AFC Totton
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IN THE SHORT PERIOD OF TIME since sitting down to begin writing this Southern League Div.1 South match preview, the importance of Saturday’s second New Forest Derby of the season against in-form Bashley has increased exponentially from the point of view of Jimmy Ball and his title-chasing AFC Totton squad.
That’s because on Tuesday night, Evesham United hurled a cat into the chicken coup with an unexpected 2-0 away win at current league leaders Sholing, thanks to goals in either half of the game from Daniel Griffiths and William Owens. And that came hot on the heels of The Boatmen giving up a two-goal lead at Cinderford Town on Saturday, as a Rob Flooks own goal four minutes from time and a William Emery strike on the stroke of full-time cancelled out earlier goals from Charlie Wagstaffe and Bradley Targett, to force Dave Diaper and his team to settle for just a point.
AFC Totton will go into this weekend’s round of fixtures with four games in-hand over the team from the other side of the Itchen Bridge, with just eight points separating The Stags from top spot and the only route to automatic promotion into the Southern League Premier Division South for next season. Not that it’s going to be an easy task, even so.
If we didn’t know it already, Bashley’s impressive 5-0 away win at fellow play-off contenders Wimborne Town last week marks Matt Tubbs’s charges out as a good side. They are one of four newly-promoted teams who are still very much in contention for a place in the promotion play-offs, well into the second-half of this season’s Southern League Div.1 South campaign. They followed up that emphatic win over The Magpies on Saturday with a last-gasp victory at Bideford AFC on Tuesday night, Samuel Jackson snatching the winner a minute into stoppage time in Devon.
The Bash proved a tough nut to crack when Totton played at the GlenMex Stadium in October. The visitors had the lion’s share of possession but couldn’t break down the home side’s defence, having to settle in the end for a goalless draw and a point. It was a match that perhaps serves as a lesson in perspective to some of us fans, though. As the first league game after seven consecutive cup matches in four different competitions, a goalless draw was a frustrating outcome on the night, appearing to be a significant setback to Totton’s ambitions of catching the early-season frontrunners, all of whom had played several more league games than The Stags by that point. But the draw that night turned out to mark the beginning of a 16-match unbeaten run in all competitions that now has AFC Totton hunting down Sholing at the top of the table and poised to repeat last season’s feat of reaching the Southampton Senior Cup Final, if they can overcome Hamble Club in next week’s Semi-Final at Sholing’s ground.
Since the previous meeting with Totton, Bashley have significantly strengthened their ranks with the signing of the highly-rated forward, Olly Balmer. The 23-year-old former Winchester City player, who scored both goals for The Citizens in the 2-2 draw at the Snows Stadium in the September sunshine of last season, and the third goal in Winchester’s 3-1 home win on the bitterly cold first Friday night of 2022, began the current season among the ranks of Southern League Premier Division outfit Dorchester Town. But having been a prolific goalscorer for Winchester, he only managed two goals in 21 appearances for The Magpies, and soon lost his place, with ex-Stag Shaquille Gwengwe among those challenging for places in the team. He made the move to Bashley in mid-January and opened his account for The Bash with the second goal in the 2-0 away win at Tavistock AFC a fortnight ago, adding his second goal for his new club during the dying embers of that comprehensive victory at Wimborne.
Striker Jack Lovell is Bashley’s top scorer so far this season with nine goals, while Harry McGrath, who also lists Dorchester among his former clubs, has seven – including a hat-trick in a 5-2 home win over Wimborne in early-February. Goalkeeper Ross Casey is a former AFC Totton player, who has already been back to the Snows Stadium during his time with Lymington Town.
Although they are currently perched just under the play-off zone in sixth place in the Southern League Div.1 South table, Bashley’s form this season has fluctuated, leaving them with a record of 12 wins and 10 losses, so far. Their 1-3 loss at home to Sholing on Boxing Day began a sequence of four consecutive defeats, but they have recovered well to win five of their last six in the league. They did bow out of the Southampton Senior Cup, though, losing 0-2 to The Boatmen at The Imperial Homes Stadium. They are due to take on Eastleigh at home in the Quarter-Finals of the Hampshire Senior Cup on 14 March, after a 3-0 win over Horndean and a 4-3 victory against Winchester City.
The Bash exited the Emirates FA Cup in the Extra-Preliminary Round by going down 1-2 to AFC Stoneham on 06 August. They beat Frome Town 4-1 in the Isuzu FA Trophy, before being knocked out by Melksham Town on penalties in 2nd Round Qualifying, after a 2-2 draw in September. They are still going strong in the Russell-Cotes Cup. They overcame Folland Sports 3-1 in the 1st Round and thrashed Lymington Town 8-0 in the 2nd Round. They face a trip to Wessex League Premier Division promotion challengers Bemerton Heath Harlequins in the Quarter-Finals.
There have been 25 meetings between AFC Totton and Bashley since our records began in 1986/87, although our records are incomplete with several results missing. They do reveal that the 0-0 draw earlier this season put an end to a run of 10 consecutive wins for The Stags, although the unbeaten run now stands at 13 games. The two sides fought out a 4-4 draw in the 2011/12 season. A Tony Lee hat-trick helped Totton on their way to an emphatic 7-2 victory in October 2015, Nathaniel Sherbourne also striking a treble in a subsequent 4-0 win later in the same season. Jack Hoey scored the only goal at the Snows Stadium when the two sides met in the 1st Round of the Southampton Senior Cup last season. Another win on Saturday will go a long way to ensuring AFC Totton can take advantage of Sholing’s recent slips to gain the advantage in the Southern League Div.1 South title race.
By Ben Rochey-Adams and Malcolm Tombs, Club Historian
