AFC Totton
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DESPITE THEIR GOALLESS DRAW at Tavistock AFC on Wednesday night, AFC Totton maintained an unbeaten run that now extends to eleven Southern League Div.1 South matches, including nine wins. Their opponents at the Snows Stadium on Saturday will be Cinderford Town, who find themselves at the other end of the form table.
With a record that matches that of Willand Rovers having won just two, drawn three and lost seven of their last 12 league games, only bottom-of-the table Slimbridge AFC have been in worse form than The Foresters.
But what’s form got to do with it? In their last game on Saturday 25 March, Cinderford threw the form book out the window by dismantling third-placed Hamworthy United 5-0 at the Causeway Ground. Felix Miles struck a hat-trick, with goals from Michael Symons and Finley Bell completing the rout. Prior to that unexpected success, a 3-2 win at Slimbridge at the beginning of March had been their only win since beating Bideford by a single goal in the first week of 2023.
While the result leaves them in 19th place and still, therefore, in the relegation zone with 31 points from 33 matches, they are still in touch with both Willand Rovers and Bristol Manor Farm in the two slots above them that would at least provide a promotion/relegation play-off chance to save their Step 4 lives.
The right sequence of results for The Foresters would make for a dramatic last game of the season. After their visit to the Snows Stadium on Saturday, they will entertain Evesham United at the Causeway Ground on Easter Monday. Then, they will face two away games in 48 hours, going to Badgers Hill to take on Frome Town on Thursday night before returning to the New Forest area to play Bashley at the GlenMex Stadium next Saturday. The end of season game at home to Willand Rovers at the Causeway Ground on Saturday 22 April could effectively be a Step 4 elimination game for whichever side ends up on the wrong side of the final result.
The Stags face a similarly tight schedule of league fixtures for the remainder of the season, with the Southern League choosing to remain steadfast in their insistence that all league competitions must be completed by 22 April. That decision comes despite half of December’s fixtures being frozen into postponement before most of the January schedule was a complete washout, with further intermittent postponements due to frequent rain in the months since.
NOICELY DONE: Lewis Noice makes a save during the AFC Totton vs Cinderford Town match at the Snows Stadium in January 2022, when Totton won 4-0.
When the two sides met in Gloucestershire in November, an Ethan Taylor hat-trick and goals from Conor Whiteley and skipper Mike Carter gave AFC Totton a handsome lead. Felix Miles grabbed a consolation goal before a late Matty Burrows goal made it 6-1 to The Stags.
Miles has 10 league goals to his name this season. Cinderford’s second top scorer with eight goals in Michael Symons, a unit of a centre-forward who created problems for The Stags defence during last season’s 3-3 draw at Evesham United in November 2021. He scored for The Robins that day, and used his considerable size and strength to create opportunities for the quicker players around him.
Of the 21 matches between these two sides since the 2008/09 season, AFC Totton have won nine – including each of the last three; there have been four draws; Cinderford have won on eight occasions. Totton won 8-1 away and 4-0 at home last season. Cinderford triumphed in both meetings in 2019/20, winning 4-3 at the Snows Stadium in November 2019 and 4-2 at home the following March.
By Ben Rochey-Adams and Malcolm Tombs, Club Historian
Image courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
