AFC Totton
SOUTHAMPTON SENIOR CUP 2022/23
QUARTER-FINAL - Thursday 23 February 2023
ALRESFORD TOWN 1
Matt Andrews 60mins
AFC TOTTON 2
Marcus Day 12mins; Silvano Obeng 23mins
A MAKESHIFT AFC TOTTON TEAM continued the club’s defence of their Southampton Senior Cup crown with victory at struggling Wessex League Premier Division side Alresford Town on Thursday night. In an archetypal game of two halves, The Stags could and should have been out of sight by half-time but very nearly came to regret their profligacy in front of goal when The Magpies reduced the deficit midway through the second half and pressed for a late equaliser against an uncharacteristically nervy Totton, who nevertheless managed to hold on to set-up a Semi-Final tie against Hamble Club.
Required by the Southampton Divisional Football Association to play this cup tie just two days before Saturday’s important long trip into the heart of Devon to face Willand Rovers in the Southern League Div.1 South, Jimmy Ball was left with little option but to shuffle his pack, making wholesale changes from the side that beat Melksham Town 3-0 at the weekend.
Charlie Searle returned in goal, with two unfamiliar faces in the full-back positions; Conor Whiteley lined-up at right-back in place of Benny Read, and Jake Adams, who is currently dual-registered with AFC Portchester, came in on the left of defence, replacing Jordan Ragguette who came off injured on Saturday. Charlie Kennedy took the captain’s armband and partnered Ben Jefford in central defence. Freddie Read came in for his first start since the 3-0 victory over AFC Stoneham in the previous round of this competition in the week leading up to Christmas. Freddie was joined in midfield by teenager Owen Pelham, making his first AFC Totton start and debutant Marcus Day, representing AFC Totton for the first time since his signing from Bristol Manor Farm. Silvano Obeng, now dual-registered with Brockenhurst, came in looking to add to the goal he scored against Stoneham. Matty Burrows lined up on the right of the attack, with Tommy Wright completing the Starting XI. There were two new names among the substitutes; 16-year-old Zach Earley was joined by trialist Victor Sampaio, who featured in Totton & Eling’s 0-0 draw with Folland Sports on Tuesday night.
AFC TOTTON
Starting Line-Up
1. Charlie SEARLE
2. Conor WHITELEY
3. Jake ADAMS
4. Owen PELHAM
5. Charlie KENNEDY (Capt.)
6. Ben JEFFORD
7. Marcus DAY
8. Freddie READ
9. Silvano OBENG
10. Matty BURROWS
11. Tommy WRIGHT
Substitutes
14. Charlie DAVIS
15. Zach EARLEY
16. Victor SAMPAIO
17. Adam TOMASSO
18. Luke HALLETT
The match got underway at Arlebury Park on the other side of Winchester, with the home side wearing a predominantly all-white kit with thick, diagonal stripes across their shirts. Unfortunately, the numbers on the back of their shirts were also black, which no doubt makes them difficult enough to pick out from a distance in broad daylight, never mind in the artificially illuminated glow of a February’s Thursday evening in deepest, darkest Hampshire. Apologies in advance, then, to any Magpies who don’t get credit - or do wrongly get the blame - for the various actions that took place throughout the cup tie in this match report.
Totton were decked out in their changed kit of fluo yellow shirts, black shorts and yellow socks. Despite their much-changed side, The Stags were up against opponents who have only won one match in the Wessex League Premier Division all season, and were soon dominating the ball and penning the home side back into their own half of the pitch.
Alresford goalkeeper Kieran Connell leapt high to catch a cross from deep on the Totton right. Then, Marcus Day tested him with a shot from 20 yards out, to the left of the home team’s penalty area, after the debutant had controlled a high cross-field pass before using the overlapping run of Jake Adams down the left wing to create space for a right-footed drive.
Ben Jefford, operating at centre-back for The Stags, played the ball down the left-hand side where Tommy Wright spun away from the full-back Pip Wilcox. But as the on-loan Havant & Waterlooville striker descended upon goal from the inside-left, he couldn’t sort his feet out quickly enough and fired wide of the near post. Matty Burrows was the next player with half-a-chance of opening the scoring from right of the penalty spot, briefly getting in behind the defence from an up-and-under ball that an Alresford defender managed to recover and clear before the winger could get his shot away.
