AFC Totton
SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIV.1 SOUTH
Matchday #22
SHOLING 2
Stuart Green 50mins; Dan Mason 75mins
AFC TOTTON 1
Ethan Taylor 48mins
In the second Southampton Derby of the season - the first in the Southern League Div.1 South - Sholing came from behind to claim all three points at the Mackoy Stadium last night (Tuesday) and inflict a second consecutive defeat upon AFC Totton, following the Stags’ weekend loss at Cirencester Town.
These two sides met at the same venue in the Southern League Challenge Cup in mid-October, when Totton ran out 4-1 winners. Last night’s match was the rescheduled fixture after a waterlogged pitch caused the postponement of the original meeting on New Year’s Day.
AFC Totton boss Dan Sackman kept faith with the majority of the side that travelled to Gloucester on Saturday, with Ade Olumuyiwa replacing Callum Baughan at right-back and Jack Masterton coming into the midfield in preference to Jordan Ngalo, who joined Baughan on the substitutes bench.
Sholing, in red-and-white striped shirts, black shorts and socks, drew first blood early on when Fatah Makhloufi met a deep cross from the left with a shot that was deflected before Lewis Noice pushed it away for a corner. Totton cleared the ball but Hisham Kasimu’s hopes of launching a meaningful counter-attack were thwarted by a strong tackle from ex-Stag Robin Nicholls.
Kasimu made his presence felt more effectively shortly after when Sholing goalkeeper Ryan Gosney dwelt in possession with the ball at his feet, inviting the French striker to close him down but Gosney’s eventually rushed clearance rebounded off Kasimu and went out for a goal-kick.
The persistence of forward Stuart Green, another former AFC Totton player in the Sholing ranks, enabled him to get away from Harry Medway down the right wing and fire the ball across the penalty area. Then, Bradley Targett cut inside from the left to test Noice with a well-struck low shot, which the Totton keeper dived to divert wide to his left. After being pressed back into their own defensive third for much of the early exchanges, an unnecessary push on Pascal Kpohomouh brought some welcome relief to the visitors.
Ethan Taylor found himself on the wrong end of a heavy challenge by Nicholls inside the centre-circle and right in front of the referee, for which the Stags’ winger needed treatment from physio, Andrew Hanley.
The home side continued to enjoy the better of the early running when a clumsy challenge from Ade Olumuyiwa allowed Targett to get away from him at the left-wing byline and pull the ball back to Green who, from the edge of the area, drew another save out of Noice. Targett almost went clean through from the half-way line, when his excellent first touch from a high ball enabled him to momentarily escape Olumuyiwa. But the big defender ate up the ground between them to intervene and reclaim the ball for the Stags.
As the match completed its first quarter hour, both sides were guilty of giving up possession too cheaply with badly judged long passes that either ended up being intercepted by defenders or going straight out of play down either flank, with the ball spending more time in the sky than on the Mackoy Stadium pitch.
When Jordan Ragguette and Sam Griffin got the ball down and linked up with a one-two played at pace down the inside-left, Byron Mason tracked back diligently and knocked Ragguette out of his stride with a well-timed shoulder charge to see the ball safely out for a goal-kick. Then, Brad Targett demonstrated his defensive acumen to put a stop to Hoey and Griffin’s progress through the middle.
But Totton were beginning to find their feet in the game, putting more passes together and probing for opportunities to get forward. In the 22nd minute, the Stags won a corner on their right. Read played it short to Hoey on the right edge of the penalty area and the attacking midfielder managed to poke the ball through a crowd to find Hisham Kasimu who had to stretch to take the shot, falling as he did so and firing wide of the left-hand post.
LEADING THE LINE: AFC Totton striker Hisham Kasimu.
Pascal Kpohomouh made two blocking tackles in quick succession to prevent Makhloufi going through the middle, and then the former Manchester City and Saints Academy defender had to be alert to the danger posed by Byron Mason when Hoey’s headed back-pass almost carved open his own defence.
