AFC Totton
VENUE:
Mortage Decisions Stadium, Portsmouth Road, Southampton SO19 9PW
Tuesday 13 August 2024 | Kick-Off at 7:45pm
TWO ARCH RIVALS from either side of the Itchen Bridge, who both made winning starts to their respective Southern League Premier Division South campaigns at the weekend, will go head-to-head at the Mortgage Decisions Stadium on Portsmouth Road tomorrow night (Tuesday 13 August 2024).
Paul Doswell’s Sholing went behind to a Toby Holland goal midway through the first half at Swindon Supermarine. But ex-Saint Jake Hesketh levelled just past the hour mark, shortly before the former AFC Totton midfielder Charlie Gunson, who joined Sholing from Salisbury in the closed season, came up with the winner to claim all three points on his competitive debut for The Boatmen.
It’s been a summer of change for the team that finished last season in 15th place, following Doswell’s mid-season succession of long-serving manager Dave Daiper, and the instigation of a number of initiatives aimed at attracting more fans to the ground at Gunners Keep. Such illustrious names as Matt Le Tissier and the Chelsea defender Levi Colwill, who is the nephew of fan favourites Byron and Dan Mason, have been recruited to the cause, and a home win over their fiercest local rivals tomorrow night would go a long way to maintaining the feel-good factor, following their success at the Webbswood Stadium on Saturday.
Gunson is not the only former Stag now plying their trade in the red-and-white of Sholing. Full-back Benny Read made the move across the Itchen Bridge following his release from the Snows Stadium in the summer. He is joined by former Totton loanees Joe Rabbetts, formerly of Aldershot Town and Dorking Wanderers, and Seung-Woo Yang, who has signed permanently for The Boatmen after being released by Eastleigh. Attacking midfielder Billy Stedman, who spent last season with Bracknell Town, was involved in The Stags’ pre-season campaign last summer.
Although long-serving goalkeeper Ryan Gosney joined Salisbury last season, and despite several newcomers, the Sholing squad still has a distinctly familiar look about it, with long-serving players Dan Miller, Dan Mason, Bradley Targett and Marvin McLean all involved in Saturday’s trip to Wiltshire. Their new No.1 goalkeeper is Ross Worner, who is well-known to Doswell from the time they spent together at Havant & Waterlooville.
Speaking shortly after the Southern League fixture lists for 2024/25 season were published, Stags boss Jimmy Ball was keen to play down the seemingly difficult start that the fixtures computer had handed out to his side. The opening day home game against Walton & Hersham, who finished just outside the Play-Off places last season, is immediately followed by back-to-bacj away trips to local rivals Sholing and Poole Town, before a visit from Hungerford Town – the only team to beat The Stags both home and away last term.
The Bank Holiday Monday on 26 August will see Totton travel to recently-relegated Havant & Waterlooville, when they will encounter another ex-Stag in the shape of creative attacking midfielder Leon Maloney, who swapped The Stags for The Hawks and a full-time professional contract when his deal expired at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.
“You have to play every team twice,” said Ball.
“It doesn’t matter what order you have to play them in. Injuries, suspensions, loss of form or even patches of good form can all affect teams at different times. We will do our due diligence on every team we come up against, like we always do, but in the end it’s really more about putting a team out there that poses more problems for the opposition than they are able to pose for us.
“There are several strong sides in the division this year, but when every team changes several personnel over the summer – as we have – it can take a while for things to settle down and those teams who are going to challenge for the top spots to emerge. We know what Sholing are about, and expect a tough, tough game. I’m expecting a real humdinger, like it always is there, and I’m looking forward to it. I hope the Totton fans will turn out in their numbers to cheer us on.”
STRIKER POSE: New AFC Totton striker Charlie Austin lines up a shot during the opening day win against Walton & Hersham at the Snows Stadium.
In response to his team coming through a tough opening day encounter against The Swans, in which they played more than half the game with only 10 men following the dismissal of midfielder Josh Owers, Ball was in buoyant mood:
“It was a good game. We had to show a different side to our play. We were a yard off in certain areas, and the sending-off changed the game massively, which made us have to play the game differently. We did what was important and got the three points.
“I thought the ball was there to be won, both players went for it. Josh’s foot was high but I don’t think it was violent or equated to a straight red, but there’s nothing you can do about it – we’ll have to do without Josh for a few games, when his suspension kicks in.
“Marcus’s goal was a great counter-attacking goal. We didn’t score enough of those kind of goals last season, but we’ve got the sort of dynamism this year – different bullets to fire, which is good.
“We had to let Walton & Hersham have the ball for long periods and defend for our lives. We did the muck and bullets dirty work, dug in and fought to the end with a real grit and determination. It’s a positive that we were able to do that to the extent that we did, and when they did manage to get through, we had a top, top goalkeeper there in Josh Gould who produced an excellent display to keep a clean sheet.”
by Ben Rochey-Adams
Image courtesy of Sayers Sports Photography
