AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIV.1 SOUTH
Matchday #32
PAULTON ROVERS 0
AFC TOTTON 0
For the first time all season, AFC Totton have slipped out of the Southern League Div.1 South promotion play-off places following a goalless draw at Paulton Rovers yesterday (Saturday), near Bath in Somerset, in a competitively-fought encounter that both teams had chances to win.
After a win and a defeat from the double-header with Bideford in his first two matches as the new manager of AFC Totton, Jimmy Ball rang the changes by reverting to a 4-3-3 system, with Callum Baughan returning at right-back and Jordan Ragguette on the opposite side. Rob Flooks and Ade Olumuyiwa partnered each other at centre-back for the first time since Flooks arrived from Winchester City, last month. Skipper Harry Medway moved into a defensive midfield role with Freddie Read and Ethan Taylor either side of him. Brett Williams led the line with Hisham Kasimu on the left and Shaquille Gwengwe on the right flank. Lewis Waterfield, recently recalled from his loan at Lymington Town, joined Jack Hoey on the bench.
Paulton lined up with recent signing Josiah Dunstan in the centre of their defence and the division’s top goalscorer Leighton Thomas up front, who has 25 goals in the Southern League Div.1 South so far this season.
Wearing their away kit of fluo yellow shirts, black shorts and yellow socks, the Stags got the match underway at Paulton’s First4Pools Stadium and soon found themselves defending a free-kick from the Paulton right, 15 yards into Totton’s half. Ed Butcher, distinctive in his bright pink boots, sent in a high ball that Lewis Noice claimed confidently in a crowded penalty area.
Rob Flooks then conceded another free-kick for shirt-pulling on Jack Ball, much closer to goal, on the corner of the Totton penalty area. Butcher curled in a fiercely struck cross-shot that flew over the bar, with some of his teammates asking why he didn’t centre the ball for them.
Totton’s first foray forward in the 5th minute resulted in a strong penalty claim. Callum Baughan’s throw from close to half-way on the right-wing touchline was flicked on by Brett Williams, knocking over the Rovers captain Neil Martin in the process. The ball reached Hisham Kasimu just outside the Paulton area. Daniel Dempsey began tussling with the Stags striker as he made his way into the box, initially withstanding the pressure until eventually going down amid loud appeals for a spot-kick from the Totton contingent. The Referee erred on the side of caution and awarded a free-kick, instead. From the right side of the D, Ethan Taylor’s low, curling left-footed shot was comfortable for Aaron Sainsbury in the Paulton goal.
Incidentally, Taylor and Sainsbury are dead ringers for one another - except, while Taylor is clean-shaven, Sainsbury has a goatee, which by the law of film and television, makes him Ethan Taylor’s evil twin!
After the visitors had mounted a couple of promising attacks that didn’t lead to anything tangible, Flooks picked out Baughan running into an advanced position on the right-wing. He lobbed a cross into the danger area but Paulton defended it well. Then, Baughan was back in his defensive role, reading the flight of a well-struck cross-field pass to prevent the peroxide blonde-haired Will Harvey exploiting the space behind the Totton right-back.
Around the 10th minute of the match, Rovers defender Daniel Dempsey needed treatment for a blow to the face that caused a bloody nose. Ade Olumuyiwa headed away strongly from the free-kick. Then, Martin picked out Butcher on the Paulton left-wing but Olumuyiwa was there again to shut the door on the home side’s attacking intent. The Stags continued to find themselves pinned back inside their own half for a prolonged period. But they didn’t panic, did the sensible things well and dealt with what Paulton could throw at them to protect Lewis Noice and his goal.
Paulton forward Jack Ball was shown the yellow card for a foul on Flooks deep in the Totton half, enabling the visitors to finally relieve the pressure. And they were soon on the front foot when Shaquille Gwengwe controlled the ball near half-way and clipped it down the line to feed the run of Brett Williams. With the ball on his right foot, the Stags striker floated a beautiful, inviting cross to the far side where Kasimu headed back and down for Freddie Read. He couldn’t get a shot away so squared it for Taylor, who tried to complete a one-two - and such overplaying allowed Josiah Dunstan to run the ball out of his defensive line.
