AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION SOUTH - Matchday#10
Tuesday 17 October 2023 | The Imperial Homes Stadium, Southampton | Att: 409
GOSNEY'S SAVE ENSURE BOATMEN HOLD THE STAGS TO A STALEMATE
SHOLING 0
AFC TOTTON 0
AFC TOTTON DREW THEIR SECOND BLANK in a week with a goalless mid-week draw at Sholing, largely due to another impressive display from The Boatmen’s goalkeeper Ryan Gosney, who made three crucial saves to keep his team level.
AFC TOTTON
STAGS - Starting XI
1. Lewis NOICE
6. Luke HALLETT
15. Sam MAGRI
5. Charlie KENNEDY
3. Jordan RAGGUETTE
4. Mike CARTER
8. Adam TOMASSO
14. Ben WINTERBURN
17. Leon MALONEY
9. Scott RENDELL (Capt.)
10. Ethan TAYLOR
12. Jordan CHIEDOZIE
Substitutes
2. Benny READ
7. Joseph OASTLER
11. Matty BURROWS
16. Alfie STANLEY
20. Remus NIXON
Stags skipper Mike Carter was named in the starting line-up for the first time since the opening day of the season, and he was involved in the game early on, making two strong headers to stop Sholing making progress up the pitch while Totton pinned them back to their own defensive third. The visitors passed the ball with real zip, but their hosts came into this game with the early-season injury crisis that left them wide open when these two sides met in Emirates FA Cup First Round Qualifying now resolved.
Ragguette needed treatment for a facial injury after clashing with Daniel Mason under a high ball. From the free-kick, Totton traded up for a corner on the right-hand side, but Maloney’s near post cross was headed away by a red-and-white striped defender.
Chiedozie and Rendell made progress down the right but with no pay-off. Then, Taylor chested down to enable Rendell to feed Ragguette down the left side of Sholing’s box; his cross was turned away for a corner, from which Totton didn’t take advantage. They were getting into the swing of things, though, continuing to push Sholing back. Maloney played a one-two to put Ragguette in again, and he wrapped a dangerous cross close to the penalty spot, where Chiedozie was only a step too far away to connect.
Ryan Gosney was called into action when Taylor received possession from a right-wing throw-in and advanced infield across the edge of the penalty area. He slipped but the ball ran through to Chiedozie, who held it up and checked on to his left foot before Taylor, back on his feet, took over once more and drove a well-struck shot towards the bottom-right corner which Gosney reacted to sharply to push the ball wide of the post. Sholing managed to clear the corner at the third attempt.
Carter’s comeback was cut short midway through the first half when he made a lunging tackle to reclaim possession on the halfway line, and appeared to catch his studs in the turf. He received treatment and struggled on for a few minutes, but he was limping and after realising he couldn’t run it off, he gave way for Benny Read to come on. Kennedy, who began the game at centre-back, moved into midfield with Hallett slotting back into his usual central defensive berth and Read taking up the right full-back position.
Taylor and Ragguette combined on the Totton left, having identified Bradley Targett as a weak link operating at right-back for the home side. They worked Ragguette to the left-wing byline and he pulled back to Chiedozie, unmarked in the middle. But the ball got stuck under the striker’s feet, giving the defence time to recover and clear.
Chiedozie intercepted a poor defensive clearance and found Rendell on the left of the box, from where his snapshot was deflected wide for a corner. Taylor’s delivery was headed upward at the near post, and Gosney was awarded a free-kick for a push.
After a spell of pinball in midfield, Rendell tried to play Taylor through the middle but the Totton No.10 couldn’t get there before Gosney gathered the ball at the edge of his box.
Sholing were holding on at the back but finding it difficult to create chances. Ex-Totton midfielder Charlie Davis might have felt he a point to prove against his former team but when given the opportunity to produce something from a free-kick in an advanced position on the left touchline, he bent the ball straight into the arms of Lewis Noice.
Maloney and Taylor combined on the left flank; Maloney got crowded out on the edge of the box and Taylor took up the loose ball, but his cross was too fierce for either Rendell or Chiedozie to make a meaningful connection with it. Then, Scott Rendell took a whack in the face from Owen Roundell-Pierce, as they competed for a high ball.
Ragguette’s pass sent Taylor to the left-wing corner flag, from where he tussled his way past Targett and closed in on goal along the byline, before teeing up Maloney just behind the penalty spot. The former Portsmouth man struck a fierce shot which Gosney did brilliantly to parry past the post for a corner. Taylor’s cross was headed away by the resolute defence.
Substitute Read got forward on the right and fired in a low cross that flashed between Rendell and two defenders, where any touch could have seen the ball rebound into the net.
As the first half reached its end, Maloney’s clever through-ball gave Read the chance to cut inside from the right of the area to wrong-foot two defenders. He had to dig the ball out from under his feet and when he got his shot away, he fired it over the crossbar. During four minutes of stoppage time, Totton continued to probe while Sholing held their ground. Taylor was booked for throwing the ball away after the Referee gave the home side a goal-kick rather than the free-kick he thought he deserved for being bundled off the ball at the byline.
