AFC Totton
It's the final league fixture of the season for the Stags as they travel to Slimbridge in a must-win game if they are to keep their play-off hopes alive.
Away travel is available from the ticket office: afctotton.ticketco.events/uk/en
Although the village of Slimbridge is near Dursley, the football club’s 1,500-capacity Thornhill Park ground is located in nearby Cambridge – that’s the village of Cambridge in the District of Stroud in Gloucestershire, not the university city in Cambridgeshire.
After playing in friendly matches during the 1899-1900 season, the club was officially formed in 1902. They moved to their ground at Wisloe Road in 1951, utilising land bequeathed to them by former player Evi Thornhill. The Swans – whose nickname is likely a reference to the Slimbridge Wetland Centre, the UK’s leading wetland conservation charity – enjoyed a period of sustained success in the Gloucestershire and Hellenic Leagues from 2006 to 2010, before eventually being promoted to the Southern League for the first time to compete in the 2014/15 season.
Despite some respectable individual results during the current campaign against teams higher up the table, 12th-placed Slimbridge are amongst a clutch of clubs going down as far as Lymington Town in 16th whose final result of the season will make the difference between a respectable mid-table or distinctly lower-half finish.
A hat-trick from Edjidja Mbunga inspired the Swans to a 3-2 victory over Cirencester Town in mid-February, which they followed up a week later with a win by the same scoreline at Lymington, courtesy of Raiyan Ahmed’s goal four minutes into stoppage time. But their 3-0 win at home to Sholing last Tuesday is their only win from the last nine games, so they will have an incentive to finish the season on a high.
Slimbridge’s manager is Tom Speers. He took over on an interim basis in November, following the departure of Lee Driver-Dickerson who made the switch to local rivals Evesham United – before leaving them just a month later by mutual agreement with the Robins’ Board. Supported by Tom Deakin and former Reserve team manager Adam Coyle, the trio were confirmed in their permanent roles in March.
Will Hawes is the team’s leading goalscorer with 18 in the Southern League Div.1 South, placing him fourth in the division’s top scorers list, one place behind Hisham Kasimu who has 21. The 28-year-old Hawes is making up for lost time after an injury and a spell of travelling overseas kept him out for much of last season’s campaign. Ben McLean had a spell at AFC Totton during the 2018/19 season when he was aged 18, joining the club on loan from Birmingham City. The central midfielder joined Redditch after being released by the Blues in July 2019 and moved on to Alvechurch shortly into the following season. He joined Slimbridge last summer and was in the starting line-up against the Stags when the Swans visited the Snows Stadium in September.
Following the disappointment of Easter Monday’s home defeat to local rivals Sholing, AFC Totton manager Jimmy Ball (pictured below) remains adamant that his side should be going to Slimbridge in competitive mood:
“I want to win every game, irrespective of where we are, and I expect the players to be the same. The Sholing result doesn't change that,” he said.
“I want to win everything – I want to win the coin toss at the beginning of the game. But we have to learn to win games ugly. It’s winning games against the likes of Bideford away and Paulton Rovers away that win you leagues and promotions, not the 6-1s and 8-0s when the sun’s shining and everyone’s enjoying themselves. We have to learn to be gnarly and horrible when the situation requires it, to find a way to win against adversity.”
SLIMBRIDGE – LAST 5 MATCHES (All Competitions)
Sat 26 Mar Plymouth Parkway H Southern League Div.1 South L 1-3
Sat 02 Apr Highworth Town A Southern League Div.1 South D 0-0
Tue 12 Apr Sholing H Southern League Div.1 South W 3-0
Sat 16 Apr Frome Town H Southern League Div.1 South L 0-2
Mon 18 Apr Mangotsfield United A Southern League Div.1 South L 0-2
AFC TOTTON vs SLIMBRIDGE – Previous Meetings
Honours are fairly even between these two sides over the 11 matches since the 2015/16 season. Slimbridge are slightly ahead with six wins, all of them in the league, while Totton have four league wins and one in the preliminary round of the FA Trophy.
After a 0-3 defeat in Gloucestershire in the first meeting of the season in October 2015, the Stags responded with a 2-0 home win with goals from Mike Gosney and Mark Gamble to give manager Steve Hollick a welcome birthday present on a bitterly cold February afternoon.
In March 2019, the Swans emerged triumphant from a seven-goal thriller at Thornhill Park. Mark Magee’s strike for Slimbridge levelled the scores at 2-2 with 10 minutes to go, signalling a flurry of goalmouth action that saw Totton edge back in front before two goals in a minute made it 4-3 to the home side. A 2-5 defeat for the Stags at the same venue the following season was ultimately wiped off the record books due to the cancellation of the season in the COVID-19 era.
When Slimbridge came to the Snows Stadium in mid-September and inflicted a first league defeat of the season on the then league-leaders Totton by a comprehensive 3-0 scoreline, the general response from the Stags that it was just one of those days that happen every now and again. The visitors rode an early storm during which Sam Griffin had a shot cleared off the line, and then Slimbridge goalkeeper Lewis Adams saved a Jack Hoey penalty – all of that in the opening five minutes. The Swans took the lead against the run of play mid-way through the first half with a scrambled goal by Will Hawes from a Marley Thomas free-kick, and they went 2-0 up on the stroke of half-time when Nathan Dennis prodded home from close range after a short corner routine. Jordan Annear ran clear to make it 3-0 late on, when Totton left themselves exposed at the back while chasing the game.
By Ben Rochey-Adams and Malcolm Toombs, Historian
Image courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
Kit illustrations by Bolid74
