AFC Totton
FOLLOWING THE VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH’S Promotion Play-Off final on Sunday, the full allocation of teams that AFC Totton will face in their first-ever season as a Step 2 club has been confirmed.
Having despatched Dorchester Town in the semi-final, The Stags won their own play-off final at the beginning of the month, beating Gloucester City by a single Ethan Taylor goal to join Merthyr Town in climbing out of the Southern League Premier Division South.
Now the only Welsh club in English non-league football following Wrexham’s well-documented recent rise, The Martyrs have been grouped into the National League North, where they will be joined by fellow promoted clubs AFC Telford United, Bedford Town, Macclesfield and Worksop Town, as well as the Lancashire-based AFC Fylde, who were relegated from the National League, and Chester, whose dreams of a return to Step 1 football were scuppered by Scunthorpe United in the National League North Play-Off final on Sunday.
Meanwhile, a Charles Clayden goal two minutes into the second half of the NLS Play-Off final at their own Meadow Park home in Hertfordshire was enough to see Boreham Wood defeat Maidstone United to make an immediate return to Step 1, following The Wood’s relegation at the end of last season.
So, with all the outstanding play-offs now resolved and the full geographic spread of teams having been confirmed, the full allocation for the Vanarama National League South in 2025/26 looks like this (subject to appeal):
VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE SOUTH 2025/26
AFC Totton
Bath City
Chelmsford City
Chesham United
Chippenham Town
Dagenham & Redbridge
Dorking Wanderers
Dover Athletic
Eastbourne Borough
Ebbsfleet United
Enfield Town
Farnborough
Hampton & Richmond Borough
Hemel Hempstead Town
Hornchurch
Horsham
Maidenhead United
Maidstone United
Salisbury
Slough Town
Tonbridge Angels
Torquay United
Weston-super-Mare
Worthing
Truro City, Totton’s opponents in the FA Vase final at Wembley Stadium in 2007, were crowned National League South Champions on goal difference, having scored just two more than Torquay United, who then fell to Boreham Wood at the first Play-Off hurdle. Torquay starlet Ben Seymour spent the second half of the 2024/25 campaign on loan at the Snows Stadium, and it remains to be seen whether the livewire striker might make a swift return to Jimmy Ball’s squad for the new season ahead or be retained by The Gulls.
Given that he has represented virtually every team in southern England at some point in his 23-year football career, it is perhaps surprising that veteran centre-forward Scott Rendell is in line to face only two of his former clubs, in the aforementioned Torquay and Maidstone United, for whom he scored five goals in 12 National League South games during the COVID-19 affected 2020/21 season. Maidstone finished seventh last term, 10 points behind Torquay, but lost out to fifth-placed Boreham Wood in Sunday’s Play-Off decider.
Sam Magri can also look forward to returning to two of his old haunts in 2025/26. The former England Youth international defender spent two seasons at Dover Athletic after leaving Crystal Palace in the summer of 2015, before joining Ebbsfleet United in 2017 and going on to make 75 league appearances for the Stonebridge Road club. Dover won promotion via the Isthmian League Premier Division Play-Offs this year, while Ebbsfleet were relegated from the Vanarama National League, along with Dagenham & Redbridge and Maidenhead United.
FAMILIAR FACE: Irish midfielder Roddy Collins is in line to take on three of his former teams in the Vanarama National League South in the new season ahead.
Irish midfielder Roddy Collins lists Torquay United, Hemel Hempstead Town and Chesham United among his former employers, having led The Generals to the Southern League Premier Division South title at Totton’s expense in 2023/24, before a short stint at Plainmoor and his eventual arrival at the Snows Stadium in October 2025. Central defender Joe Oastler is also a former Torquay player.
Boreham’s Play-Off success also leaves Eastbourne Borough, Worthing and Dorking Wanderers to face at least another campaign at Step 2. Totton winger Tom Blair’s former club Dorking were the division’s top scorers last season, with 89 goals from 46 regulation season games.
Weston-super-Mare, with whom Aston Villa and England striker Ollie Watkins honed his skills during the 2014/15 campaign, missed out on the Play-Offs by one place and four points last term; The Seagulls will be looking to soar higher this time around.
Totton will soon renew hostilities with local rivals Salisbury, who survived relegation on the final day of the season thanks to a one-all draw at Welling United, while St. Albans City’s 2-5 defeat at Champions Truro saw them join Welling, Weymouth and Aveley in falling through the Step 2 trap door.
Horsham knocked AFC Totton out of the Isuzu FA Trophy at the Third Round stage in 2023/24, but The Stags will have the chance to exact their revenge when the two sides lock horns again in the National League South. The Hornets are now the reigning Isthmian League Premier Division Champions, having won the title by a goal difference that was one better than Billericay Town’s, despite the Essex-based Blues having scored more goals in total. Ex-Stag Joe Turner had a short spell with Horsham, who he joined from Ramsgate in the summer, although the attacking midfielder has since departed the West Sussex-based club after failing to hold down a regular starting spot. Another of his former clubs, Tonbridge Angels, will be among The Stags’ 23 league opponents when the new season kicks-off on Saturday 09 August.
Former Stags striker Hashim Kasimu ended the 2024/25 season with Enfield Town, having been released by Farnborough in January. After firing 30 goals in all competitions in a single season, the French hitman left AFC Totton in the summer of 2022 for the first of his three stints with The Yellows, before going on to make his EFL debut for Sutton United in August 2023. He returned to Cherrywood Road on loan later in the 2023/24 campaign, then bounced back-and-forth between Enfield and Farnborough during the course of last season.
Bath City, Chelmsford City, Chippenham Town, Hampton & Richmond Borough, Hornchurch and Slough Town complete the Vanarama National League South line-up for 2025/26.
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Image courtesy of Sayers Sports Photography
