The LONG READ: WESTBURY UNITED 3-1 AFC TOTTON, FA Cup 1Q

EMIRATES FA CUP | First Round Qualifying
Saturday 31 August 2024 | Platinum Hyundai Park, Westbury, Wiltshire | Att: Unknown

SECOND-BEST STAGS OVERRUN BY WHITE HORSE MEN IN FA CUP UPSET

WESTBURY UNITED 3
Bevan Cross 44mins;
Will Taylor 56mins;
Marcel Lewis 64mins

AFC TOTTON 1
Scott Rendell 85mins

AFC TOTTON’S 2024/25 FA CUP ADVENTURE was ended almost as soon as it had begun with a surprise defeat by Southern League Division One South side Westbury United at The White Horse Men’s Platinum Hyundai Park in Wiltshire (Saturday 31 August 2024).

Having served his three-match suspension following his opening day expulsion against Walton & Hersham, Josh Owers returned to Totton’s midfield. Ethan Taylor made his first start of the season and Marcus Daws returned to the starting line-up for the first time since the win at Sholing. Tom Blair and Tony Lee dropped to the bench, where they were joined by Marcel McIntosh, who had a loan spell with The Stags from Norwich City at the end of last season and has now signed for the club on a permanent basis.

This was the fourth cup-tie of Westbury United’s FA Cup campaign, having already overcome Hamble Club in an Extra Preliminary Round match that went to a replay, and AFC Portchester in the Preliminary Round.

WESTBURY UNITED: 1. Jonny HILL; 3. Ryan BOLE (Capt.); 5. Aaron COCKERILL; 7. Joe BEARDWELL; 8. Aaron WITCHELL; 10. Charlie WALTON; 11. Bevan CROSS; 16. Joel SMEDLEY; 17. Will TAYLOR; 18. Dan RESTORICK; 19. Marcel LEWIS. Substitutes: 2. Steve HULBERT; 4. Ashton SHANLEY; 6. Sean KEET; 9. Harvey FLIPPANCE; 12. Ed BUTCHER; 15. Ben ASHFIELD; 20. Will THOMSON. Substitutions: BUTCHER for LEWIS (65mins); THOMSON for WALTON (65mins); KEET for W.TAYLOR (75mins); HULBERT for BERDWELL (85mins). Yellow Card: W.TAYLOR (Foul).

AFC TOTTON: 13. Joshua GOULD; 2. Joe OASTLER; 6. Sam MAGRI; 8. Adam TOMASSO; 9. Scott RENDELL (Capt.); 10. Ethan TAYLOR; 11. Charlie AUSTIN; 12. Luke HALLETT; 14. Joshua OWERS; 17. Declan ROSE; 20. Marcus DAWS. Substitutes: 1. Nico TROJANOWSKI; 4. Owen PELHAM; 7. Harvey REW; 15. Marcel McINTOSH; 16. Luke BENNETT; 18. Tony LEE; 19. Tom BLAIR. Substitutions: BLAIR for DAWS (45mins); LEE for MAGRI (62mins); REW for TAYLOR (72mins); McINTOSH for ROSE (72mins). Yellow Card: ROSE (Foul).

The Stags started the game in confident mood, bossing possession of the football for much of the first half, although it was the home side who created the first real opening of the cup-tie when Marcel Lewis turned onto his right from the left flank and picked out Joe Beardwell whose downward header was pushed wide by Goud at full-stretch.

Adam Tomasso disrupted a counter-attack in the making by dispossessing Lewis around the halfway line, and was called again shortly after to block Beardwell’s cross. However, the rebound fell back to the Westbury forward and with his second attempt, he found the head of Charlie Walton, who headed over the bar.

WORTH A DIP: Adam Tomasso tries his luck with a shot from outside the box.

Sam Magri was afforded the space to bring the ball into the host’s half of the pitch. His eyes lit up and he went for goal from distance, but dragged his effort wide to the left.

Taylor and Owers were linking well down the Totton left, with the latter making darting runs into the channel, and Westbury Goalkeeper Jonny Hill had to parry an Owers shot wide of his right-hand post to prevent Totton taking the lead. Then, high pressing from Scott Rendell and Tomasso won the ball back for The Stags in a promising position, but the pass to Marcus Daws on the right was cut-out by defender Aaron Cockerill.

As Ethan Taylor made progress into the left side of the Westbury United penalty area, his stride pattern appeared to be broken by a clip of his heel from a Westbury defender. But the winger didn’t go down and the referee saw nothing untoward.

Good approach work by Lewis and Westbury’s Will Taylor was undone when Walton trod on the ball within shooting range, just outside the Totton box. Then, Totton came within a whisker of opening the scoring when Luke Hallett’s pass was controlled by Declan Rose on his chest, as he advanced to inside-right. He hooked the ball into the middle where Rendell teed up Owers, whose shot smacked the right-hand post before Westbury scrambled it clear.

Rose had his shot turned around the post by Hill, from a short lay-off by Daws on the Totton right. Then, when Rose won another corner on the right, Owers curled in a cross that appeared to beat Hill but was headed off the line by a defender. Rose was then booked for a foul, after a quickly-taken Totton free-kick broke down and Westbury threatened to launch a counter-attack.

HERE WE GO, JOE: AFC Totton defender Joe Oastler in possession.

