AFC Totton
CUP MISERY FOR STAGS AS PORTCHESTER ADVANCE
AFC Portchester 3-1 AFC Totton
Attendance – 145
The Stags made the short trip to Portchester this afternoon as they looked to advance to the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Cup. Roden, Manning, Dempsey and Lilley all returned to the squad, however, Feeney (ankle) and Gosney (back) were sidelined through injury while Burgess was unavailable.
The Stags had the first offensive opportunity of the game when they won themselves a corner with 4 minutes gone. Nick Watts went across to deliver the ball into the area, but it made the keeper backtrack and hook the ball away from the line. However it wasn’t long before Portchester were on the attack themselves and managed to force a good double save out of Mowthorpe, who had to turn the effort around the post for a corner. As the game to and fro’d in the opening 15 mins, it was actually The Stags who went closest to scoring, when Jack Attrill delivered a decent ball into the area in an advanced position and the ball came to Watts, who tried to side foot his volley goal wards and was unlucky to see his effort rebound off of the crossbar, however, the linesman had already flagged for offside.
Then unfortunately, the Stags defensive frailties showed through, as The Stags found themselves 1-0 down inside 20 minutes for the 4th game running. PARISH managed to escape the attentions of Luke Dempsey and kept his cool as he slid the ball beyond Mowthorpe. It looked to buoy Portchester on a little as moments later, another effort was rasped just wide of the Totton goal. The Stags responded better going behing today, than they have in previous weeks and really tried to take control of the game.
First, captain Liam Hibberd broke up a “Portchy” move, before feeding the ball to Dave Allen on the edge of the area, he shot low and hard, but the ball went just wide of the post. Following that, Sherborne had an opportunity to shoot from distance, but the effort was always heading over the bar. It was 3 minutes before half time when The Stags got their equalizer. Watts managed to get free down the right hand side and played a decent ball over the top of the defence for Neil WILLIAMS, who managed to slide and steer the ball back across goal and into the far side netting to level the game up. HT 1-1
After levelling just before half time, it was expected that Totton would come out all guns blazing, however, it seemed to be the opposite way around as Mowthorpe had to make yet another stunning save, this time from Baldacchino. The Stags managed to get forward and create something of note just after the hour mark. Watts flighted in a Freekick which was met by Sherborne, but there was no power behind the header and it ran through comfortably to keeper Lloyd Thomas.
Then, 20 mins from time, Portchester got themselves infront, after Roden had conceded a freekick, BALDACCHINO stepped up and curled the ball around the wall and into the far corner. It was a nice Freekick, but perhaps questions will be asked about the formation of the wall. All things aside, The Stags found themselves 2-1 down with 20 mins to play. Totton looked to respond immediately and Dave Allen had a chance to shoot, but skewed his effort well wide as he perhaps snatched at the chance a little.
As The Stags looked to press for another equalizer, they indeed had the ball in the back of the net, although the ‘goal’ was disallowed in very dubious circumstances. Jake Rawkins broke away with the ball from midfield and advanced at Portchester’s defence, causing a panic, Sherborne had made a run beyond the defence and Rawkins played a delightful reverse pass into Sherborne, who duly slotted the ball home, however, the linesman had his flag up for offside, much to the fury of some of the travelling Totton supporters, who were situated directly behind the linesman on that side of the pitch.
As The Stags tried to throw numbers forward in the dying moments of the game, Mowthorpe came forward to try and get on the end of a couple of corners, but then, as with these situation, the goal was left empty and Portchester exploited that as they cleared the ball away from the corner and it left EVERETT with an open goal to slot home from distance, despite Rawkins’ best attempts to get back in time and get the ball away. FT 3-1
Stags Lineup: Mowthorpe, Hibberd(c), Rolls*, Dempsey, Attrill**, Williams, Manning, Watts, Allen***, Sherborne, Rawkins.
Subs: Greene, Roden*, Diaper**, Gosney, Lilley***, Burch, Feeney.
