AFC Totton
VENUE: The Sports Ground, Bideford, Devon EX39 2NG
AFC TOTTON TRAVEL CLUB:
Coach Ticket £25 per person
Departing the Snows Stadium at 8:00am
To book your ticket(s), please contact Adi Rose
Tel: 07540 124 719 or email: [email protected]
AFTER ALMOST A MONTH of inactivity due to the persistent bad weather, AFC Totton are set to return to Southern League Div.1 South action on Saturday when they travel to Devon to take on Bideford AFC.
This weekend was originally earmarked for a home encounter with The Robins, but the Snows Stadium pitch is in need of some tender loving care before The Stags can roam across it again. So, with both our opponents and the Southern League being amenable to switching the fixture to the 6,000-capacity Sports Ground in Bideford, Head Groundsman Brendan Gough and his team will have a little longer to prepare Totton’s pitch before next Tuesday’s rescheduled visit of Frome Town.
• See AFC Totton's revised Fixture List
Jimmy Ball will no doubt be concerned that some of his players may have lost some match sharpness during the enforced winter break but this is arguably a good time to be facing relegation-threatened Bideford, who are currently without a win in their last five league games. Since beating Westbury United by the odd goal in five in Wiltshire on Saturday 19 November, they have only picked up one point from a possible 15.
Goals from Jireh Oyebamiji and Harrison Cable – two players with strong AFC Totton connections – handed Lymington Town a welcome away win, despite trailing to Benjamin Wood’s 34-minute opener. Sam Griffin got in on the Totton Old Boys act by levelling for Hamworthy United to cancel out Ryan Turner’s 56th-minute goal the following weekend, the wing wizard equalising on 70 minutes before Remus Nixon put them ahead nine minutes later. The Hammers then ran rampant during stoppage time, adding three goals in as many minutes to amass a final score of 5-1.
A Boxing Day Devon Derby at home to promotion challengers Exmouth Town yielded a point, thanks to Craig Duff’s first-half penalty, which was equalled by Town’s Harry Walford midway through the second half. And Bideford saw the New Year in with a whimper when they went to Tavistock AFC two days into 2023, going down 0-2 to goals from the division’s top scorer Liam Prynn and Alex Battle, who scored Tavvy’s consolation goal in their 1-6 mauling at the Snows Stadium in November. A single goal from Finley Bell, five minutes before half-time on Saturday 07 January, afforded fellow strugglers Cinderford Town some breathing space among the Southern League Div.1 South’s current bottom five teams. This past weekend, The Robins were due to play at Lymington Town but that was one of the seven games called off due to waterlogged pitches.
Only one point separates Bideford in 17th position from Bristol Manor Farm at the foot of the Southern League Div.1 South table, with Lymington Town and Slimbridge AFC sandwiched in-between. The Swans, though, will have the chance to pull themselves out of the relegation zone at Lymo’s expense when they visit Larkhall Athletic at Plain Ham, tomorrow night (Wednesday).
Bideford, who finished 12th in the table last season, began their 2022/23 league campaign with a 1-2 home defeat to Hamworthy United, whose winner came two minutes into stoppage time. It took seven attempts before The Robins notched their first league win with a 2-1 success at Bishop’s Cleeve in mid-October. A brace from Lewis Brooks was enough to take all three points from league leaders Sholing, who had taken a first-half lead through Jake Cope. They also managed a 3-2 win at Slimbridge, the week before they won that match at Westbury United, already referred to above, by the same scoreline.
In the Emirates FA Cup, Bideford beat Bridgwater Town 1-0 at home in the Extra Preliminary Round, but Paulton Rovers thumped them with a 2-5 defeat in the subsequent Preliminary Round tie. A comfortable 3-0 win at Willand Rovers ensured progress in the Isuzu FA Trophy in mid-September. They were knocked out 11 days later via a penalty shoot-out after a 2-2 with Bristol Manor Farm at The Creek.
In the Devon St. Luke’s Challenge Cup (also known as the Devon Bowl), their 1st Round tie at home to Torquay United was postponed and The Robins appear to have been awarded a walkover, only for their 2nd Round tie at home to Ilfracombe Town to also be called off on Tuesday 22 November. Bideford won the competition last season, beating Exeter City’s U23s on penalties after a 0-0 stalemate. Goalkeeper Adam Seedhouse-Evans was The Robins’ hero on the night; he saved all four of The Grecians’ spot-kicks during the shoot-out to see his team clear to lift the silverware for the first time since 2010.
TURNING POINT: Stags No.1 Lewis Noice saves Craig Duff's penalty to deny the Bideford No.8 his hat-trick and his team an equaliser during Totton's 4-2 home win last season.
Re-arranged fixtures last season resulted in AFC Totton and Bideford AFC facing each other in a unique double-header last season, in what were coincidentally Jimmy Ball’s first two games with Totton after he took over from Dan Sackman in March. Goals from Ethan Taylor, Ben Jefford and Hisham Kasimu had The Stags 3-0 up after an hour, but two goals from Craig Duff reduced the arrears to a single goal by the 72nd minute. Duff was then presented with the chance to both complete his hat-trick and bring his team level from the penalty spot, after Harry Medway wrestled forward Saddam Bello to the ground. But a fabulous save by Lewis Noice maintained the home side’s lead long enough for substitute Shaquille Gwengwe to put the result beyond doubt with a goal 7 minutes from time.
In the return match, just three days later, a long-range wonder strike by Matthew Buchan with just 5 minutes on the clock proved to be the difference. The home side defended well throughout and, but for some profligacy in front of goal, could and perhaps should have won by a bigger margin.
Since 2010/11, these teams have met on 18 occasions. That 1-0 home win last season edged Bideford in front on the head-to-head comparison; The Robins have 6 wins to Totton’s 5, with 7 draws. A goal from Justin Bennett and a Craig Feeney hat-trick gave The Stags a handsome 4-0 home win in April 2019. Bideford won by the same score at their ground five years earlier. The biggest win by either side was Totton’s 5-1 triumph in the first game in this sequence, in February 2011. Michael Charles scored two and Mike Gosney struck a treble.
By Ben Rochey-Adams and Malcolm Tombs, Club Historian
Image courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
