AFC Totton
SDFA SOUTHAMPTON SENIOR CUP, SEMI-FINAL
Tuesday 14 May 2024 | Gang Warily, Blackfield, Hampshire | Att: TBC
STAGS BEAT BADGERS TO REACH THIRD SUCCESSIVE SOUTHAMPTON SENIOR CUP FINAL
BROCKENHURST 0
AFC TOTTON 5
Tony Lee 42mins; Ethan Taylor 54mins;
Matty Burrows 71mins;
Scott Rendell 78mins, 81mins
AFC TOTTON BOUNCED BACK from a torrid week to book their place in a third successive SDFA Southampton Senior Cup Final with a five-nil victory over Brockenhurst in the Semi-Final at Blackfield & Langley’s Gang Warily ground on Tuesday night (14 May 2024).
Tony Lee lit up a largely uneventful first half by driving a 25-yard free-kick past the Polish ex-Totton goalkeeper Amad Skrzyniarz. Ethan Taylor extended The Stags’ lead with an exquisite finish to a well-constructed team move, before a ferocious Matty Burrows strike and a Scott Rendell brace added extra gloss to an impressive second-half performance that progressed Jimmy Ball’s men into the Final — to be held at their own Snows Stadium — against Hythe & Dibden on Saturday afternoon.
A tactical shift meant several changes in personnel from the side that lost on penalties to AFC Portchester in Friday night’s Servio Hampshire Senior Cup Final. The signing of goalkeeper Joshua Gould to the AFC Totton ranks occurred after the SDFA deadline, so Lewis Noice returned wearing the No.1 jersey for his first start since the 3-3 draw at Hendon at the end of January. Joe Oastler lined up in the middle of a back three, with Luke Hallett and Jordan Ragguette to his right and left, respectively. Adam Tomasso returned, having missed the Portchester game through injury, to be partnered in central midfield by teenager Owen Pelham, making his fifth start of the season. Leon Maloney, Ethan Taylor and Matty Burrows made for an aggressive attacking midfield trio, with captain Scott Rendell playing just behind striker Tony Lee.
AFC TOTTON
Starting XI
1. Lewis NOICE
6. Luke HALLETT
7. Joseph OASTLER
3. Jordan RAGGUETTE
4. Owen PELHAM
8. Adam TOMASSO
17. Leon MALONEY
10. Ethan TAYLOR
11. Matty BURROWS
9. Scott RENDELL (Capt.)
18. Tony LEE
Substitutes
2. Benny READ
12. Leo TAYLOR
14. Sa-Sean LUTUMBA
16. Luke BENNETT
20. Zach EARLEY
Brockenhurst, wearing mostly blue with white across their shoulders and sleeves, got the game underway, against an AFC Totton side clad in their now familiar all-white cup kit. Former Bashley forward Harry Bunce found some early space on the left flank, until Luke Hallett stepped into his path to present a solid roadblock. Owen Pelham and Matty Burrows then threatened with a swift move down the Totton right, requiring Brock defenders to double-up to repel the danger.
With Totton in possession in their opponents’ half, Adam Tomasso and Ethan Taylor worked the ball out to the left flank, where Leon Maloney took up the running, forcing right-back Elliott Pearce-Eavis to retreat to give Maloney room enough to cut infield and take the game’s first shot in anger, which bounced just wide of the near post.
Hallett clipped a forward pass down the right flank for Burrows to chase. The livewire winger latched onto it but collided with captain and left-back Ronan Moore, causing the ball to pop loose to Scott Rendell, whose shot from outside the area was charged down by defensive man mountain Tyler Wellman. The big No.5 was soon called into action again to make a well-timed sliding tackle on Burrows, after Totton’s No.11 had skipped away from Moore at the right touchline. Undeterred by the defender’s size, Tony Lee tussled with Wellman to run interference on his defensive clearance, while Totton were potentially vulnerable to a counter-attack.