Sam Griffin’s immaculate first touch enabled him to get forward from a long ball by Kpohomouh to win a corner on the left-hand side. Medway was denied an attempt at goal at the near post by a well-timed headed clearance. It soon came back out to Griffin on the left, who checked onto his right foot and passed square to Taylor near the penalty spot. Turning tightly past the closest defender, Taylor appeared to then be tripped. The referee waved play on, much to the vocal consternation of the Stags’ travelling party.
Shortly after the half hour mark, Targett carried the ball forward down the middle and fed Green on the left-hand touchline. Green drove into the Totton area, twisting and turning his way past Medway to make space for a shot from a tight angle that looped over the bar and landed on the roof of the net. Green was left blushing a few minutes later, though, when Olumuyiwa drew him closer by feigning difficulty with controlling the ball before turning sharply to leave the forward for dead.
A foul on Freddie Read in midfield led to Jack Masterton floating the ball high into the Sholing penalty area. Gosney jumped but flapped at the ball, as it then dropped and rebounded out for a corner off Dan Miller. Hisham Kasimu received a short corner and tried to work an angle for the shot, but Sholing resolutely shut him out.
The home side had the last meaningful effort of the first half when the experienced Dan Mason used his strength to lever Kpohomouh off the ball to find Green on the left-hand side. He shifted the ball onto his right foot and tried to curl it into the far corner, shooting narrowly wide of the post.
HALF-TIME
SHOLING 0
AFC TOTTON 0
A foul on Sam Griffin early in the second half presented Jack Hoey with a shooting opportunity from 25 yards, left of centre. He opted to drive his shot low towards the bottom-right corner but Gosney got down quickly to save it. The Sholing goalkeeper then immediately distributed the ball forward and Jordan Ragguette found himself in a last man situation, timing his tackle well despite slipping. And then, like a game of ping-pong, the ball suddenly at the other end of the pitch, with Hisham Kasimu latching onto Ragguette’s clearance and charging down the inside-left past Byron Mason and the right-back Tomasz Gruzewski before firing his angled shot past Gosney. With two defenders scrambling behind the keeper, Ethan TAYLOR got the decisive touch to give AFC Totton the lead.
Totton have had a recent tendency to concede goals very shortly after scoring them and within seconds of the restart, Targett took advantage of a mistake by Kpohomouh to go clean through, forcing Lewis Noice to block the shot but the ball was still live, leading to a goalmouth scramble and a corner to Sholing on their left. Hoey headed away and Masterton volleyed further clear, but a heavy touch by Taylor required the winger to scamper back down the wing to retrieve the ball before Green could capitalise.
But Totton shot themselves in the foot just two minutes after having gone in front. Hisham Kasimu took possession near half-way, as Totton began to transition into a counter-attack, but he seemed to hesitate and may have been slightly distracted by the proximity of the referee. Robin Nicholls stepped in to reclaim the ball for Sholing and played a forward pass along the deck to free Green through the inside-right channel and, with the time to pick his spot, Stuart GREEN thrashed the ball past Noice at the near post with an emphatic finish to level the scores with a goal against his former club.
The Boatmen had their tails up. Targett clipped the ball in behind Kpohomouh to free Green once more, but the forward couldn’t get a firm connection. Then, Masterton and Kpohomouh both had to track Targett at pace as he attempted to raid down the left wing for the home side. And Olumuyiwa had to put in a strong tackle to dispossess Green after a skilful control and turn had him threatening to run clear, before 10 minutes of helter-skelter football was brought to an end with Ethan Taylor being clattered in the centre-circle and requiring treatment.
Totton came close to going back in front in the 61st minute when Read and Kpohomouh brought the ball out defence on the right-hand side, with Masterton and Taylor joining in and Olumuyiwa going down the flank on the overlap. His cross was deflected out to the edge of the penalty area where Freddie Read met it with a rasping left-foot shot that curled inches over the crossbar with Gosney well-beaten.
