AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIV.1 SOUTH
Matchday #24
FROME TOWN 0
AFC TOTTON 2
Harry Medway 14mins; Hisham Kasimu 70mins (pen)
The Southern League Div.1 South promotion tussle took another intriguing turn yesterday (Saturday) afternoon, as AFC Totton visited the Badgers Hill Stadium in Somerset to complete the league double over 2nd-placed Frome Town to stay in touch with the Robins and league leaders Cirencester Town at the top of the table.
In a fixture that paired arguably the two best football-playing sides in the division, Dan Sackman’s men came into this match with the confidence of having two previous triumphs over Frome this season already under their belts. The Stags followed up their Buildbase FA Trophy penalty shoot-out victory over Danny Greaves’ side in mid-November with a comprehensive 3-0 win in the league 11 days before Christmas, and they made the relatively short journey up the A36 yesterday to claim another 3 points.
Sackman opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation, bringing Callum Baughan back in at right-back in place of Ade Olumuyiwa and pairing new signing Nathan Hurst in the holding midfield role alongside Adam Tomasso. Ethan Taylor operated in the No.10 role with Hisham Kasimu on the right and Shaquille Gwengwe leading the front line. Jake Adams, the 19-year-old creative midfielder who also joined the club this week, was named among the substitutes, together with veteran centre-forward Brett Williams whose loan at Lymington Town has now run its course.
The home side’s captain Samuel Teale recovered from injury to take his place at centre-back alongside Mike Baker, who recently transferred to Frome from Larkhall Athletic. Ex-Stag Jonathan Davies wore the No.7 shirt for the Robins and started up-front, with the highly-rated striker Kane Simpson on the bench.
Given that both of these sides have, at different points in the season, looked like they might run away with the league only to find themselves now playing catch-up on Cirencester Town, it was fitting that Elton John’s classic hit “I’m Still Standing” was blaring through the tannoy system for a full 30 seconds after the game kicked-off. And it didn’t take much longer for the Stags to mount their first meaningful attack, with Ethan Taylor picking out Sam Griffin on the left corner of the penalty area with a long diagonal pass, which the Totton winger looped high over the far post under pressure from full-back Martin Lenihan.
The referee did well to play an advantage in the 3rd minute when Adam Tomasso went down under a challenge near the half-way line but Nathan Hurst’s first-time pass allowed Griffin and Shaq Gwengwe to quickly exchange passes to progress down the left wing. Gwengwe got to the byline and delivered a cross which Frome goalkeeper James Carey pushed high into the air, leaving his centre-backs to tidy up.
Totton looked comfortable in possession in the early stages, despite a pronounced slope on the pitch from one wing to the other and several areas of uneven ground, which toyed with the visual perspective of the 583 fans distributed around Badgers Hill. That was until Jordan Ragguette took a heavy touch from Lewis Noice’s throw to concede possession to a throw-in, for which he immediately redeemed himself by muscling James Ollis off the ball as the Frome winger tried to escape down the right flank. Then, Pascal Kpohomouh made a well-timed block on the opposite flank to halt Rex Mannings’ progress, Callum Baughan completing the clearance for the away side.
The defensive positions taken by Ragguette and Griffin often left space on the right flank for Lenihan to exploit and he was able to pick out Jonathan Davies with a pinpoint cross that the former Totton man met with a firm header from the edge of the area, but Lewis Noice read the situation and caught the ball on his goal-line.
Totton were awarded a free-kick for handball in the middle of the pitch in the 13th minute, which they quickly converted to a corner on the right-hand side via Taylor’s partially-cleared delivery. Frome managed to defend the corner but Hurst retrieved the ball midway inside their half and fed Taylor again on the right-hand side. His in-swinging cross threatened but was smuggled out at the far post at the expense of another corner for the visitors. Taylor took it again, sending an out-swinging cross to the edge of the 6-yard box where Medway and Kpohomouh both jumped together with Samuel Teale, Harry MEDWAY getting the decisive touch to bundle his second goal of the season into the net at the near post, as a defender on the line tried in vain to hack it clear.
Frome tried to hit back straight away but Davies was spotted pushing Medway in the back to create shooting space for himself in the Totton area. Then, Ragguette got himself into a tangle with a miss-kick that enabled Davies to target the right-wing byline and centre the ball. Noice pushed the ball up rather than out, Ollis waiting for it to drop to tee up Matthew Smith on the edge of the area but he shanked his shot over the bar with Totton defenders pouring back in to fill the space.
WING WIZARD: Sam Griffin takes on Frome Town defender Samuel Teale.