Towards the 20-minute mark, both sides were contributing to an engrossing, competitive match from which they both needed the points to keep their hopes of making the promotion play-offs on-track.
Jordan Ragguette played Kasimu in down the left-hand side for Totton. His marker tried to see the ball out for a goal-kick but Kasimu refused to give up the chase, eventually contorting his body around his man to keep the ball in play and, just as Kasimu was about to tee-up the incoming Freddie Read, the already grounded Neil Martin stretched out his left leg to make a crucial intervention that gave his teammates time to get back in numbers and smother the second ball.
The flight of the ball out to the Totton left-back area caught out Ragguette momentarily, threatening to allow Leighton Thomas space in behind him, but Ragguette regathered lost ground quickly to throw himself in the way just as the prolific marksman was winding up for a strike on goal. A foul by Kasimu by the byline on that side gave Paulton a free-kick in a very dangerous position; Butcher whipped it in but Noice punched firmly away at his near post.
Clever off-the-ball running by Kasimu in the 24th minute created space for Taylor to let fly from distance but Sainsbury saved well, low to his left. Then, over on the left flank, Gwengwe took advantage of the rule about not being offside from throw-ins to ghost in behind the Rovers back line and pull the ball back to Kasimu. He centred for Williams, whose touch was too faint to direct the ball at goal, letting the hosts off the hook.
Butcher received the ball on the Paulton left and ran at Callum Baughan, but the Stags full-back stuck to his task by tracking his opponent’s advance and squeezing him into an acute angle from where he thrashed his shot wide of the near post.
Totton then had to defend another flurry of free-kicks; Medway did well to head out an in-swinging cross before Butcher subsequently sent the last of them into the side-netting behind the right-hand post.
TAYLOR-MADE CHANCE: AFC Totton's Ethan Taylor came close to opening the scoring for the Stags with a well-struck free-kick at Paulton Rovers.
A neat turn by Kasimu to evade the Rovers left-back, Nuno Felix, by half-way, enabled him to play Gwengwe in but he was brought down on the edge of the penalty area, to the right of the D. Taylor stepped up, again, this time striking a left-foot curler towards the bottom-right corner. Sainsbury got down quickly to make a full length save, parrying the ball wide for a corner. Read swung the ball in from the left-hand side but Jack Ball was back to head away for his side from right in front of his keeper.
A few minutes later, Ball went down under Olumuyiwa’s challenge on the Paulton left, 25 yards from the goal-line. Harvey’s cross was met by the imposing figure of Dunstan on the edge of the area but his header was straight at Noice.
Freddie Read played the ball forward from mid-way inside his own half to pick out Williams in the centre-circle, whose exquisite control and turn enabled him to strike a perfectly-weighted pass just beyond the stride of Nuno Felix to where Gwengwe could run onto it in the inside-right with Sainsbury’s goal at his mercy, but he blazed his effort over the crossbar.
Olumuyiwa’s cross-field free-kick from the right-hand side was headed on by Taylor to Kasimu, who tried to back his way towards the near post. But he couldn’t find the space to turn and strike the ball, instead seeing it run out of play for a goal-kick.
Sainsbury had to rush out of his goal on 40 minutes, to stop Williams latching onto a long ball down the centre. Then, the offside flag came to the home side’s rescue when Martins miss-hit clearance flew up rather than out, Gwengwe and Taylor taking advantage to free Kasimu down the left, who appeared to have made his run from an onside position.
As the first-half drew to a close, Taylor managed to force a handball by the right-wing byline, a few yards from the edge of the Paulton penalty area. Williams dashed across the near post and was within a whisker of converting Taylor’s low fizzer of a cross, Olumuyiwa also coming close to getting a decisive touch at the far post before the ball went out for a goal-kick. Any kind of solid touch would have resulted in a goal, but it just wasn’t to be.
Taylor was then back defending in his left-back area to prevent Thomas getting past him, despite impressive skills by the Paulton striker. Then, before the two minutes of first-hall stoppage time were up, Kasimu tried to twist his way between two defenders in the Paulton box, after receiving the ball from Baughan’s throw. The Frenchman went down under the challenge but the half-hearted nature of the Totton penalty appeals told their own story about the validity of that claim,
The Referee’s whistle brought an end to a first-half in which Paulton had the lion’s share of possession but Totton had created more chances to break the deadlock, with both sides going in at the break with good reasons to feel both frustrated and satisfied.
