags took to the pitch knowing that a win by any margin would be enough to see them overtake Sholing at the top of the Southern League Div.1 South table on goal difference, with this match being the first of four games in-hand over The Boatmen. There was a light drizzle in the air as the game kicked-off, with Paulton Rovers wearing maroon shirts, white shorts and maroon socks and Totton in their traditional blue-and-white.
A rare slip by Benny Read, missing with his attempt to make a sliding interception midway inside Paulton’s half, gave Edward Butcher an early opportunity to race away down Rovers’ left wing with a two-on-two situation developing, upon which Luke Hallett slammed the door firmly shut with a strong, sliding tackle. The ball rebounded into the centre-circle where Jack Dancey tried to feed it back to Butcher, but only succeeded in kicking the ball out of play.
A shove in the back of Scott Rendell on the right flank, near the halfway line, enabled Charlie Davis to send a high free-kick delivery to the far side of the Paulton penalty area. Charlie Kennedy headed down to the edge of the area for Ethan Taylor who, with his back to goal and defender behind him, turned his man and unleashed a left-footed strike that soared narrowly over the crossbar via a deflection. Davis took the corner short, feeding Taylor on the near side of the box, for the winger to try one with his right foot, only a brave block by Martin Lenihan prevented it flying on-target.
Totton began their customary possession game, with defenders and midfielders passing the ball around amongst themselves. The ball kicked up droplets of water as it skidded back-and-forth across the Snows Stadium pitch, with the drizzle continuing, and during one or two early moments there was cause for concern that an underpowered pass might get bogged down in the turf and present Rovers with an opportunity to steal the ball high up the pitch and run clear through on Lewis Noice’s goal.
Former Larkhall Athletic defender Daniel Restorick demonstrated his throwing arm from close to the corner flag on Paulton’s right wing. The ball arced towards a gaggle of players congregated at the near post area where Nicholas Hewlett tried to flick it on. The ball hit the Totton defender right behind him and dropped invitingly for a right-foot volley that Hewlett fired across goal and wide of the far post, a forward on the far side trying in vain to stretch his neck muscles enough to get a crucial touch as it flew past. Then in the 15th minute, Kennedy had to back-track to position himself under a high looping ball with an eager forward snapping at his heels. Kennedy headed out of the Totton area but it fell to David O’Hare, whose shot from 25 yards cleared the crossbar and kept rising.
Totton tried to get into their passing rhythm. Rendell dropped deep to join in but misplaced his pass from the halfway line, causing the ball to deflect off a Paulton player. Kennedy stepped out of defence to take charge of the situation, picking out Taylor on the right who was able to advance and then slip the ball to Davis on the corner of the penalty area. The midfielder twisted left and right to shrug off the attentions of a defender and took aim, striking another defender and causing a brief scramble in which Rendell tried to keep the chance alive before being crowded out.
Noice reacted quickly to claim the ball on the ground from another long throw by Restorick that was flicked on from the near side of the box. Once Totton began to play out from the back again, Davis dropped deep to try and inject some pace and purpose into proceedings. Benny Read took his cue to make a run down the right flank, receiving the ball from Davis before attacking the byline and seeing his cross deflected behind for a corner. It was taken short and worked to Tommy Wright on the edge of the area, his shot bouncing off another defender for another corner, from which Taylor’s cross was well-defended at the near post. Paulton tried to counter-attack but Read scurried back and won a throw-in for his own side.
CHARLES IV: Midfielder Charlie Davis notched his fourth AFC Totton goal in the 7-0 rout of Paulton Rovers at the Snows Stadium.
On 21 minutes, Butcher accidentally trod on the ball while he was running at Jack Masterton near halfway. Taylor picked up the loose ball and ran slightly wider on the left flank to give himself the angle to curl the ball across and behind the Paulton defence to the feet of Wright on the far corner of the penalty area. He shuffled the ball onto his left foot, evading one defender as he did so, before hitting a low shot that Aaron Sainsbury saved at the foot of his left-hand post.
Adam Tomasso was shown the yellow card for a foul on Butcher, about five yards outside the right corner of the Totton box. Nuno Felix struck an in-swinging cross into the area, which Tomasso headed out of play at the touchline. Restorick tried his human trebuchet trick again, but Mike Carter was back to head it out for a corner. As the players took positions preparing for a cross, one of the Paulton players tried to rough up Lewis Noice on the goal line, but when the ball came across, Hallett headed firmly clear for The Stags. Paulton continued to look for a way through but a combination of good defending from the home side and the occasional offside flag kept them at bay.