The game began to hot up a little, with Griffin and Lenihan squaring up to each other shortly before Teale was caught by an Ethan Taylor foul in the centre-circle, as the Frome skipper attempted to initiate an attack for his team. A well-struck cross-field pass by Warren Maidment on 25 minutes found Davies on the left-hand side where he was able to twist and turn to avoid Baughan before firing over the bar from a tight angle.
Robins left-back Jospeh O’Loughlin got forward to combine with Davies down the Frome left, requiring Pascal Kpohomouh to slide in with a well-timed tackle to knock the ball out for a corner. The cross arced over everybody in the box to bounce and ricochet between Maidment’s knees, giving Noice the chance to gather at the defender’s feet.
Hisham Kasimu, playing an unusual role for him on the right flank, demonstrated solid commitment to the team’s cause by tracking his man down the line and making a strong tackle to halt Frome’s progress. Then, the Stags striker inadvertently caught Teale in the nose with a flailing arm that required the intervention of the Frome Town physio, Sara Hillman.
The uneven playing surface meant the ball could sometimes get away from players, particularly when chasing a through-ball in a downhill direction. An advertising hoarding behind the Frome goal took the brunt of Shaq Gwengwe’s frustration at struggling to get into the game when he scampered after one elusive pass, bringing the derision of a small but loud contingent of Robins fans at that end and a quick ticking off from the referee. Shortly after, the former Worthing striker managed to connect with Taylor’s flick on in the inside-left area to get through on goal, an exquisitely timed sliding tackle by Maidment shutting the opportunity down by sending the ball back to Carey. Then, a looped pass by Taylor sent Kasimu through the heart of the Frome defence but Carey was quickly off his line to scoop the ball up before the Frenchman could reach it.
Frome threatened down the Totton left again, when Lenihan’s cross flicked up off Medway at the near post and looped over Noice but across goal. It was ushered back into a central position where George Rigg fired over the top, ensuring that Totton went in at the break with their lead in tact.
HALF-TIME
FROME TOWN 0
AFC TOTTON 1
The half-time introduction of Kane Simpson, who has 13 league goals to his name this season, showed that Frome manager Danny Greaves meant business, removing right-back Martin Lenihan to move to an apparent 4-3-3 formation.
An early raid down the Totton left had Kpohomouh stretching to make a sliding block before Baughan had to kick the ball out for a corner with Frome forwards lurking behind him. From the left-wing corner, Michael Baker headed across goal from the far side. Totton cleared it temporarily, until a low cross from the right flashed across their goal.
Kpohomouh showed impressive strength in the tackle when he tracked Ollis’s run towards the Frome left-wing byline before thrusting his body into the winger to shift him off the ball, leaving Ollis in his wake. And the former Saints and Manchester City Academy player threw himself in the way of a Kane Simpson effort from the right-hand side to deny the substitute an equaliser from Davies’ clever pass. From the corner, Kpohomouh and Noice were both involved in a goalmouth scramble at the near post, that had home fans behind the goal screaming for a penalty. Noice pushed it out for another corner, which was delivered to the far post where Baker blazed over the crossbar with the whole goal to aim at.
Kasimu latched onto Griffin’s hooked pass to draw a foul in an advanced position on the left wing. With Totton players pushed up into the Frome penalty area, Taylor opted to roll the ball to Nathan Hurst about 20 yards out but he scuffed his shot into the crowded area and, within seconds, the home side were threatening down their left, Simpson with the ball at his feet with Callum Baughan blocking his way to goal. The Robins striker took his time on the ball before quickly shifting it inside and curling a shot beyond the far post.
Now defending the corner of the pitch where the slope was most pronounced, Ragguette lost the flight of a diagonal pass in the 57th minute to enable Davies to take possession in space on the right of the penalty area and hit a well-struck low angled shot which Lewis Noice blocked brilliantly with his legs.
Dan Sackman withdrew Shaq Gwengwe and sent on Jordan Ngalo to further bolster his midfield alongside Tomasso and Hurst. Two minutes later, Ethan Taylor skilfully took a high pass under control despite the close attentions of O’Loughlin, turning away from the defender to move infield to the area just behind the D on the edge of the Frome penalty area before he let fly with his mercurial left foot and clipped the top of the crossbar with James Carey beaten all ends up.
CLOSE ONE: Ethan Taylor hit the crossbar with a long-range effort during AFC Totton's 2-0 away win at Frome Town.
