AFC Totton
PRE-SEASON FRIENDLY #4
Saturday 15 July 2023 | Snows Stadium, Totton | Att: 379
NATIONAL LEAGUE CLASS CALLS THE SHOTS AT THE SNOWS STADIUM
AFC TOTTON 0
ALDERSHOT TOWN 3
Josh Stokes 57mins; Zain Walker 80mins, 81mins
ALDERSHOT TOWN PUT AN END to AFC Totton’s unbeaten pre-season run at the Snows Stadium, this weekend (Saturday 15 July 2023). After an evenly-matched first half, the National League team turned on the style to come away with a deserved three-nil victory.
The Stags will wear squad numbers in the Southern League Premier Division South throughout the 2023/24 season, so team lists will more often than not be a mix-and-match of numbers from one-to-twenty-something. Totton chose this occasion to display for the first time their new home kit, designed by the club’s Kit Manager Harry Brookwell and manufactured by Macron.
Benny Read was unavailable so Charlie Kennedy was shifted to right-back, leaving Luke Hallett and new signing Sam Magri to form the central defensive partnership with Jordan Ragguette on the left.
AFC TOTTON
Starting XI
1. Lewis NOICE
5. Charlie KENNEDY
6. Luke HALLETT
15. Sam MAGRI
3. Jordan RAGGUETTE
4. Mike CARTER (Capt.)
7. Charlie DAVIS
12. Josh CARMICHAEL
9. Scott RENDELL
10. Ethan TAYLOR
16. Alfie STANLEY
Substitutes
11. Trialist A
14. Trialist B
17. Conor WHITELEY
18. Trialist C
19. Leo TAYLOR
20. Owen PELHAM
On a bright but blustery afternoon, complete with frequent short showers of cold rain, Aldershot threatened first when striker Jack Barham cut inside from the right-wing and drove a low shot at goal with Lewis Noice claimed comfortably.
Totton won a free-kick midway inside the visitors’ half, on the right-hand side. Charlie Davis curled his delivery into the penalty area and, after a defender got the initial touch, the ball sat up invitingly for Ethan Taylor to hit a left-footed volley which the goalkeeper - listed on Aldershot’s teamsheet as “Trialist A” - saved by diving to his left.
Barham had another site of the Totton goal in the 10th minute, but the former Maidstone United player fired his shot over the crossbar from just outside the area.
Five minutes later, Mike Carter looped the ball out to the left flank for Jordan Ragguette, who was able to turn away from Shots midfielder Henry Ochieng, and exchange passes with Taylor to maraud into the opposition box in the inside-left channel. Ochieng, though, had chased the Totton left-back all the way and slid to block Ragguette’s attempted shot. The ball was deflected wide and the Referee, to the surprise of the 379-strong crowd, gave Aldershot Town a goal-kick.
Totton were almost the architects of their own downfall when passing the ball amongst themselves at the back, with figures dressed in all red flitting about to apply pressure. Noice’s pass out from his back bounced to the feet of Barham, who tried to strike quickly with defenders around him, and shot over the top.
Mike Carter and Josh Carmichael both made strong tackles in central midfield to prevent The Shots mounting attacks. Then, a foul by Alfie Stanley on the right corner of the Totton penalty area gave them the opportunity to swing in a set-piece. Ryan Glover met the cross at the near post and headed the ball upward, and his teammate Ollie Harfield did likewise before Noice came out to claim the ball.
Ragguette went down clutching his back after an aerial challenge. While Carmichael stood over his teammate with a look of some concern, the ball fell to Taylor whose square pass to Davis was slipped into the path of Stanley, dashing into the inside-right, before his shot flashed wide of the left-hand post. Ragguette then received treatment from the Totton Physio, Andrew Hanley.
Glover found space on the Aldershot right-wing before Ragguette caught up to force him to come infield on his left foot and attempt a high curling cross that Hallett headed out for a corner, which headers from Sam Magri and then Scott Rendell forced away. The Shots regained possession and shifted the ball to Harfield on the left, whose dangerous-looking cross just eluded Lorent Tolaj as he stretched to head the ball at the far post.
Hallett’s strong header midway inside his own half set Taylor away on the left, before the Stags winger was tripped by a covering defender. Davis rolled the free-kick square for Carmichael, who clipped the ball into the box. A defender tried to head clear but inadvertently sent the ball towards his own goal, though to his relief, the keeper was alert and plucked the ball out of the air. Taylor then had shot blocked after Rendell had held up Noice’s long kick to enable Stanley to feed Taylor on the left of the D. Centre-back Coby Rowe threw his body in the way to quell Taylor’s effort.
Rowe then blotted his copybook in the minds of those watching from the side of the Snows Stadium that houses the main stand by holding onto Taylor as he was trying to sprint forward to latch onto a ball out from the Totton defence. Taylor managed to wrestle his way past the defender, who then went to ground; the Referee bought it and awarded a free-kick to Aldershot.
Carter’s poor back pass in the 36th minute left Lewis Noice exposed, as the Stags keeper had no choice but to rush out the to corner of his penalty area to narrow Barham’s route to goal, doing enough to force the striker out towards the touchline. As Noice retreated towards his goal, Barham squared for Tommy Willard in the box, whose shot was charged down by Hallett with Magri getting himself in front of the follow-up attempt.
