AFC Totton
Venue:
Black and Gold Stadium (Tatnam Ground), School Lane, Poole, Dorset BH15 3JR
BOOK YOUR ticket on the Fans' Minibus with StagsTravel.
Match Tickets will be available at the venue on the day.
HAVING NARROWLY MISSED OUT on promotion to the National League South last season, 2023/24 has been a season of turmoil for Poole Town Football Club.
The Dolphins finished fourth last term, qualifying them for a Play-Off Semi-Final at third-placed Truro City. Striker Tony Lee — now of this parish — put them ahead five minutes into the second half, but Tyler Harvey’s equalising goal took the tie to a penalty shoot-out, which The White Tigers won 4-1.
An emphatic 7-2 victory at Swindon Supermarine on 05 August suggested the club had recovered from that Play-Off defeat and were ready to tackle 2023/24. Despite early-season losses at the Snows Stadium, at home to Dorchester Town and at Hayes & Yeading United, Poole were on level pegging with AFC Totton in the Southern League Premier Division South table with 16 points from nine games by the time Jimmy Ball’s team hosted Ramsgate in FA Cup Fourth Round Qualifying on 14 October.
By that point, the Poole Town hierarchy had called time on the 20-year reign of Manager Tom Killick and appointed their former striker Matt Tubbs as replacement, in a move that, according to the Bournemouth Daily Echo, inspired at least four key players to leave the club in protest at the treatment of their former boss.
TOUCH TIGHT: Jake Scrimshaw (front, in blue), who scored the only goal of the game when AFC Totton beat Poole Town at the Snows Stadium in August, will be lining up against The Stags when the two sides meet again in Dorset on Good Friday.
The team’s results became inconsistent, beginning a slow but steady slide down the table, a situation that wasn’t helped by going a month without a game due to poor weather causing multiple postponements, both at home and away. Tony Lee’s departure coincided with a run of seven consecutive defeats, prompting Tubbs’ resignation after just six months in charge.
A 2-1 win at Gosport Borough on 06 March put an end to that run but The Dolphins have lost all five of their league matches since then. The Good Friday visit of AFC Totton will be the third of three consecutive home games; Sholing plundered a 3-0 victory at the Tatnam Ground on Saturday, then two Elliott Dugan goals led Hungerford Town to a 2-1 win on Tuesday.
After an Easter Monday trip to face Plymouth Parkway, Poole with have five more home games on the bounce before ending their season at Walton & Hersham, by which time they will hope to have arrested their descent towards the relegation zone and put themselves out of reach of the likes of Tiverton Town and Plymouth Parkway who both have games in-hand over The Dolphins.
Jake Scrimshaw and Jordan Chiedozie are likely to feature for Poole against their former AFC Totton team-mates. Both have already opened their goalscoring accounts for their new club and may feel they have a point a prove when The Stags come visiting on Good Friday.
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Image courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