Taylor’s cross was deflected wide for a left-wing corner, which Maloney sent low towards the near post where Rendell was beaten to it by a defender. As Brockenhurst broke on the counter, Tomasso’s strong challenge stopped Bunce in his tracks. Then, from the resulting throw-in, Pelham and Lee both got stuck in to run The Badgers out of Totton territory.
Hallett took off like a rocket to head a Brockenhurst clearance back from whence it came, winning a Totton throw in the process. He took it himself, finding Rendell with Wellman at his back. The captain’s lay-off enabled Burrows to dance to the byline and centre with a low cross, which was hacked away before Lee could connect.
Maloney led the next attack down the Totton left before turning back to link up with Rendell and Lee, whose cross had Pelham racing into the box. The ball was knocked down into a central position just outside the Brockenhurst box. Burrows picked up the loose ball but was forced wide by Moore, who stuck to his task diligently enough to divert the winger’s cross out for a throw-in. As Totton tried to press home their territorial advantage, Brockenhurst got plenty of bodies around Burrows and Lee on the right of the penalty area to quash the danger.
Burrows produced some sterling defensive work of his own to dampen Freddie Bullard’s attacking ambitions, as the former Lymington Town man tried to exploit space on the left wing after Pelham had conceded a free-kick midway inside Totton’s half. Then, an altercation between Tomasso and Bunce led to The Totton Terrier being shown the yellow card.
Maloney turned on the afterburners to leave three blue shirts in his wake through the centre of the pitch, before playing Ragguette in to cross from the left. His delivery was too strong, though, leaving Burrows with little chance of applying the finishing touch at the far post, his tumble under the nearest defender doing little to persuade the Referee that anything untoward had taken place.
A foul on Burrows on the Totton right resulted in a free-kick that Taylor curled into the box. Lee positioned himself under the flight of the ball but Amad Skrzyniarz was able to punch clear from above the striker’s head. Joe Oastler beat an opponent to the ball on the edge of the area to poke it back to Taylor on the right of the area. He slipped but bounced back up to go past his man to cross right-footed, the ball deflecting high off a defender’s outstretched leg and dropping to Lee beyond the far post, whose looped header fell out of play on the other side of the goal frame before Taylor tried in vain to keep it in play.
A neat turn by Hallett at the intersection of the halfway line and the right-wing touchline enabled the defender to show Bunce a clean pair of heels, before driving infield and playing a reverse pass to release Burrows into the inside-right channel. Moore applied pressure but Burrows fired in a low angled shot that Skrzyniarz saved with his legs. Then, Moore leapt high to head clear. The ball was intercepted and Pelham dribbled into the box, but Moore recovered to make a well-timed sliding tackle to halt the midfielder’s progress.
Brockenhurst No.10 Sami Makhloufi, formerly of Sholing, rode Taylor’s tackle before running aground against Oastler, whose forward pass picked out Burrows on the right. He took on Moore, darting infield to let fly with his left foot with a low shot to which Skrzyniarz reacted smartly to push wide for a corner on the left. Burrows took it, arcing his cross to the edge of the six-yard box, where Oastler’s downward header was kept out by the Polish goalkeeper’s thigh. A half clearance sent the ball upward as much as outward, dropping just outside the area for Taylor to volley towards the top-right corner, where Skrzyniarz managed to punch clear from Lee.
Toby Bailey ran at the heart of the Totton defence and played Bullard in to the right of the penalty spot. Before he could pull the trigger, Ragguette nipped in to whisk the ball off his toe. Then, Tomasso clipped the ball forward down the right for Rendell to bring under control, with two defenders watching him closely, about 25 yards out. He rolled a pass into the middle to tee-up Burrows for another clean strike, which Skrzyniarz parried at his bottom-left corner. The rebound came out to Maloney, whose cross shot struck a defender in the face and bounced out.
