AFC Totton
The Stags welcome fellow Southern League Div 1 side Melksham Town to the Snows Stadium this Saturday in the FA Cup Preliminary Round
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The 2022/23 season may only be two games in but Melksham Town already find themselves in the undesirable position of looking up at the rest of the Southern League Div.1 South from rock bottom of the league table, having lost their opening day fixture at home to the newly-promoted Exmouth Town before getting thumped on the road by early table-toppers Sholing.
Former England Futsal World Cup striker Luke Ballinger opened his account 51 minutes into the new campaign but it was only a consolation goal for Town, as two goals from Levi Landricombe and a third from Jordan Harris ensured Exmouth made a winning start to life at Step 4. Then, on Tuesday night, a Lee Wort hat-trick sent Sholing on their way to a handsome 5-1 win, making it two-wins-from-two for the Boatmen.
Melksham were comfortably mid-table last season, finishing in 8th position – 10 points behind Sholing in 7th – with a negative goal difference, despite winning two more matches than they lost.
Manager Richard Fey added to his squad over the summer with five signings from divisional rivals. Midfield duo Jack Camm and Dale Evans arrived from Larkhall Athletic, while Highworth Town also saw two of their players depart for Oakfield Stadium in the shape of 31-year-old left winger James Guthrie and goalkeeper Conner Thompson. Defender Jack Witcombe swapped the all-red of Frome Town to join the Black-and-Yellow Family and manager Fey’s sixth signing of the summer was the 35-year-old former Torquay United, Wycombe Wanderers, Eastleigh and Newport County forward, Chris Zebroski who was born and raised in nearby Swindon and made his professional football breakthrough at Plymouth Argyle in 2005. He makes the switch from Wantage Town, who were relegated to Step 5 from last place of the Southern League Div.1 Central in 2021/22.
In addition to this FA Cup Preliminary Round tie, AFC Totton and Melksham Town will also meet home and away in the league this season. Both of last season’s encounters ended with 1-0 wins for Totton; Hisham Kasimu got the goal at Oakfield Stadium, while Jordan Ngalo overcame a stubborn defence backed-up by on-loan Southampton goalkeeper Matt Hall with a powerful drive that went in off the post on a Tuesday night in mid-November at the Snows Stadium.
There have only been six meetings between these two sides since 2001/02, the first of which was in the FA Vase with Melksham recording their only win to date. Since then, there have been four wins for Totton and one draw. Craig Feeney scored in both the 5-0 home win and the 3-0 away success in 2018/19, while Silvano Obeng scored the Stags’ second goal in the 2-2 draw at Melksham in the only match-up of the prematurely abandoned 2019/20 season.
AFC Totton’s FA Cup campaign was over before it began last year, Basingstoke Town the victors by the odd goal in three at the Winklebury Stadium. Melksham didn’t fare any better, going out of the cup to a single goal at home to Shepton Mallet of the Western League Premier Division. One of these teams is destined for a more successful run the 2022/23 competition – if only by default!
By Ben Rochey-Adams and Malcolm Tombs, Club Historian