HALF-TIME
PAULTON ROVERS 0
AFC TOTTON 0
The second-half had barely begun before Ethan Taylor earned himself a yellow card with a push in the back of an opponent near half-way. Then, Baughan was penalised for handball, when a cross from the Paulton left-wing corner hit his raised arm. But, once again, Totton defended the set-piece well and cleared the danger.
Ade Olumuyiwa took a Totton free-kick from the right-hand side and the ball bounced over the first defender with Kasimu lurking in the space behind. But Dunstan got across to head away for a corner on the Totton right. Taylor’s cross was sent back across goal by Gwengwe but there was nobody in the middle to capitalise on the chance.
Callum Baughan made an excellent sliding tackle to deny Harvey the opportunity to raid on the Totton goal, after intelligent hold-up play by Leighton Thomas in the centre. Then, with Paulton’s defensive line retreating under the shadow of a high ball forward, Martin headed out to present Brett Williams with the chance to strike on the volley from all of 30 yards, but the effort lacked power and was gratefully scooped up by the keeper, Sainsbury.
The all-action Callum Baughan put his body in the way of Butcher’s shot, after he’d been picked out by the pass of the headband-sporting midfielder Liban Ibrahim. Then, the Stags right-back was called upon again to head clear from a long throw on the Paulton left.
Totton were struggling to create chances in the second half, so Hisham Kasimu took matters into his own hands in the 56th minute. He received the ball close to the centre-circle and then, with three Paulton players in tow, set off on a bustling charge towards the left flank and forwards, progressing all the way into the Rovers penalty area before a determined Ibrahim eventually slid in to concede a corner, leaving two of the Paulton players on their haunches as Totton set-up for the corner. Read’s delivery was cleared but Totton maintained the pressure, with Taylor winning a free-kick 30 yards out in a central position for a foul by Martin, for which the Paulton captain was shown the yellow card. With Taylor and Olumuyiwa both standing over the ball, it was, surprisingly, the Stags centre-back who went for goal, sending the ball wide of the right-hand upright.
HEAVILY INVOLVED: Stags defender Ade Olumuyiwa was involved in incidents at both ends of the pitch at Paulton Rovers.
Experienced defending by Flooks was enough to lever Thomas off the ball, as he threatened to get in down the Paulton left around the hour mark. Jimmy Ball then withdrew Shaq Gwengwe and sent on Jake Adams in his place, who immediately had Nuno Felix tracking him and making a timely tackle to prevent him exploiting Kasimu’s cross-field ball.
Callum Baughan kept himself warm as the air turned chill by overlapping Adams on the right to deliver a cross into the centre, which skimmed the forehead of Taylor, from a slick move that had begun with Kasimu and Taylor linking up in the middle before the Stags No.10 brought the wide men into the game.
There was a scare for Totton shortly after, when Ragguette did well to read the play and intercept Harvey’s through-ball to Thomas, only to then give the ball straight back to Harvey, who darted down the right-hand side and crossed to the far post where Thomas was ideally-placed to connect with a header, 8 yards out. But Baughan did enough from the non-goal side of the striker to put him off, the ball coming off his forehead and rebounding over the bar.
Harry Medway incensed the home crowd with a miss-timed run and jump that effectively charged into and dumped Harvey into the turf, the Stags skipper fortunate to get away without a booking. Brett Williams defended the free-kick like a veteran centre-back, first heading firmly away and then booting the second ball into the stratosphere.
A combination of midfield tenacity and skilful trickery by Freddie Read created space to find Adams on the right-hand side, near the dug-outs on half-way. His angled through-ball put Kasimu into the inside-left channel, where he momentarily looked like he was going to scamper straight through on goal. But the ball wouldn’t sit down for him and, when he tried to shoot, the outstretched leg of James Byrne deflected the ball wide of the left-hand post.