HALF-TIME: SHOLING 0-0 AFC TOTTON
Sholing won an early second-half free-kick when Davis was brought down by Tomasso. But his delivery from the set-piece was again straight to Noice in the Totton goal.
When Totton had a free-kick of their own, 25 yards out on the right-hand side, Taylor crossed into the box and Davis was there to head away; Tomasso was called up for another foul.
Another former Stag, Jake Adams, was operating at left-back for Sholing. His pass released Jake Cope down the wing until Hallett ate up the space to divert the ball wide for a corner. Cope’s cross was flicked on at the front post but looped over Lewis Noice’s crossbar and landed on top of the net.
Chiedozie raced clear of Adams when he was able to isolate him on the right flank, but not for the first time on the night, Totton’s delivery into the danger zone was too strong to give teammates any realistic chance of producing a shot on goal.
Taylor claimed a penalty when he beat Targett to a Rendell pass towards the left-wing corner and cut inside along the byline before being bodychecked. The Referee waved play on. Tomasso racked up another foul; Hallett leapt high to head the Sholing free-kick clear for The Stags.
Read had to scamper back quickly after his attempt to free Chiedozie down the right was cut-out. He made it back in time to head a long ball away before Cope could take advantage.
Davis was caught in possession in midfield but Sholing won the ball back again when Taylor over-elaborated after he had appeared to have already got the better of Targett on the left.
Kennedy played Chiedozie into space on the right, but the luckless striker shanked his cross over the bar - only to then see his shirt number being displayed on the digital board to indicate that Matty Burrows was coming on to replace him.
Ex-Saints player Lloyd Isgrove made a nuisance of himself on the Sholing right, until Taylor tackled back to reclaim the ball. Then, Burrows made his first impression on the game, by first bringing a high ball under control with an exquisite touch and then skipping around Adams to attack from the right byline, his low cross-shot forcing Gosney to dive full length and repel the ball with his left forearm. Totton regained possession and played Burrows in from the right, again. His low cross was deflected to the far post, where it fell for the left foot of Taylor, who looked certain to score his first goal of the season, only to inexplicably blaze it over the bar from about eight yards.
Sholing could have taken the lead a minute later when Cope’s low cross from the right travelled across the Totton box and Isgrove stretched on the edge of the six-yard box with Noice bearing down on him, the ball going wide of the left post.
Brad Targett was booked for bringing down Taylor just outside the left edge of the penalty area. Maloney took the free-kick, going for a powerful cross-shot that struck the three-man wall and was cleared upfield by a relieved Sholing defence.
Kennedy was caught in possession in midfield, getting back quickly enough to concede a corner that Rendell headed clear. Then, Adams sprung the offside trap from the Sholing left, but he couldn’t produce a telling cross when it mattered.
As the home side upped their intensity, Noice had to be alert to catch a dangerous cross from their right. Then, Adams was booked for tripping Burrows, 25 yards from goal, just left of centre. Burrows took it himself and tried to shoot under the wall, in anticipation of the defenders jumping; they didn’t jump high enough and the ball rebounded harmlessly away.
Read was booked for timewasting around the 70th minute, and then a bobble came to Gosney’s rescue when the ball bounced up just as Taylor was about to take aim from outside the box, after the goalkeeper had miss-hit his clearance.
Another poor kick from the usually reliable ‘keeper enabled Read to cushion a volley into Burrows, who was then dumped to the ground by Davis’s shoulder charge at the touchline before he could run at the defence, with Marvin Mclean now bringing his experience to the left-back slot and Jake Adams redeployed further up the wing.
Rendell was hobbling around for a few minutes, before Jimmy Ball made the decision to take his talismanic centre-forward off and replace him with Remus Nixon, a teenager recently signed from Hamworthy United who is dual-registered with Totton & Eling and scored on his Millers debut in 3-2 Wessex League Division One win at Clanfield last weekend.
Burrows and Read continued to offer Totton’s biggest threat from the right. The winger slipped the full-back into the inside-right channel with a pass between two defenders, but Owen Roundell-Pierce threw himself in the way of the shot to block.
Sholing attacked from their right and got an angled shot away towards the near post, where Magri smothered and cleared for a corner. Kennedy headed the cross out of Totton’s box and then chased the ball out of play near the halfway line, before Sholing could regain possession with several of their biggest players already in advanced positions.
The home side were pressing for a late winner, though, and Hallett had to first concede a corner and then be the one to head it out. The ball fell to Byron Mason, whose shot cleared the high netting behind the Totton goal and is probably still bouncing along Portsmouth Road even now.
Taylor’s free-kick from the left-wing touchline gave Hallett a gilt-edged chance to open the scoring with his head from six yards out at the far post, but the former Sholing youth player steered the ball wide. Then, Burrows made a threatening run into the box with the ball at his feet, but couldn’t find an angle to pull the trigger from his left side.
Charlie Wagstaffe had his name taken for a foul on Ragguette near halfway. Magri rolled the free-kick short to Ragguette to lob it into the box. Maloney headed across goal but there was no blue shirt in the middle to apply the decisive touch.
Having bossed most of the game, Totton ended it having to defend two late corners and a free-kick. Noice caught two deliveries and Tomasso threw himself into the line of fire to block a long-range shot to ensure the points were shared.
By Ben Rochey-Adams
