AFC Totton
VENUE: Imperial Homes Stadium, Gunners Keep, Portsmouth Road, Southampton SO19 9PW
JIMMY BALL’S IN-FORM AFC TOTTON will take the short trip across the Itchen Bridge to participate in the second Southampton Derby of the season and a top of the Southern League Div.1 South table clash with the 2022/23 campaign’s pacesetters Sholing, at the Imperial Homes Stadium on Tuesday night.
Having been re-arranged from the postponed fixture on 02 January, the match finds both teams in the midst of impressively long unbeaten league runs. Totton will be crossing the River Itchen in the hope of extending their unbeaten streak to 17 league games, a run that extends all the way back to the previous meeting between these two sides at the Snows Stadium on the August Bank Holiday Monday, when Lee Wort’s goal handed The Boatmen a valuable away win. Sholing’s last defeat in league football was at the hands of Bideford AFC on 22 October, when two goals from Lewis Brooks in the final 15 minutes of the game cancelled out the half-time lead that Dave Diaper’s team had established through Jake Cope.
That was only Sholing’s second league defeat of the season, the previous one having come at Westbury United a fortnight earlier, when they let a 2-0 half-time lead slip to lose 2-3 to second-half goals from Matthew Morris, Harvey Flippance and Charlie Walton for The White Horse Men at the Meadow Lane ground in Wiltshire. The defeat put an end to the sequence of seven consecutive wins with which Sholing had opened their 2022/23 league campaign, despite having to play several games away from home due to a problem with the relaying of the playing surface at their ground on Portsmouth Road.
As well as losing twice, just like Totton, The Boatmen have also drawn on four occasions. They trailed at home to Larkhall Athletic for more than an hour on Tuesday 25 October, until Wayne Robinson levelled the scores one minute from time to grab a point. And fellow promotion challengers Hamworthy United held Sholing to a 1-1 draw on the 3G pitch at The County Ground in Dorset, 10 days into December.
To add a little more intrigue to Tuesday night’s encounter, a minor wobble has led to Sholing dropping four points from their last three matches. They beat Bashley 3-1 in the New Forest on Boxing Day, before enduring the same sort of weather-enforced winter break that has beset the entire Southern League programme. They returned to action on Saturday 21 January 2023 with a comprehensive 4-1 battering of Bishop’s Cleeve, despite going behind to a 29th-minute strike from The Mitres’ forward George Box.
The following week, Jake Cope’s 4th-minute opener appeared to be putting The Boatmen on course for a routine away win at Lymington Town. But, despite Lymo’s lowly league position, Sholing were unable to add to their tally and were eventually pegged back by a Mitchell Speechley-Price penalty eight minutes from the end. Goals from veteran left-back Marvin McLean and Daniel Mason gave Sholing a 2-0 home win over Cinderford Town last Tuesday. But then on Saturday, they once again took an early lead, this time through Fatah Makhloufi, only to fire blanks for the rest of the match before Harvey Flippance equalised in the second meeting of the season with Westbury United.
Totton might have cause to come into this match with the greater confidence in their recent performances, but Sholing is a notoriously difficult place to go and get a result. It should certainly be a fiercely-contested and entertaining game.
In the Emirates FA Cup, Sholing overcame AFC Portchester in the Preliminary Round with a 2-1 win. Slimbridge AFC held them to a goalless draw at Thornhill Park in Gloucestershire, but The Boatmen cantered to victory in the replay with a 5-2 success. Chippenham Town from the National League South ended their run, Sholing going down 0-3 at Hardenhuish Park in Wiltshire. A surprise home defeat to Lymington Town by a single goal ended their involvement In the Isuzu FA Trophy at the earliest opportunity in mid-September.
Their Hampshire Senior Cup 3rd Round tie at Aldershot Town was abandoned after 24 minutes, due to intense fog reducing visibility at the Recreation Ground. The two teams await confirmation of the date for the re-arranged game. Having received a bye through the 1st Round, Sholing eliminated Petersfield Town 3-1 in the 2nd Round in September. They are due to entertain Bashley in the Southampton Senior Cup Quarter-Finals, having put six goals past Millbrook in the 2nd Round and another half-dozen past Fawley AFC in the 3rd Round. Alresford Town’s 1-0 win over Totton & Eling on Thursday last week means The Magpies will entertain AFC Totton at Arlebury Park at the same stage of the competition that The Stags won last season.
The Boatmen have the better record from the last 26 meetings between the two clubs, according to the information that we have on file. Their 1-0 win at the Snows Stadium in August was their 17th win of that sequence. There has been only one draw, way back in 2004/05 when Sholing Football Club was known as VTFC after their owner company Vosper Thornycroft, the Solent-based shipbuilders. AFC Totton have beaten Sholing on eight occasions, the most recent of which was last season’s Southern League Cup away win by a score of 4-1, in which Jordan Ragguette scored two exceptional goals and Conor Whiteley, now a Stag, scored the consolation goal against his future employers.
BACK ON THE OLD STOMPING GROUND: Recently returned from suspension, AFC Totton forward Conor Whiteley could feature against his old club at Sholing on Tuesday night.
Whiteley is not the only player with connections to both clubs. Luke Hallett and Ethan Taylor both played youth football at Sholing before moving on to be developed as players elsewhere. Totton skipper Mike Carter was part of the Sholing squad that won the FA Vase at Wembley Stadium in 2014. And attacking midfielder Joe Adams, who has now returned to Wigan Athletic after completing his loan spell at AFC Totton in January, played 10 Southern League games for The Boatmen before signing for The Latics approximately 18 months ago.
In the Sholing squad, long-term Manager Dave Diaper’s son Marc, who is now his Assistant Manager at The Imperial Homes Stadium, represented The Stags in-between two playing stints with The Boatmen. Central defender Rob Flooks has had two spells at the Snows Stadium, most recently during the second half of last season when he made the switch from Winchester City. He scored his third league goal of the season in the recent 4-1 comeback win over Bishop’s Cleeve. Goalkeeper Ryan Gosney is the younger brother of former AFC Totton winger, Mike Gosney, although he hasn’t represented The Stags himself. And defensive midfielder Robin Nicholls represented both clubs with distinction, alongside his seven-year tenure as an integral part of Southampton FC’s Academy. He left The Boatmen in October, following his appointment as Academy Manager at EFL Championship club Sunderland AFC.
There is likely to be a large and vociferous home crowd at The Imperial Homes Stadium for Tuesday’s match. Parking is free, on the field right next to the ground – and don’t forget about the Itchen Toll Bridge. Let’s get as many AFC Totton fans to come along and support The Stags against their local rivals in a crucial away match.
By Ben Rochey-Adams and Malcolm Tombs, Club Historian
Image courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
