AFC Totton
AFC Totton lost at home after Mangotsfield scored the only goal of the game to give the Stags a 1-0 defeat in the Evo-Stik Southern South & West Division One.
Ben Bament’s shot from twenty yards just seconds before the interval was enough to see the Mangos take all three points back up the A36 to home.
It was a cold night at the Testwood Stadium and it took a while for the action to heat up. With ten minutes gone, the Stags had the first attempt on goal, but Nathaniel Sherborne’s shot went wide.
But it was Mangotsfield who had the first big chance on the 19th minute. A corner into the box found its way to Ryan Batten, and the centre back volleyed powerfully from twelve yards out; Totton goalkeeper Stephen Mowthorpe got down to keep it from going in.
Mowthorpe’s palms was stung again on the 26th minute; the Mangos winger Elliot Gibbons dribbled his way past a few tackles, but his shot went straight at the Stags keeper who pushed it out for a corner.
Totton midfielder Neil Williams struck a mean shot of his own with ten minutes of the first half to go but his volley from just inside the box went just wide of Phillips’ goal.
Williams then went agonizingly close to opening the scoring on 40 minutes, but his slide to get on the end of Michael Gosney’s cross was just inches away and Totton were punished seconds later.
With no apparent danger, Mangotsfield striker Bament suddenly unleashed a shot from the edge of the box that left Mowthorpe with no chance as the ball flew into the top left corner to leave Totton 1-0 down at half-time.
Mowthorpe was again busy ten minutes after the restart. Lewis Hogg tried curling into the bottom corner from just outside the box but the Totton stopper got down to his left to push it behind for a corner.
Totton so nearly equalized with twenty minutes to go through Sherborne, but the striker’s header from Nick Watts whipped cross looped just over the Mangotsfield bar. Just seconds later the Totton forward did put the ball into the Mangos net, but the linesman ruled him offside.
Watts nearly put the Stags back on level terms with just minutes left as his cross from the byline despairingly floated across the Mangotsfield goal, but it wasn’t enough as Totton fell to defeat at the Testwood stadium.
Mowthorpe- Hibberd (Knight 82’), Wilson, Roden, Diaper- Alexander, Williams, Burgess (Allen 75’)- Watts, Sherborne, Gosney.
Phillips, Bennett, Parrinello, Batten, Brice, Abraham, Gibbons, Shipp, Harris (Bryan 67’), Bament (Hill 90’), Hogg.