About four minutes passed where Totton continued to boss possession of the ball without creating any chances, before they took the lead. Freddie Read clipped the ball from the middle of the pitch out to Day on the left corner of the penalty area, where the former Bristol Manor Farm man had isolated Wilcox. He jinked left and right, before beating Wilcox on the outside and firing in a low left-footed shot from a tight angle, which Connell appeared to have covered. But the ball somehow crept under the keeper and into the middle of the net, to give Marcus DAY a goal just 12 minutes into his AFC Totton debut.
The home side were unsettled at having gone a goal down. Wright held the ball up on the left side, where Totton were already finding considerable joy getting at their opponents, and slipped a short pass into the path of Day, sprinting to the byline. His cross was fumbled by Connell and stabbed wide for a corner by one of his defenders. Freddie Read took it short and Adams sent a curling, dipping cross into the box that Alresford headed clear.
The visitors should have doubled their lead in the 18th minute, when Silvano Obeng’s headed flick-on found Wright and Burrows two-on-one with the last defender. Wright headed the ball over the Alresford player to allow Burrows to race clean through, but with the goal at his mercy and Connell coming out trying to narrow the angle, the teenager poked his shot wide of the right-hand post.
Totton came forward, again. Wright got the right-wing byline and pulled the ball back to the edge of the area. Owen Pelham stepped over the ball, dummying it to enable Day to shoot from around the D, his effort spooning up off a defender and into the grateful arms of Connell. The Alresford No.1 then had a chance to showcase his ball skills, intercepting a Jake Adams pass and side-stepping Obeng, as the centre-forward tried to close him down on the edge of the penalty area.
BACK IN THE GOALS, AGAIN: Silvano Obeng notched his second AFC Totton goal since his return to the club in December, both coming in the Southampton Senior Cup.
But The Stags went further ahead in the 23rd minute. A patient build up in which virtually all of the Totton outfield players touched the ball, led to Conor Whiteley and Freddie Read combining down the right wing, with Read getting to the byline and picking out Wright in the centre. His shot appeared to be on target but it clipped Silvano OBENG on the way in, prompting unsuccessful appeals for offside against the Totton No.9, who instead was able to celebrate his second goal since his return to the club.
Alresford briefly threatened the Totton goal with a free-kick from deep on their left flank. Charlie Kennedy headed the ball upward rather than away but Charlie Searle caught it before a black-and-white shirt could do any damage. At the other end, Day was once again able to isolate Wilcox on the corner of the Alresford penalty area, the livewire winger twisting this way and that before shooting into the side-netting behind the left-hand post.
A promising Totton attack fell foul of a hand-ball decision against Obeng, after Burrows had been released by Kennedy’s pass from halfway to run at the home defence. Then, Totton settled into playing more of their possession football. Having two forwards operating at full-back was proving more of a help than a hindrance, with Whiteley on the right and Adams on the left able to seamlessly slip into an attacking gear whenever the chance arose. Adams, in particular, was finding pockets of space on the left flank to deliver dangerous crosses that tested the home defence and presented opportunities for the likes of Obeng and Wright to attack the ball mid-flight.
Alresford had another pot-shot from distance when Totton failed to clear captain Kieran Maylen’s free-kick from the left. It was initially headed out but as Day tried to control it on his chest, the ball bounced away from him and an Alresford player went for goal from about 20 yards out, dragging his effort wide to the left.
A swift raid down the left-wing carried out by Day and the overlapping Adams produced a corner via a defender’s headed clearance. Freddie Read curled his cross towards the far post, where the leaping Connell did well to swipe the ball away from the top-right corner, with Kennedy airborne behind him should he have missed it.
STAND-OUT PERFORMANCE: Usually an attacking midfielder, Jake Adams played well in an unfamiliar left-back role.
Clever approach play by Read and Obeng presented Burrows with a good chance about 10 yards out in the 32nd minute but he skied his shot over the crossbar, immediately turning away with his head in his hands in frustration. Six minutes later, Conor Whiteley read the situation in midfield to burst forward and reclaim possession for The Stags before taking the ball out to the right flank and playing in Wright, whose square pass gave Obeng a shooting opportunity. He aimed his shot for the bottom-left corner but Connell reacted sharply to thrust out his right foot, successfully diverting the ball away. Day and Adams were on it like a flash, instantly smothering Alresford’s attempts to clear their defensive lines. Adams played it back into the middle, Freddie Read flashing his shot narrowly wide from about 20 yards.