As Rovers tried to knock the ball around at the back, they found themselves under pressure from the Totton forwards. Rendell closed down Sainsbury after he’d received the ball from one of his defenders, and the goalkeeper ended up rushing his kick and sending it out of play on the Totton right. The home side didn’t capitalise from that directly but within a minute, they broke the deadlock.
Davis had the ball just inside the Totton half and Taylor made a run through the middle that seemed the obvious pass. Davis, however, had spotted Wright scampering down the left flank and, although Davis appeared to have over-hit his pass, Wright sprinted to the touchline to keep the ball in play and race away from Restorick. He charged into the left side of Paulton’s area into a ruck of maroon shirts, stumbling to the ground as they converged upon him. The Referee gave a penalty, from which Scott RENDELL gave The Stags the lead with his 25th goal of the season in all competitions.
SCOTTY ON THE SPOT: Centre-forward Scott Rendell got the ball rolling with the opening goal from the penalty spot.
From the restart, Totton went for the jugular. Rendell nicked the ball off a daydreaming defender and played Davis in on the left of the D. He ran into defender Mircea Ilea, but Totton were quick to reclaim the ball in midfield and attack from the other side, where Taylor was pulled up for a foul on Sainsbury, who’d come a long way off his line to grab the ball. His long-kick had Luke Hallett jumping slightly too early, the ball hitting his arm as he descended back to terra firma for a Paulton free-kick about 10 yards into Totton’s half. It was launched into the box but Kennedy headed out, finding Jack Masterton on the left. He quickly swept the ball forward to Tommy Wright, who had three defenders around him but still managed to squeeze the ball to Taylor, via a small deflection that took some of the pace off the ball. With two defenders of his own to deal with, Ethan TAYLOR had to check his run to drag the ball into his feet and then, advancing in the inside-left channel, he weaved this-way-and-that to unsettled the marker in front of him before firing a low shot past him, across the keeper and into the bottom-right corner of the net to double Totton’s lead just four minutes after Rendell’s opener.
Taylor almost got through on goal again shortly after the restart, a bouncing ball causing problems for Nuno Felix as the Totton winger closed in, before Sainsbury rushed out to kick clear. The ball fell to Rendell who headed down for Davis just outside the area, but there were enough defenders back to deny him a shooting angle.
21, AGAIN: Ethan Taylor's hat-trick against Paulton Rovers takes his goal tally for the season to 21 in all competitions - just two short of his total for the whole of last season.
Totton were zipping the ball around with confidence now, searching for gaps in the Paulton defence. Read got forward down the right-hand side and found Taylor with a square pass infield, about 25 yards from goal. Taylor glided inside his marker to set himself for a shot that went narrowly over the top. And Taylor had another go a minute later, receiving from Read again, this time on the right edge of the D, from where he fired wide of the far post.
Noice came out to clear a long ball, then The Stags keeper was almost wrong-footed by one of his own defenders as a high delivery into the Totton box tempted him off his line before skimming of the top of Hallett’s head and bouncing just wide of the post. Felix curled the ball into the box from the corner, but the home side were able to smother and smuggle the ball away to safety.
The home side went forward, again, with Rendell taking a quick throw-in to put Taylor away down the right wing, only the timely intervention of a raised foot from Felix stopping Taylor from chopping infield and setting sail for the Paulton net. Read took the resulting throw and received the ball back to feet before driving into the box at the right-wing byline to cause havoc in the Rovers’ rearguard. His cross rattled around a forest of maroon-coloured calves, into which he delved to try and retrieve it. What happened then was a confusing flurry of flapping handbags and raised hackles, but it culminated in the diminutive right-back being shown the yellow card.
At the other end, Restorick had a couple more goes at hurling the ball into the danger zone from Paulton’s right-wing touchline, but Carter, Kennedy and Hallett took care of all that he could, literally, throw at them to ensure Totton’s two-goal advantage remained intact going into the half-time break.