The quick movement and accurate passing of Jonathan Davies continued to be a problem for Totton, and he and Ollis stretched the Stags defence with a one-two move that culminated in the latter driving a low cross into the near post area, which the blue shirts were able to repel. Then, Medway did well to nudge Ollis out of his stride as the Frome No.18 tried to attack the byline, to claim a goal-kick.
Griffin and Kasimu linked up down the Totton left to play Kasimu into a dangerous position on the corner of the 6-yard box, the striker slipping just as he was about to pull the trigger on Carey’s goal. Then the usually impeccable Davies missed his kick from a square pass by Ollis as another chance for the home side to equalise went begging.
O’Loughlin’s progress down the Frome left wing was halted by Hurst, doggedly getting across to put roadblocks in his opponent’s path. The ball was laid back to Simpson who fired another shot across the goal and wide. Hurst then pulled up, requiring treatment for a knee injury.
Ragguette continued to have issues tracking the movement of the ball and had to react quickly after miss-kicking the ball to deny Simpson a shooting chance from the Frome right, with several red shirts arriving in the penalty area. But just as Frome seemed to be building up a head of steam that might bring them back into the match, AFC Totton strengthened their hold on the match.
Hisham Kasimu chased Ragguette’s forward pass to the left-wing byline and, before it could be cleared for a corner, hooked it to Sam Griffin in the Frome penalty area. With Michael Baker blocking Griffin’s path to goal, Matthew Smith came in from behind with an unnecessary shove that sent Griffin to the ground right under the nose of the referee, who had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot. With an abundance of confidence, the left foot of Hisham KASIMU smashed the ball into the top-right corner, giving Carey no chance to save it and sending the travelling Totton fans into rapture.
From the kick-off, Totton were momentarily pressed back then unleashed a counter-attack. Kasimu had Baker for pace but when he got to the byline and tried to centre for Taylor at the back of the box, Frome were able to clear their lines.
LIVEWIRE: AFC Totton striker Hisham Kasimu gets behind the Frome Town defence.
Nathan Hurst’s debut on his return to AFC Totton was cut short around the 75th minute when Jack Hoey came on to replace him. Then, Frome had to defend a couple of Ethan Taylor set-pieces, culminating in a corner from the left that Griffin dived in to head wide of the near post.
Totton began to play for time by taking the ball into the corners and showing disinterest in the ball whenever it was their turn to take a free-kick or throw-in. Frome, meanwhile, had both Davies and Simpson dropping deep in search of a spark with which to ignite some attacking fire in their side, often hampered by the ability of Adam Tomasso to win headers despite his relative lack of height.
Ethan Taylor tried to dribble past two home defenders but lost the ball. Ollis received it on the Frome left, cut inside past Kpohomouh and curled a shot into the arms of Noice. Then, on 86 minutes, Kpohomouh mistakenly allowed the ball to run under his foot and directly to the unmarked Jonathan Davies who was through on goal. While Davies took a touch, Kpohomouh swallowed up the ground between them and performed an excellent sliding block challenge to erase the opportunity, injuring himself in the process. Centre-forward Brett Williams, one of the taller members of the AFC Totton squad, was sent on to slot in alongside Harry Medway at the back to see out the win for the away side.
Griffin and Kasimu managed to work their way in from the left-wing touchline before Kasimu’s shot was blocked and Hoey’s follow-up effort curled into Carey’s arms. Then, just as the 90 minutes were up, Taylor pulled out a trick to escape his man in the area, before suddenly going down. The referee took a long hard look but ruled “play-on!“
The board went up to indicate 5 minutes of stoppage time and Totton fell back, content to see out the remainder of the match as an Attack vs Defence exercise. The energetic Jonathan Davies, now wearing the captain’s armband in the absence of the substituted Samuel Teale, picked up the ball on the Frome right, mid-way inside the Totton half. Driving infield past Ngalo, he thumped a shot narrowly over from 30 yards.
Frome continued to search for a way past the Stags defence, but the visitors held firm, conceding several free-kicks towards the end but dealing with everything their opponent’s could deliver until the referee signalled the end of the match.
This valuable away win reduces the gap between Frome in 2nd place and Totton in 3rd to two points. League leaders Cirencester Town beat Winchester City 5-1 on the 3G pitch at The Corinium Stadium. Sholing didn’t have a game this weekend and found themselves dropping out of the Promotion Play-Off places with Bristol Manor Farm slipping in ahead of them courtesy of their 2-1 victory at Lymington Town. Despite currently being outside the play-off spots, the number of games in-hand that both Sholing and Plymouth Parkway have keeps them in the hunt, too. Next week’s match against bottom club Barnstaple Town will be the first of six consecutive home league games that could make or break the Stags’ season.
Match Report by Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
