AFC Totton
The Buildbase FA Trophy | 3rd Qualifying Round
Snows Stadium | Saturday 30 October 2021
AFC TOTTON 2-0 DORCHESTER TOWN
Hisham Kasimu 45mins+2
Ethan Taylor 87mins
Pantomime season is almost upon us and at the Snows Stadium yesterday afternoon (Saturday) two ugly misters, cast in the roles of the Dastardly Devious Duo of Dorchester, were given a thigh-slapping defeat they will never forget.
Glenn Howes and James Wood, Manager and Assistant Manager respectively, shocked local non-league football at the beginning of the week by jumping the Good Ship AFC Totton in favour of walking the Southern League Premier relegation plank with the Stags’ very next opponents, Dorchester Town. And they were made to exit stage left by a resolute Totton performance, with their Buildbase FA Trophy campaign… behind them.
MAN AT THE TOP: AFC Totton Interim 1st Team Manager Dan Sackman.
Dan Sackman stepped up to take on 1st Team management duties on an interim basis and enjoyed an excellent start to his reign with a resounding victory over higher league opposition to secure the Stags’ progress into the 1st Round proper of the competition reserved for the highest echelons of semi-professional football.
An injury to regular goalkeeper Lewis Noice required the early termination of Amadeusz Skrzyniarz’s loan spell with Blackfield & Langley, so he could go straight into the team. Left-back, Ben Jefford returned to the starting line-up for the first time since the 5-0 win at Mangotsfield United in late September, and the hamstring strain suffered by Shaq Gwengwe at Barnstaple a fortnight ago meant that Jack Hoey came into midfield, as Sackman reverted to a 4-3-3 formation. Wearing all yellow, Dorchester’s starting XI included the former Crystal Palace and England U21 midfielder, Tom Soares.
Before the match, new Stags Chairman Stephen Snow took the opportunity to address the bumper crowd of 379 with a short, rousing speech outlining his ambitions for the club, and then the eagerly-anticipated cup tie was underway, with the home side attacking towards the Post Office end.
Totton began nervously. A poor pass out from the back by Skrzyniarz in the 3rd minute allowed Tom Purrington to drive a low effort back his way, but the Polish-born keeper immediately redeemed himself by getting down sharply to save.
Dorchester’s composure on the ball belied their lowly league table position, as they dominated the midfield in the early period. Skilful close control and dribbling by Flavio Tavares on the right wing created a 17th-minute half-chance for striker Kieran Roberts, who fired across goal and narrowly wide. Then, Skrzyniarz had to be brave to claim the ball at Alfie Stanley’s feet, as The Magpies attempted a raid down their left-hand side. And the goalkeeper was called into action again, just a minute later, to save at close range when Tavares pounced on a mistake by Callum Baughan to descend upon the home team’s goal.
An uncharacteristic unforced error by combative midfielder, Jordan Ngalo continued Totton’s timid start. Roberts escaped to the right-wing byline and chipped the ball to the far post, where striker Stanley - scorer of a hat-trick against Tiverton Town, recently - got above Baughan but headed over the crossbar.
Tavares needed treatment after a clash of heads with Baughan, then a lobbed pass from the left-wing touchline by Ben Jefford enabled Jack Hoey to turn tightly and flash a low shot just wide of Harrison Lee’s right-hand post.
In the 29th minute, the lively Tavares intercepted a pass from Ngalo before it could get to Callum Baughan, and he skipped past Stephane Zubar before placing a firm shot towards the bottom-left corner, but Skrzyniarz showed excellent reflexes to get both hands to the ball.
CLEAN SHEET: Goalkeeper Amadeusz Skrzyniarz earned the inaugural Supporters' Man of the Match award for his display between the sticks.