Adams appeared to be warming to his unfamiliar defensive role, making strong tackles to dispossess The Magpies in his midst and forcing the ball forward to Tommy Wright, who attempted a right foot curler that lacked the venom to trouble Connell in the Alresford goal.
Owen Pelham channelled his inner Bryan Robson, suddenly bursting through the centre of midfield onto a Freddie Read pass, to become his team’s most advanced attacking player. Connell came out to challenge; Pelham got there first but poked his shot wide of the right-hand post. The teenager was at it again shortly after, again feeding off the service of his midfield partner Read. This time, a covering defender managed to block his shot to send the teams in at the break with AFC Totton leading by two.
HALF-TIME
ALRESFORD TOWN 0
AFC TOTTON 2
Wanting to keep key players fresh for Saturday, Jimmy Ball rang the changes at half-time, making three of his permitted five substitutions. Adam Tomasso, Charlie Davis and Luke Hallett all stepped off the bench, while Ben Jefford, Tommy Wright and Charlie Kennedy stepped aside.
Matty Burrows found some joy on the right wing. He sprinted towards the touchline to receive another driven pass from Freddie Read, before drifting infield while eluding three defenders, while Charlie Davis took one of them away with a dummy run down the right-hand side. Burrows tried a left-foot curler but Connell was well-placed to catch.
A strong defensive header from Luke Hallett was then hooked on, over his shoulder, by the busy Freddie Read. The looping ball dropped in behind the defence, freeing Silvano Obeng to run onto it down the inside-left channel. There was still a lot to do given how far he was from goal, with a defender refusing to give up the chase at his right shoulder. The big centre-forward held his opponent off long enough to unleash a shot, but he thrashed his effort over the crossbar.
Alresford best chance of the game so far came from a right-footed left-wing cross by Charlie Fox that picked out Lewis Goodfellow in the area, who directed his header towards the bottom-left corner. Diving to his right, Charlie Searle got his hand to the ball, pushing it wide of the post for a corner. The in-swinging delivery from the left-hand side had Conor Whiteley trying to head clear, but the ball came off the top of his head and would have dropped under the crossbar but for another timely intervention from the alert Searle, tipping the ball over for another corner on the opposite flank. This time, a determined charge out from his own penalty area saw Freddie Read carry the ball upfield, advancing to midway inside the Alresford half before passing infield to Jake Adams, who danced away from a couple of defenders before supplying the ball into the box. A defender tried to chest it back to Connell but the ball dropped short; a scramble ensued and Connell ended up palming the ball wide, possibly preventing an own goal, although Obeng was in the mix, too.
ENGINE ROOM: Freddie Read was an influential presence in the AFC Totton midfield.
Whiteley switched the play from left to right to provide Burrows with another chance to come infield and let fly with his left foot, but this time his effort was well wide.
Shortly before the hour mark, a strange sequence of indecisive play from arguably the most experienced player on the pitch turned what had been a one-sided cup tie back into a contest. During a period of routine Totton possession, knocking the ball around amongst defenders and midfielders as they often do, the ball came back to Charlie Searle inside his penalty area. As he played the ball out, he under-hit his pass, giving it straight to Ashley Elward, who returned the ball with interest, lobbing the Totton goalkeeper only to see the ball smack back off the crossbar. Totton scrambled and regained possession, and appeared to have everything under control once more, until another underpowered kick by Searle sent the ball bouncing meekly towards Matty ANDREWS about five yards to the left of the penalty spot, The Magpies No.10 measuring his lob more precisely to drop the ball into the Totton net and halve his team’s deficit.
Marcus Day had a shot deflected wide to the left. Charlie Davis sent the corner across the Alresford goal. Everybody missed it and Conor Whiteley found himself with a gilt-edged chance to restore Totton’s two-goal advantage, but could only clip his snapshot into the side-netting.
Neat skill on the ball enabled Burrows to leave two Alresford players standing at the right-wing touchline, before he advanced on the home team’s area and played the ball towards Obeng in the middle, only for a defender to get his foot in and begin a goalmouth scramble that eventually led to Alresford hacking the ball clear.
Marcus Day’s debut came to an end when he was substituted in favour of new trialist Victor Sampaio. Then, Alresford came forward with Elward managing to hold the ball up on the edge of the area long enough to connect with Charlie Fox, whose curling shot flew over the bar.
With Manager Louis Macey encouraging his team to press Totton high up the field, buoyed by the appearance of some uncharacteristic indecision on the ball, the Alresford players gained a second wind and began to threaten a possible equaliser against a team who are currently 38 places above them in the English Football Pyramid. Totton, meanwhile, were trying to retain their composure and play their usual passing game.