HALF-TIME
AFC TOTTON 2
PAULTON ROVERS 0
Totton went straight on the attack from the start of the second half, with Rendell and Taylor linking up to break the offside trap. Taylor was forced wide, though, and laid the ball back to Davis on the right, whose low cross was spooned into the air by Rovers captain Neil Martin at the near side of his six-yard box. Sainsbury managed to bat the ball away in the ensuing scramble, but Read intercepted and chipped to the far post where it was headed back out. Tomasso closed in to try a snapshot from 20 yards, that flew wide to the left.
Carter got back to clean up from a Paulton knock down inside the Totton penalty area, and Davis was able to spread the play to the right with a pass to Read, who slipped Rendell in down the right of the Paulton box. His low cross was intended for Taylor coming at the far post, but Sainsbury managed to intercept.
A lobbed pass down the middle by Wright put Taylor in behind the Paulton defence but as he ran through on goal, he was given a shove from behind to unsettle his balance and send him crashing to the ground. He still managed to get his shot away on the way down, though, forcing Sainsbury to tip the ball wide to his right. The Referee decided against awarding another penalty, so Davis crossed from the left-wing corner with a high, arcing delivery. Rendell ran around to the back post and had to stoop to get his head on it and Sainsbury dealt with it comfortably.
JUST JOSHING: Midfielder Josh Carmichael, on as a sub, takes aim from distance.
In addition to ducks, constant drizzle is fine weather for slide-tackling central defenders, and Mircea Ilea produced a fine example of the genre when Wright tried to get in down the left side of Paulton’s penalty area. The ball popped into midfield where Hallett stepped forward to take control, playing the energetic Ethan TAYLOR clean through in the middle, once more, with time and space to pick his spot and smash the ball into the right side of the goal.
Even at three-nil up, Carter and Tomasso were taking no prisoners in midfield, leaving Martin Lenihan in need of treatment near the halfway line. Charlie Davis accidentally struck a cross-field pass straight at the Referee - at least, he says it was an accident. Then, a long kick from Noice was flicked on by Rendell’s head and Wright suddenly had a shooting chance from the inside-right channel, which Sainsbury saved low to his right.
Benny Read came off to be replaced by Josh Carmichael in the 58th minute, with the incoming sub going into midfield and Tomasso shuffling into the right-back position, where he was immediately pressed into action, chasing Butcher as he tried to latch onto a high diagonal towards the Paulton left wing, and taking the ball off him.
Totton’s fourth goal came from another long place kick by Noice on the hour mark. Rendell again flicked it on past the Paulton defenders and Ethan TAYLOR pounced, springing the offside trap as he took the ball in his stride and fired it past Sainsbury, high into the middle of the goal to complete his hat-trick.
Paulton substitute Daniel McBeam received the ball high up the pitch on their right-hand side. Being isolated from his teammates, he took the ball infield and went for goal from distance, shooting high and wide.
AERIAL BATTLE: Ethan Taylor (left, in blue), Charlie Kennedy and Luke Hallett try to get on the end of an AFC Totton set-piece delivery against Paulton Rovers.
Butcher tried to spearhead a left-wing raid for Paulton, but Tomasso’s strong shoulder challenge ended his progress, fairly according to the Referee. Then, Taylor nutmegged an opponent in the centre-circle, opening up space to play Davis in on the right-hand side. With plenty of players back for Paulton, Davis checked his run and played a square ball into the middle, inviting Carmichael to shoot from 22 yards but his effort was too high.
In their next encounter in the 65th minute, Tomasso took the ball off Butcher’s toe and Totton were off-and-running, again. Rendell dropped deep to receive the pass inside the centre-circle and passed to Masterton on the left-hand side, who fed the ball further up the wing for Taylor to attack from the wing. He fed a low cross to the back post where Scott RENDELL had made the run to apply the finishing touch.
At five goals to the good, Jimmy Ball decided that what his team needed was more firepower, so on came fast-paced winger Matty Burrows in place of defensive midfielder Mike Carter. The Stags were dominating possession by now, shifting it around at will past rapidly tiring Paulton players. Taylor popped up on the right-wing touchline, checked onto his left foot and curled an in-swinging cross towards the penalty spot, where Ilea’s missed header wrong-footed both his own goalkeeper and Rendell, lurking behind him.
A swift move instigated by Burrows in the 73rd minute worked the ball to Wright via Taylor. The Havant & Waterlooville loanee side-stepped a challenge and drove a low shot from the edge of the box, which Sainsbury saved low down. Then, Charlie Kennedy came off to be replaced by Ben Jefford, while Paulton also made two changes of their own.
