AFC Totton
(Technical issues on the website mean the Next Game isn't showing - apologies).
In a local derby to warm the cockles in the week running up to Christmas, the Stags of AFC Totton will lock antlers with their New Milton nick-namesakes from the Wessex League Premier Division to get their 2022 challenge for the Southampton Senior Cup underway.
The club is offering reduced ticket prices at just £5 and a FREE burger and soft drink for the first 200 people to book online - so don't miss out, get your tickets today.
These one-time fierce rivals were both founder members of the Wessex League when it was inaugurated for the 1986/87 season. Bashley were the dominant team in the league in those early years, winning each of the first three titles, while Totton had to wait until 2007/08 to claim their first Wessex League Championship and gain promotion to the Southern League. And the two sides met in the final of the Russell Cotes Cup in 1991, when Bashley won to lift the trophy for the second time, going on to retain it the following season.
Bashley FC was founded in 1947 and played in the Bournemouth League from 1950 until joining the Hampshire League in 1983. After their successes in the fledgling Wessex League, they joined the Southern League Southern Division in 1989 and won the title at the first attempt.
Their best ever performance in the FA Cup came in the 1994/95 season when they beat Chesham United 1-0 in the 1st Round proper before going out of the competition by the same scoreline at the hands of Swansea City.
European Cup-winning midfielder Jimmy Case, formerly of Liverpool and Southampton, was appointed manager of the club in August 1997. Other famous former Bash alum include Wade Elliott, who arrived at Bashley Road in 1997 after being released by the Saints and played for the club while studying for a degree in Communications and Sociology at Goldsmiths’ College. He left in 2000 and went on to play more than 600 matches in the Football League for the likes of AFC Bournemouth, Burnley, Birmingham City and Bristol City.
The Bash are currently 6th in the Wessex League Premier Division, following their 3-0 win at home to Alresford Town at the weekend. They are 10 points behind the leaders Horndean but three games in-hand suggest they may yet have a big say in the 2021/22 title race and promotion battle.
The draw for the 2nd Round of the competition has already been made. The winner of this tie will entertain Southampton Senior Division One team Durley FC in the Round of 32, when Sholing and Winchester City could face off against each other, if the Citizens overcome Downton in Round 1. Dates for the 2nd Round matches will be agreed by the relevant Club Secretaries once their fixtures are confirmed.
Due to copy and print deadlines and the availability of suppliers and volunteers around the Christmas period we have decided not to produce a Matchday Programme for this particular game, concentrating instead on the Lymington Town match in the Southern League Div.1 South on the day after Boxing Day. There will be a full match report of this Southampton Senior Cup encounter on the AFC Totton website and in the programme for the Cinderford Town match on 15 January.
BASHLEY: LAST 5 MATCHES – All Competitions
Tue 23 Nov 21 AFC Stoneham A Wessex League Premier Division L 1-4
Tue 30 Nov 21 Shaftesbury H Wessex League Premier Division L 3-5
Sat 04 Dec 21 Bournemouth FC H Wessex League Premier Division W 2-1
Sat 11 Dec 21 Bridgwater United A FA Vase, 3rd Round L 1-2
Sat 18 Dec 21 Alresford Town H Wessex League Premier Division W 3-0
AFC TOTTON vs BASHLEY – Previous Meetings
Our historical records go back to the 1986/87 season, encompassing a total of 19 meetings between the Stags of Totton and Bashley. The New Milton-based side had much the better of the head-to-head record during the mid-80s to mid-90s but after a long spell of being in different divisions, Totton have won 10 out of the last 11 meetings that have taken place during the Southern League era.
Bashley’s biggest win came in 1993/94 when they won 5-1 at Testwood Park, while Totton’s was a 7-2 Southern League Cup success at the Snows Stadium in 2015/16.
The teams fought out an epic 4-4 draw in the driving rain and swirling winds of a Southern League Premier Division match in April 2012. Richard Gillespie gave Bashley an early lead on their own pitch but Jamie Whisken equalised for the visitors within two minutes. A Gary Middleton header restored Bash’s lead three minutes before half-time, and Dave Allen – who later became an AFC Totton player – made it 3-1, converting the rebound after his own penalty had been parried by goalkeeper James Bittner. Mark Gamble appeared to have secured the win for Bashley when he lashed the ball into the roof of the Totton net to make it 4-1 with 16 minutes to go, but a late hat-trick from AFC Totton’s legendary striker Nathaniel Sherborne rescued an unlikely point.
Sherborne chalked up another hat-trick against the Bash in the most recent encounter, when a Mike Gosney penalty completed a 4-0 away win. It was the fourth consecutive 4-0 win for AFC Totton against Bashley in the Southern League Div.1 South & West within the space of a year.
By Ben Rochey-Adams and Malcolm Tombs and Sean McGlead, Historians