An under-hit back-pass from Wellman gave Rendell half a chance to nick the ball from Skrzyniarz, who got there in the nick of time to kick clear from outside his area. Then, Bullard took on Oastler to cross from the Brockenhurst left, but Burrows got back to divert behind for a corner. Totton partially cleared it until Pelham conceded a free-kick on The Badger’s left wing. It was played short to Bunce on the left of the penalty area, whose cross was headed away from the six-yard box by Oastler. When a cross came in from the other side, Rendell was back to head away.
With three minutes left in the first half, Burrows snuck in behind the Brockenhurst defence and was tripped, to present The Stags with a free-kick about 25 yards out, to the left of centre. Tony LEE drove a powerful low shot through the defensive wall and past Skrzyniarz before the ‘keeper could get down to his bottom-right corner, to hand AFC Totton the lead with his 15th goal since rejoining the club in mid-February.
Ragguette got back to correct his own mistake, after having misjudged the flight of the ball to briefly allow his man to get in behind him. He conceded a corner on the Brockenhurst right, but The Badgers were unable to take advantage.
HALF-TIME:
BROCKENHURST 0
AFC TOTTON 1
Totton made a change before the second half began, with Tony Lee coming off to be replaced by Luke Bennett. The Stags quickly won a corner on the left. Burrows crossed to the edge of the six-yard box where Taylor slid in but could only steer the ball wide of the left-hand post. Then, a move instigated by Pelham had Rendell crossing from the right looking for Taylor, before the ball was knocked out for another corner on the right. Hallett got his head to Taylor’s deep cross but the angle was too acute and the ball went over.
Marcelo Rossi carried the ball forward for Brockenhurst and fed Bullard, whose cross earned a corner off Ragguette; Tomasso got up well to head clear at the near post. Then, Bunce made progress to the right-wing byline before his cross struck Ragguette and bounced out for a corner. He appealed loudly for a penalty for hand-ball, remonstrating with the Referee’s Assistant vigorously enough to earn a yellow card. After Brockenhurst had taken a short corner, Bunce then had to endure a strong challenge from Tomasso, which resulted in a Totton throw.
Burrows won another corner on the Totton right. Taylor’s cross found Hallett unmarked but his header was headed off the goal line by a defender, before Hallett needed treatment for a minor whack.
Nine minutes into the second half, The Stags extended their lead with an excellent team move. Bunce conceded a throw-in on the Totton left, and while he was pre-occupied with complaining to the Referee about which way the throw should have been given, Taylor quickly got play back underway by throwing the ball to Rendell, who had drifted over to the left-wing byline. Maloney and Taylor both darted forward to engage with Rendell, the centre-forward’s pull-back finding Maloney on the edge of the area as Ethan TAYLOR sprinted to receive a short forward pass at inside-left, keeping himself onside to confront Skrzyniarz and dink the ball over his former Totton teammate to double Totton’s advantage.
Lewis Noice, who was closing in on his 50th clean sheet as an AFC Totton goalkeeper, kept his defenders alert by slipping as Hallett’s back-pass came towards him, but he regained his footing before Bullard could steal the ball. Then, Moore intercepted Maloney’s pass as Burrows was revving up to race clean through on the right flank.
Burrows was fortunate to escape a yellow card for a clumsy challenge midway inside Totton’s half. The Referee was not so lenient on the Brockenhurst dug-out, though, brandishing his yellow card in response to some criticism coming from anyone of the seven or eight people huddled together out of the way of the light rain. The free-kick was taken short before the ball was hoisted into the Totton box, Taylor doing well to out jump Wellman and head away. Bunce went for a long-range volley but Noice was content to watch it fly past his left-hand post.
Burrows exchanged passes with Ragguette to get himself into a crossing position at the left-wing byline, his delivery bouncing off the top of the crossbar with Skrzyniarz at full-stretch. Then, from another Totton corner on the right, Taylor again picked out Hallett, whose header was on target but struck Rendell, before Hallett demonstrated just how good he is with his head by blasting the ball over the top with his foot.