MIDFIELD TERRIER: Freddie Read came close to restoring AFC Totton's lead with a long-range effort at Sholing's Mackoy Stadium.
A stumble by Harry Medway as he tried to position himself under a high ball had Totton hearts in mouth when the ball popped loose to Green, but the Stags skipper recovered and managed to intercept an attempted pass to Makhloufi. Then, after Targett was given treatment for a knock in midfield, Sam Griffin managed to whittle his way through a clutch of Sholing defenders down the inside-left, but Gosney saved his low shot.
Stuart Green was a constant thorn in the side of the Stags and he almost embarrassed Medway by latching onto the defender’s headed back-pass, but Noice managed to get his body in the way. Then, in the 68th minute, Jordan Ngalo came on for Jack Hoey in the Totton midfield and Sholing introduced Claudio Herbert, who impressed in the previous match between these sides, in place of Brad Targett.
Fatah Makhloufi’s took possession in midfield and threaded the ball into the path of Green’s diagonal run into the inside-left. With that side of his defence exposed, Noice did well to force Green wide, all the way to the byline, but with veteran left-back Marvin McLean providing support, Sholing earned a corner. Olumuyiwa met Green’s cross near the back post and headed over for another corner. This time, Green fired the ball in low to the near post where Byron Mason tried to flick it on but Totton managed to smother the ball away.
A poor kick by Gosney resulted in a corner to Totton on the right-hand side. Read’s cross to the near post was met by a diving header from Medway but Miller was in the way.
In the 75th minute, Dan Mason found space on the Sholing left, moved infield and squared the ball to Makhloufi as Totton defenders poured back into position. Ragguette made a tackle and tripped the Sholing No.7 to concede a free-kick to the right of the D. With a three-man wall to contend with, Dan MASON stepped up with a firm right-foot shot that left Lewis Noice rooted to the spot as it flew past him to his left and into the goal to put the Boatmen in front.
Dan Sackman responded immediately by sending Shaquille Gwengwe into the fray, in favour of Ethan Taylor, as his team faced the test of staring back-to-back league defeats in the face for the first time this season. Gwengwe was lively, keen to hassle defenders and work his way down the lines, and he won a corner on the left-hand side. Freddie Read’s cross was too high for Olumuyiwa but Griffin tried a shot from the right that was well-blocked.
Sholing are by no means a dirty or over-aggressive side, but there was a marked difference between their ability and willingness to make strong, decisive tackles in the midfield and Totton’s preference of trying to play their way around their opponents. But a late tackle by Owen Roundell that caught Jack Masterton mid-turn left the Stags’ midfielder on the ground in some discomfort, resulting in a yellow card for Roundell. Masterton was withdrawn shortly after, with George Britton stepping off the bench to replace him. Stuart Green also went off for Sholing, with Conor Whiteley - who scored the home team’s goal in the previous meeting - coming on.
The skilful Claudio Herbert shot wide from Makhloufi’s pass. Then, with time rapidly running out, Jordan Ngalo tried to bulldoze his way down the left flank before crossing to Kasimu. The striker tried to improvise a shot on goal despite the awkward height at which the ball came to him but Gosney was well-positioned. Gwengwe continued to press defenders while looking for scraps, but Sholing saw the game out with a strong rearguard action.
The result takes Sholing above AFC Totton into 3rd position in the Southern League Div.1 South. The Boatmen have enough games in-hand to be eyeing top spot, with Frome Town and Cirencester Town both within reach. Winchester City and Bristol Manor Farm are the two teams immediately behind Totton in the table but the Stags will have their eye on Plymouth Parkway, who are now 7th after thrashing Slimbridge 6-1 in last night’s only other match. Parkway’s adventures in the Buildbase FA Trophy and the occasional postponement leaves them having played four matches fewer than Dan Sackman’s men, putting them firmly into play-off contention.
Match Report by Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