As the match entered its last 15 minutes, pressure from the Totton forwards and midfielders prevented Paulton from playing out of their own half, in a much more spirited Stags display than at Bideford on Tuesday night, though the Referee called a stop to the play to give Olumuyiwa a talking to about persistent fouling. The lively Adams looked like Totton’s most likely source of a goalscoring chance, popping up on either flank to take on full-backs and deliver balls into the box, occasionally opting to drive infield and go for goal himself.
Rob Flooks was booked when Paulton substitute Leighton Tuodolo charged through two challenges in midfield and tried to exploit 40 yards of empty grass behind the Totton centre-back, who prevented that by taking his man out in the centre-circle. The high ball delivered into the box found Olumuyiwa isolated between two Paulton attackers, but the Stags defender bravely rose to the challenge and headed clear.
A Rovers free-kick on the right-hand side, shortly after, was whipped in low by Butcher, the ball taking a nick off an ankle as players of both sides ran across its path, requiring Lewis Noice to make an excellent reflex save low to his right to turn the ball away and maintain the visitors’ clean sheet. The subsequent corner didn’t come to anything, but Butcher had the game’s next chance with a snapshot that he sent wide of the left-hand post from just outside the Totton penalty area.
Jack Hoey, recently recovered from COVID, came on for Ethan Taylor for the last 10 minutes. Medway and Read combined to win the ball back for Totton in midfield, the latter laying it back to Ragguette whose forward pass picked out Kasimu in the middle, with his back to goal. His lay off fed Adams on the left wing, and the young playmaker beat his man before sending in a cross that deflected off a defender to wrong-foot Williams, who was charging in behind him.
Olumuyiwa’s high free-kick was headed goal-ward by Williams, Dunstan getting in the way to deflect it wide. Read’s cross presented Flooks with a good chance at the near post, but again for Totton, what should have been the decisive touch was a glancing one that failed to direct the ball on-target.
Adams was getting into his stride, jinking and jiving past defenders with stepovers and tricks before delivering into the box, but Paulton were able to repel the ball before Totton could capitalise. Then, the Stags sub had a long-range effort blocked on the edge of the area, after drifting infield through two midfielders and driving a low shot with his left foot.
LATE CHANCE: Hisham Kasimu had a last-gasp opportunity to win it for AFC Totton at Paulton Rovers but couldn't get the decisive touch.
Into the last four minutes of regulation time, Read’s free-kick from the right-hand side picked out Harry Medway on the far side of goal. He headed across the 6-yard box with Williams and Kasimu both descending upon the goal with a defender positioned between them. It wasn’t clear who got the decisive touch, but the ball seemed to run under Kasimu’s foot just as he was about to win the game for Totton, squirming under his stride and away to safety for the home side. A golden chance gone to waste.
Read and Adams worked the right corner of the penalty area, creating space for Adams to shoot but he got under the ball and looped it well over the top.
The board then went up to indicate four minutes of stoppage time, though that was interrupted by a collision near the centre-circle that took out Kasimu and Martin. When play resumed, Medway got the ball forward for Totton, and Hoey directed it out to the left but Adams couldn’t reach it to maintain the attack. Then, with Olumuyiwa pushed up as an emergency centre-forward, as the visitors went in search of all three points, Ragguette was presented with one last chance to put a telling delivery into the box. But, Paulton defended their own clean sheet and held out until the Referee’s final whistle confirmed a point-a-piece.
Elsewhere, goals from ex-Stag Jonathan Davies and Michael Baker gave top club Frome Town a valuable away win at Willand Rovers. But, Plymouth Parkway are hot on their heels, just two points behind with two games in-hand, and they kept up the pressure with a 4-1 victory over Lymington Town, for whom AFC Totton-loanee Harrison Cable was once again on-target.
Two goals each for Jake Lee and Joshua Grace-Parsons took Cirencester Town to a handsome 5-1 win at Mangotsfield United. Bristol Manor Farm also won, beating Sholing by a single Kye Simpson goal.
And Winchester City’s 2-0 victory at Larkhall Athletic, courtesy of goals by Craig Feeney and Oliver Balmer, completed a miserable day for the Stags - the only team in the top 6 not to win - as the Citizens leapfrogged them into the last of the play-off spots, with four games to go.
The latest Southern League Div.1 South table
Match Report by Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