Skrzyniarz made an impressive parry at his left-hand post to repel a powerful snapshot from Maloney, who found a pocket of space to fire at goal from the inside-right. And Maloney was denied again, soon after, when Bennett raided forward via a one-two with Taylor to play the former Portsmouth man into a one-vs-one situation with Skrzyniarz, who again came up with the goods to save at his near post.
Ethan Taylor was booked for a late tackle, seconds before he was joined on the pitch by his younger brother Leo Taylor, who replaced Owen Pelham. Bennett then burst through the midfield with a flash of pace, leaving Brock defenders for dead to get to the right-wing byline and pull the ball back to Ethan Taylor, who shifted the ball to the left of his marker and smashed an unstoppable shot against the underside of the crossbar. Maloney brought the rebound under control at the edge of the box, but shot over the bar.
A heavy touch from Wellman gave Burrows the chance to nick the ball. Bennett and Ragguette were both quick to join in the impromptu raid on the Brockenhurst box, but Ragguette’s cross was too strong. Then, more energetic work from the lively Bennett won another corner on the right for Totton. Burrows took it short to Maloney and received a return pass on the right corner of the box. Brock defenders were slow to recognise the danger and Matty BURROWS needed no second invitation to blast a ferocious left-footed missile across Skrzyniarz and into the bottom-left corner to make it three-nil.
Maloney and Rendell combined to send Tomasso scampering into a shooting position at inside-right, before a last-ditch sliding tackle denied him the chance to make it four. But within a few minutes, The Stags did go further ahead. Ethan Taylor, Bennett and Maloney worked the left wing to win another corner. Bennett’s cross almost curled in, having to be headed off the line. Burrows picked up the loose ball on the right touchline and delivered back into the box where Scott RENDELL converted with a glancing header.
Sa-Sean Lutumba was then sent on in place of Ethan Taylor, taking up position at left-midfield, ahead of Ragguette. A long, high ball from the Totton right had Skrzyniarz stretching to catch and then juggle over the head of Rendell as the two almost collided.
With nine minutes to go, Lutumba received possession on the left-wing touchline and passed infield to Ragguette, who turned away from his marker and played the ball further infield. As Maloney took control and appeared to be shaping up to shoot from distance, Rendell made a darting run on the blindside of the defender towards the penalty spot, where Maloney’s slide-rule pass fell perfectly for Scott RENDELL to slot home his 33rd goal of the season in all competitions, which is also his 69th goal for the club since joining The Stags in the summer of 2022.
That was Rendell’s last contribution to the Semi-Final, as he and Adam Tomasso both made way for Benny Read and teenaged midfielder Zach Earley. Makhloufi went down under Leo Taylor’s challenge inside the Totton penalty area. Nothing was given and Makhloufi took his frustrations out on Maloney near the half-way line, for which the Referee took his name. Lutumba almost got a sight of goal from Burrows’ cross from deep on the right, but it bounced away from him at the last.
Despite his tender years and slightness of build, Zach Earley showed some real grit and tenacity to tussle for possession in central midfield, continuing to grapple from the ground even after he had been shoved over. There was a welcome late cameo from Amad Skrzyniarz, the popular Pole pulling off a flying parry-punch to deny Maloney a goal from his 25-yard effort, shortly before the Referee’s final whistle confirmed AFC Totton’s place in the SDFA Southampton Senior Cup Final for the third season in a row.
Watch Jimmy Ball's Post-Match Interview
Watch Lewis Noice's Post-Match Interview
Next Up: AFC TOTTON vs HYTHE & DIBDEN
SDFA Southampton Senior Cup | Final | Snows Stadium, Salisbury Road, Totton, Southampton, Hampshire SO40 2RW | Saturday 18 May 2024 | Kick-Off at 3:00pm
By Ben Rochey-Adams