Hill produced an impressive save to bat a 35-yard effort from Rose away from the top-right corner of the Westbury goal. The corner was taken short and a subsequent foul led to a Totton free-kick. Again, it was taken quickly and Westbury stole possession back and set off on a counter-attack, which Tomasso dismantled by belting the ball high over the trees alongside the pitch and into a neighbouring household’s back garden.

Lines of sight are not the best at Platinum Hyundai Park, where sitting in the main stand means that your view of either of the near-side corners is blocked by the dug-outs. Westbury appealed for a penalty against one of the Totton players from their right-wing cross, but the referee waved play on.

A Cruyff Turn by Daws saw him spin away from two Westbury players at the halfway line, but Bole was well-positioned to dispossess him as he tried to advance into the opposition half. Then, Taylor controlled Luke Hallett’s long diagonal and crossed to Daws, coming in from the far side of the penalty area, whose right-footed volley struck a defender.

But just as Totton appeared to be gaining the upper hand, Westbury midfielder Aaron Witchell picked up possession to the right of the halfway line and set off a diagonal run that saw him glide past three Totton players. He advanced to about 25 yards from the Totton goal before slipping the ball to the right of the D, where Bevan CROSS had the time and space to pick his spot and fire The White Horse Men into the lead.

Within a minute, Ethan Taylor flashed a low cross into Westbury’s six-yard box from the left but it eluded both Rendell and Austin. And then Daws had an in-swinging corner headed off the goal line, leaving the home side’s lead in tact at the break.

HALF-TIME: WESTBURY UNITED 1-0 AFC TOTTON

Totton came out fighting but they were almost undone on the counter-attack when Lewis and Cross combined to put Beardwell in at the left post. At too tight an angle to shoot, he pulled the ball back towards the penalty spot where Hallett managed to stab clear. Then, Westbury captain Ryan Bole drove a free-kick directly at Gould.

Tom Blair, who had come on at half-time in place of Marcus Daws, won a free-kick on the Totton right for a foul by Bole. His cross bounced up at Rendell but was cleared before he could turn the ball towards goal. Then, Hallett was pulled up for a foul during an aerial challenge in the centre-circle.

A moment of confusion between Rose and Gould resulted in an unnecessary corner on the home side’s left. And Totton were made to pay the price when an in-swinging cross from Westbury’s Will TAYLOR deceived Gould and flew into the net.

Totton went straight on the attack but Ethan Taylor’s cross from the left was too high for anybody to connect with it. His namesake on the Westbury team was then shown the yellow card for a late foul on Charlie Austin in midfield, shortly before Beardwell’s infield pass from the home side’s right flank enabled Walton to take aim with a shot that was blocked by the Totton defence.

INCOMING: Luke Hallett sends the ball into the Westbury United penalty area.

Blair’s cross from the Totton right eluded Rendell at the back post. Then, when Gould tried to bowl the ball out to set Blair away again, Bole read the situation and intercepted, before threading a forward pass to Lewis, who fired wide.

Jimmy Ball withdrew defender Sam Magri in favour of another striker in Tony Lee. But the home side could smell blood and earned themselves another corner when Charlie Walton’s shot was parried behind by Gould. The corner was taken quickly and by the time The Stags’ defence were alert to the danger, Marcel LEWIS had already drifted into the box from the left-hand side and poked an early shot past the stranded Gould.

Totton tried to throw the kitchen sink at Westbury in an attempt to save their own FA Cup lives. But the home side were content to adopt a resolute basketball-like defence of their own penalty area; happy for The Stags to occupy the ball in wide areas, safe in the knowledge they could deal with the vast majority of anything delivered in the air. For their part, while they always looked comfortable on the ball, Totton lacked the creative spark to produce any kind of threat through the middle of the pitch.

Rendell, Lee and Blair combined to work the ball forward quickly, but Westbury shut the door in their path when Blair tried to get a shot away. Owers and Blair both had free-kick deliveries cleared from either flank, then Ethan Taylor leapt well but couldn’t bet a meaningful connection on a deep cross from the right.

BACK IN THE FOLD: Marcel McIntosh has returned to AFC Totton on a permanent basis, after his recent release by Norwich City.

Ethan Taylor and Declan Rose were replaced by Harvey Rew and Marcel McIntosh, with about 18 minutes to go. Hallett steered an effort wide to the right from McIntosh’s deflected cross. Westbury made some substitutions of their own, which served to slow the game down and strengthen their defensive resolve. Ed Butcher took the ball from McIntosh and set off on a lung-busting run down the Westbury left wing, which Oastler brought to an end with a sliding tackle. Then, Hallett and Tomasso had to double-up to prevent Beardwell profiting from a long ball down the middle.

Blair got in behind Bole to raid from the Totton right, cutting infield to shoot left-footed. The ball hit ‘keeper Hill and bounced behind him before a covering defender cleared.

Scott RENDELL pulled one goal back with five minutes to go, stooping to head the ball into the far corner from McIntosh’s high, right-wing cross.

CONSOLATION GOAL: Scott Rendell pulls one back for The Stags, but it proved to be too little too late for their 2024/25 FA Cup campaign.

Lee got up well but headed wide from Hallett’s cross from deep on the right. And Lee went close again, pulling an impressive save from Hill to shovel the ball over the bar. Totton continued to press and McIntosh’s energy posed a different kind of problem, but Westbury United emerged as deserved winners.

Watch JIMMY BALL’S Post-Match Interview

Watch JOE OASTLER’S Post-Match Interview

AFC Totton FIXTURES

By Ben Rochey-Adams

Images courtesy of Sayers Sports Photography