Neat control from Burrows, just inside Paulton’s half, close to the Totton right-wing touchline, saw the teenager take the ball on his thigh and then his shoulder with two maroon shirts in close attendance. Allowing the ball to drop, he turned sharply and escaped the two defenders with a burst of pace towards the middle, where he evaded another challenge and then let fly from 20 yards, earning a corner in the process on Totton’s right. Masterton took it short and received the ball back to feet, enabling him to cut infield across the edge of the Paulton box and shoot, but his effort was charged down.
Carmichael battled for possession in midfield, forcing the ball to Burrows who was then unfairly squeezed out by two players, earning Totton a free-kick. Shortly after, Tomasso made headed clearances from, first, a Paulton throw-in and then from a corner, as The Stags steadfastly refused to give up their clean sheet. The voice of Scott Rendell could be clearly heard, coaxing his teammates and making sure their standards didn’t drop despite their healthy lead on the scoresheet.
CELEBRATION TIME: AFC Totton players celebrate another goal.
Totton kept probing for more goals, Masterton, Taylor and Wright combining to present Burrows with the chance to check onto his right foot from the left side of the box, only a brave block by Mircea prevented him from hitting the target. Wright, Tomasso and Taylor then worked the ball out to the right, from where Taylor picked out Wright in the middle, his placed shot from 18 yards pulling a decent save out of Sainsbury.
Rendell completed his hat-trick in the 86th minute. He received the ball in the centre-circle and spread the play wide on the left for Jack Masterton once more, who had the space ahead of him to stride forward with purpose, before driving in a low cross that was intended for Taylor in the middle of the penalty area. The ball took a nick off the defender in front of him and ran through to the far post where Sainsbury tried to dive on it as Rendell also came in, making a strong but fair challenge that made the ball bounce up so Scott RENDELL could hook it into the empty net to make it a cool half-dozen goals for The Stags.
Burrows continued his tricksy cameo, floating infield from the right wing to work enough space for a left-footed shot that curled wide of the far post. Then, the teenaged winger won appreciative applause from the Snows Stadium faithful for the tenacity with which he fought for the ball deep inside the Paulton half as two much more physically imposing defenders tried to clear their lines. He won a free-kick from which Totton began passing the ball around again, until it came back to the right-hand side where Adam Tomasso had space to take a touch and then curl a firm, low cross towards the far post where Charlie DAVIS came rushing in unmarked to fire the ball home with the instep of his right foot, flashing the ball across Sainsbury and into the right side of the goal.
The Referee saw no need to add too much stoppage time, blowing the final whistle shortly after the restart.
After the match, AFC Totton Manager Jimmy Ball (pictured) said:
“We started a little edgy, possibly a bit nervy knowing what was at stake for us, the lads knew it was an important game. But, once we started to play and began to use the width, you could see the energy and enthusiasm come into their game. We scored some great goals and made it look comfortable for ourselves, which is a credit to the players and all the hard work they do throughout the week.
“I’ve been very fortunate at this football club in being backed by the Board and being allowed to bring in professional people behind the scenes who I’ve worked with before. They work the players hard but the lads also have to put in the effort to make sure they get stronger and fitter, and I think you can see the improvements all over the pitch. It’s a credit to the attitude and hard work of everyone involved - time spent in the gym, in the swimming pool, or out on the training pitch - getting everyone fit and ready to go. Jordan Ragguette is getting close to full fitness, again, and apart from him, we don’t have any injury problems at the moment and we’re looking strong.
“The light rain made the pitch a bit slick today, and I think we took a little while to get comfortable with it. But once we got going and got it flowing, some of our football was excellent. There is a real desire about this team; they enjoy working hard and competing for every ball. They really want it and they’re showing the right mentality. We’re top of the table tonight, which is good, but it won’t matter until 5:55pm on 22 April when the season is done and dusted. Until then, we will continue to take each game one at a time - and that means making sure we’re right, ready and prepared to play well when we go to Wimborne Town on Saturday.”
NEXT UP: WIMBORNE TOWN vs AFC TOTTON
Southern League Div.1 South | Matchday #31 |
J&B’s Stadium | New Cuthbury | Ainsley Road BH21 2FU
Latest Southern League Div.1 South league table
View AFC Totton’s fixture list for the 2022/23 season
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