Totton began to edge their way into the game. A long kick out to the left-hand side was headed infield by Sam Griffin to Hisham Kasimu, who wriggled his way around two defenders before shooting through the legs of one of them, narrowly missing the far post via a deflection. From the resulting corner, Ethan Taylor’s near-post cross was met by a low diving header from Hoey, forcing Lee to save on his goal-line.
A beautiful dummy and turn by Hisham Kasimu confused the Dorchester right-back Oakley Hanger into giving the ball straight back to him. The Stags striker then scampered to the byline and hung a cross up to the far side, but Taylor couldn’t reach the header under pressure. Then, Sam Griffin put in the hard yards, running back towards his own goal to snuff out the threat of another Tavares-led charge down the Dorchester right.
As half-time approached, the game was becoming stretched, Totton having eschewed their early nervousness to get the ball down and play but their decision-making in the attacking third was often frantic and imprecise. Freddie Read’s doggedness was central to Totton’s improvement, as his midfield partner Ngalo struggled to achieve his own usual high standards.
A 41st minute strike from distance by Ethan Taylor soared slightly too high to the left of goal, then Kasimu’s through-ball released Taylor down the middle, but the forward couldn’t get there before Lee.
The low position of the late-afternoon sun beyond the Salisbury Road side of the ground caused problems for Zubar, who lost the flight of the ball and miss-kicked, presenting Purrington with another chance to try his luck from 20 yards out, but he couldn’t hit the target. Then, Dorchester winger Billy Lowes took advantage of a moment of Totton hesitation to hop away from two midfielders and test Skrzyniarz with a left-foot effort, but the indomitable keeper was equal to it, once again.
ONE-UP: Stags striker Hisham Kasimu gives AFC Totton the lead on the stroke of half time.
Hanger did well for the visitors by heading away a high cross-field ball intended for Griffin, who was trying to steal in behind the right-back on his blindside. But he could only stand and stare 2-minutes into first-half stoppage time, when an exquisite through-ball from the centre-circle by Ethan Taylor played Kasimu in down the middle. With a defender to his right, the Stags striker waited for keeper Lee to come out and attempt to narrow the angle, before swiftly rounding him to the left and slotting the ball inside the left-hand upright. 1-0 to the Stags and a 12th goal of the season for Hisham KASIMU.
As Dorchester’s newly-installed management team made their way into the tunnel at the break, they were subjected from all sides to chants of “Totton! Totton!” by the defiant home crowd.
HALF-TIME
AFC TOTTON 1-0 DORCHESTER TOWN
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The Stags began the second half in a much more convincing manner they had the first. Griffin got himself behind the defence at the left-wing byline and tested Lee with a shot from a tight angle.
There was a scare for Totton when a poorly-timed challenge by substitute George Calverley left Taylor writhing on the ground in agony. Fortunately, he was able to hobble off without assistance after a few minutes of on-pitch treatment. Hoey curled the free-kick into the penalty area where skipper Harry Medway headed the ball into the ground, enabling Lee to claim it.
From a right-wing throw-in on 53 minutes, Callum Baughan picked out Jack Hoey in space, 25 yards from goal, and his left-foot strike flew wide of Lee’s right-hand post. Then, the Magpies’ left-back Tiago Sa had to make an impressive slide tackle inside his own penalty area to prevent Kasimu weaving his way to goal.
Totton were firmly in the ascendency, the visitors now bereft of the control and assurance in possession of the football that had shaped the match’s early exchanges. Ethan Taylor’s cross from a corner dropped two yards from goal, forcing a scramble of Magpies to hack it away, Ngalo immediately following up with a pile-driver that hit his own player and deflected wide.
The oppressive dribbling skills of Hisham Kasimu had the Dorchester defence back-peddling shortly before the hour mark, and Harrison Lee needed two attempts to grab the ball after doing well to get in the way of the Stags striker’s fiercely struck shot from a tight angle on the left. A Freddie Read free-kick, shortly after, from just under the recently-installed display screen that faces the Wessex Heartbeat Stand, had both Zubar and Medway threatening to extend Totton’s lead. Both players got a touch but Medway ended up on the ground, trying to convert with a flick over the keeper’s head. Lee was having none of that.