Luke Hallett, who seems to spend more time in the air than standing on terra firma, headed out one attack, with Adam Tomasso intercepting as it came straight back and firing the ball into the inside-left area for Burrows, now operating on the opposite flank, to carry out a one-man counter-attack before drawing a foul alongside the left edge of the penalty area. Davis floated the ball into the box and Silvano Obeng got a good connection with his header from close to the penalty spot, the ball flying past Connell and striking the crossbar before Alresford scraped it away.
Obeng spun neatly away from one defender from Pelham’s pass though the middle, but Goodfellow removed the danger. Then, Whiteley tried to play the big centre-forward in, but again a defender got across to nullify the threat.
FULL DEBUT: Teenaged midfielder Owen Pelham made his first senior start in an AFC Totton shirt, having previously appeared as a substitute on two occasions.
Pip Wilcox was shown the yellow card for a foul on Matty Burrows, just inside the Alresford half. The free-kick was taken quickly, putting Obeng in at inside-left, where he advanced on goal and took aim, Connell parrying his effort away from incoming yellow shirts.
Burrows shot over with his right foot, coming in from the left flank. Then, as Burrows was trying to fashion a similar chance for himself, he found his progress blocked and laid the ball off to Pelham, who shot straight at Connell from about 20 yards.
An 82nd minute free-kick given for offside enabled Connell to launch the ball forward from halfway for the home side. Several heads went up to compete for it around the penalty spot, and a flick off a Totton head had Searle rushing to his byline to keep the ball in play, only for the Referee to rule it a corner, much to the goalkeeper’s verbalised displeasure. The ball came in from the left-wing corner and dropped at the edge of the box where an Alresford player took a shot, which deflected over the bar off a Totton defender. The next corner was low to the near post, and returned to sender. His second attempt reached the far side and was headed across goal to the left-hand post, where Alresford had a golden opportunity to level the score, but the player couldn’t get a meaningful connection and Searle was able to step across and snatch the ball to his chest.
Totton went forward briefly but were wasteful in possession, and soon found themselves having to defend a succession of long throw-ins from Kieran Maylen on the Alresford left touchline. Hallett headed one such delivery out, the ball dropping back to Maylen who crossed to the far side. Searle came out to compete for the aerial ball but the forward got his head to it first, directing it agonisingly wide of the far post as far as the home support were concerned.
A foul on Adam Tomasso, for a late challenge as the makeshift centre-back was clearing the ball, brought a yellow card to an Alresford player and some welcome respite to the Totton players while Tomasso received treatment for a painful whack to his left foot.
Alresford came forward down their left, again, but Hallett intervened by clearing the ball into the balcony that overlooks the Arlebury Park pitch in that section of the ground. Maylen’s long throw was headed away by Davis, but Marcus Whittaker fired it back towards goal, a deflection taking it wide for a corner on the Alresford right. The near post cross spun upward before a follow-up shot was blocked, then as Davis tried to clear the ball upfield, an Alresford player raised his arms to block, conceding a free-kick for hand-ball.
A needless foul by Obeng close to the halfway line gave Connell one last chance to hit the ball into the Totton box. It dropped just inside the area, prompting a frantic game of human pinball, before the ball popped out for Whittaker to fire narrowly over from 22 yards - and before Searle could place the ball to take the goal-kick, the Referee called time on the cup tie, confirming AFC Totton’s place in the Semi-Final despite a less than convincing second-half display.
After the match, AFC Totton manager Jimmy Ball (pictured) said:
“We had lots of players in the side today who needed to get some minutes under their belts, some of them coming back from injury. I thought we might struggle towards the end as players started to run out of steam, but I probably expected us to cope a bit better than we did. But let’s give full credit to Alresford, who I thought were excellent. They worked hard and made a scrap of it, which I’m sure will have pleased their manager.
“In the first half, we must have had about 15 chances, and could easily have been home and dry by half-time. But football doesn’t tend to work like that. They came back strong, just as we tailed off. But, we won the game and we go into this weekend’s match at Willand Rovers without any major injury concerns - everyone came through unscathed tonight, despite one or two knocks during the game, and we’ve managed to rest about five or six players who I’m going to need in Devon on Saturday.”
Southampton Senior Cup 2022/23 Results
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View AFC Totton’s fixture list for the 2022/23 season
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
