UP NEXT - SHOLING vs AFC TOTTON

This match was postponed on the morning of the game due to a waterlogged pitch, so it will be re-arranged for a later date.

Sholing Football Club was founded in 1960 as Vosper Thornycroft FC, as a work’s football team for the shipbuilding company of that name, although “The Boatmen” can trace the Club’s roots via Woolston FC and a team called Woolston Works all the way back to 1878. For a while, they were known as VTFC but when the parent company folded in 2010, they reverted to Sholing FC in recognition of the area of Southampton in which their home ground, The Mackoy Stadium, is located on Portsmouth Road.

Since 2000, Sholing have enjoyed regular honours in league and cup competitions alike, including eight Southampton Senior Cup titles, three Hampshire Senior Cups and the 2013/14 FA Vase when they beat West Auckland Town from County Durham at Wembley Stadium, with a single goal from Marvin McLean who still plays for the Club. Their most recent league title was the Wessex League Premier Division in 2018/19 to win promotion back to the Southern League Div.1 South.

This will be the first league meeting between AFC Totton and Sholing this season, although the Stags did triumph 4-1 on the other side of the Itchen Bridge in the Southern League Challenge Cup on 12 October. The Boatmen are scheduled to be the last team to visit AFC Totton for this season’s league campaign, when they come to the Snows Stadium on the Bank Holiday Monday of 18 April 2022.

If the season continues to go as it has for both teams, that could be a winner-takes-all encounter, whether in relation to winning the title or securing a place in the promotion play-offs. Because while Sholing have not matched Totton’s cup exploits this season, they have been going well in the Southern League Div.1 South. The 1-1 draw at Highworth Town on 18 December brought an end to a run of five consecutive league victories, including an impressive 3-0 away win at Larkhall Athletic, where the Stags’ FA Trophy run came to an unwelcome end.

The postponement of Sholing’s trip to Winchester City on Monday means long-serving manager Dave Diaper’s men now have a game in-hand over Totton, and sit 3 points behind the Stags in 4^th place. An away win for Totton on the same day that Frome Town travel to fellow promotion challengers Paulton Rovers could throw the league wide open, again.

SHOLING – LAST 5 MATCHES (All Competitions)

Wed 17 Nov 21    Larkhall Athletic                A       Southern League Div.1 South         W     3-0   

Sat 20 Nov 21     Mangotsfield United      H        Southern League Div.1 South       W     4-1

Sat 27 Nov 21      Evesham United              H        Southern League Div.1 South       W      1-0   

Sat 11 Dec 21        Bristol Manor Farm       H         Southern League Div.1 South      W      2-1

Sat 18 Dec 21       Highworth Town             A        Southern League Div.1 South         D       1-1

AFC TOTTON vs SHOLING – Previous Meetings

These two teams have been frequent competitors over the course of a shared history in the Wessex League and Southern League. Since the 2004/05 season, there have been 23 meetings of which Sholing won 14 against Totton’s 8, with just one draw.

Mike Gosney was a frequent scorer of goals during that period, notching a total of 9 (including one penalty) against the Boatmen between 2006 and 2011. He was on target in the Final of the Hampshire Senior Cup in 2011, when a brace from Michael Charles saw the Stags run out 3-1 winners to lift the trophy before a crowd of 1,384 at St. Mary’s Stadium.

Sholing got their own back a couple of years later by putting paid to Totton’s ambitions of an FA Cup-run with a 1^st Qualifying Round knockout by a 0-4 thrashing. And the Boatmen won 3 of the next 4 meetings, until goals from Brett Williams, Ethan Taylor and a late Jordan Ragguette double saw the Stags on their way to that handsome 4-1 away win in October.

By Ben Rochey-Adams and Malcolm Tombs, Historian