WING WIZARD: Sam Griffin leads the charge down the left wing for AFC Totton.
Amadeusz Skrzyniarz, who had been the star of the first half, found himself underemployed in the second, but he nearly got caught out by a high ball from a Calverley free-kick, from deep on the Dorchester right. The ball looped over the keeper’s outstretched hand as he ventured well away from his goal-line, but the visitors couldn’t capitalise on the error.
Taylor’s persistence earned him a free-kick on the right-wing, from which he tried to catch out Lee with a curling shot but his effort was well over the bar. Then, strong defending by Stephane Zubar slammed the door on a Dorchester counter-attack, as Kieran Roberts tried to exploit space down their left wing.
A 67th-minute up-and-under from Taylor bounced over Caze da Silva, allowing Hoey to directly pressure Lee, but the keeper managed to get there just in time. And then a series of long balls from both sides that failed to connect with their intended targets, combined with substitutions from both sides, disrupted the flow of the game for a while.
With about 10 minutes to go, Skrzyniarz had to come out a long way to catch a high ball into the box from deep, with several players crowded around him. Then, a rare non-set piece foray forward by Medway, channelling his inner Beckenbauer, presented him with an opportunity to shoot. His effort struck a defender and rebounded to the feet of Stags substitute, Jordan Ragguette, to the left of the D. The mercurial winger took a touch and smashed the ball narrowly wide across Lee’s goal.
A ricochet in midfield enabled Alfie Stanley to pick the ball up and advance on the Totton goal, but his meekly-struck shot didn’t trouble Skrzyniarz, whose over-elaborate dive to his left might have been entirely sarcastic. Then, at the other end, Taylor and Kasimu linked-up to work their way through three defenders, with Kasimu going wide to the right before unleashing from a tight angle to force Lee into another save. Ben Jefford had to be alert to prevent Dorchester mounting a successful counter-attack.
Frustrated by his team’s inability to get back into the game, and perhaps by the tension generated by the circumstances of his immediate return to Snows Stadium with another club, Glenn Howes paced the touchline in front of the Away Team dugout, barking orders at anybody who would listen in a futile attempt to turn the tides of F.A. Trophy fate.
OVER THERE: Callum Baughan points the way to goal as Ethan Taylor runs at a Dorchester Town defender.
And in the 87th minute, that fate was sealed. Callum Baughan took a throw-in from the right-wing touchline, shortly advanced from the half-way line. He opted to throw long down the line to Hisham Kasimu who, with a defender right behind him, met the ball with his left-foot instep, cushioning a volley into the path of the reinvigorated Taylor. Taking a touch to set himself and wrong-foot the retreating defender, Ethan TAYLOR arrowed a low left-foot shot beyond Lee’s reach, inside the near post to double the Stags lead.
Sackman sent on Brett Williams to run interference against Dorchester’s attempts to launch a late onslaught, the stalwart centre-forward given a niggling brief to throw his weight around and waste time in any way he could, like booting the ball into the various nooks and crannies of the Snows Stadium, as the home crowd responded with more chants of “Totton! Totton!”
Alfie Stanley squandered a late free-kick for the visitors by driving it straight into the defensive wall, and Jordan Ragguette raced away from the Dorchester defence on a left-wing counter-attack, before pulling the ball back to Taylor near the penalty spot, who forced Lee into a smart reaction save to keep the score respectable, before the referee’s full-time whistle confirmed the Stags’ victory and progress into the Buildbase FA Trophy proper.
STRONGER TOGETHER: AFC Totton, led by Interim 1st Team Manager Dan Sackman, enjoy the moment after sealing a 2-0 victory over Dorchester Town in the FA Trophy 3rd Round Qualifier.
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Match Report: Ben Rochey-Adams Photos courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