Totton’s skipper redeemed himself by getting back to scupper a promising left-wing Aldershot attack by intercepting the cross close to the byline. Meanwhile, Ethan Taylor’s ability to turn sharply in tight quarters twice threatened to open up the visitors, but The Shots’ defenders stuck to their task diligently to stop him in his tracks.
Carmichael and Rendell combined to play Stanley in down the right, resulting in a corner for the home team. Taylor’s curling cross was headed at goal from beyond the far post by Hallett, striking a defender and going behind for another corner on the opposite flank. Davis took this one, sending a right-footed cross into the middle where Aldershot needed two goes to head it away. Barham tried to scape away on the counter-attack but Carter was alive to it, coming across to nullify the danger.
Shortly after, Stanley won another corner on the Totton right, running onto Kennedy’s pass up the wing. Davis and Taylor combined for a short corner, from which Taylor unleashed a shot on the turn that was blocked. Aldershot countered quickly with Willard taking on Carmichael on his way to the left-wing byline, before Kennedy blocked for a corner. The cross caught the wind and had to be retrieved from close to the opposite touchline. Willard passed infield to Cian Harries, whose in swinging cross had one red shirt jumping for it but floated wide of the far post.
Promising progression down Totton’s left wing via a one-two between Ragguette and Taylor was somewhat wasted by Taylor’s willingness to go down when the full-back came across to lean on him. Then, shortly before the half-time whistle, The Shots won a free-kick on the right inside the Totton half, but once again the strong wind came to Totton’s aid by carrying Glover’s cross over the top and behind for a goal-kick.
HALF-TIME
AFC TOTTON 0
ALDERSHOT TOWN 0
The players were greeted by an uncomfortably cold rain shower as they ran out after the half-time break, as fans around the ground rushed for overhead cover. Two minutes into the second half, Davis spread the play to the right for Stanley to cross low from the byline towards the near post, where former Aldershot Town striker Scott Rendell arrived ahead of two defenders but could only direct the ball wide.
Aldershot went up the other end with substitute Josh Stokes finding space on the left wing to cross to Willard, whose close-range shot was blocked by Carter, The Stags’ skipper then heading away the subsequent cross.
The lively Stokes managed to get goal-side of Ragguette and fired in a low cross that was met by Harries, whose shot was turned behind by the sliding figure of Luke Hallett. From the corner on the Aldershot left, the ball was knocked out to the edge of the box and blasted over the crossbar.
A miss-kick by Harries on the edge of his own penalty area allowed Ethan Taylor to press and force the ball to Rendell, who fed a trialist substitute into a shooting position, the effort curling wide of the near post.
After a fairly even game so far, the visiting team started to boss possession and dictate the movement of the ball around the newly-relaid Snows Stadium pitch. Tyler Frost received the ball midway inside his own half on 57 minutes, and set off on a striding run down the middle, before passing forwards to Willard, who clipped a short pass to inside-right for Stokes to run onto. He pulled the ball back from the byline to just behind the penalty spot, where Harfield took a touch and took aim. Noice parried to his left but the ball fell at the feet of Josh STOKES to tap Aldershot Town in front.
An under-hit back-pass from Ragguette had Magri stretching to get to the loose ball before Tolaj could latch onto it and race clear. Then, Hallett found himself under pressure from a high clearance out of Aldershot’s defence, with Tolaj lurking around him. Hallett’s clearance landed in the Nomansland of the centre-circle, where Theo Widdrington - the son of Manager Tommy Widdrington, on as a half-time sub - reacted quickly to intercept, stride forward and curl a long-range shot over the bar.
On the hour mark, Coby Rowe made another brave sliding block to deny Taylor, again, after the Totton No.10, Rendell and a trialist had combined well on the right-hand side. Then, Widdrington Jr. was booked for a foul near halfway.
Harfield was caught out by the bounce of the ball, allowing Kennedy to collect and push forward down the right flank. But when the cross came in, it was a fraction too high for Rendell and, despite some whip that bent it towards the top-left corner of the goal, floated wide.
A flurry of substitutes from both sides broke the flow of the game for a while. Then, Hallett beat his opponent to a through-ball but at the expense of a corner. Whiteley headed the cross out and Hallett repelled the second attempt.
As more substitutions followed, Aldershot continued to take a firmer control of the game, forcing Totton to try to keep them at arm’s length. A miss-placed pass by substitute full-back Leo Taylor put his team under pressure, but they managed to scrape the ball away. Then, Owen Pelham was called up for a foul in midfield; likewise Hallett a few minutes later for a trip on Aldershot Town Academy graduate Alex MacAllister.
The visitors doubled their advantage with 10 minutes to go. With space appearing in the middle of the park, Stokes rolled the ball into the inside-right channel for MacAllister to run onto. His low cross bypassed Noice in the Totton goal to leave former Bristol Rovers man Zain WALKER with a simple finish as he arrived at the left-hand post.
Playing with confidence, The Shots swept forward again within a minute of the restart. Tyler Frost cut in from the left wing and played a short pass into the diagonal run across the penalty spot made by Zain WALKER, who lifted the ball over the sprawling figure of Lewis Noice as the keeper tried to challenge, making it 3-0 to the team in red.
Hallett managed to turn away another cross from the Aldershot Town left, after good work by Harfield and Frost. Kennedy headed the corner out but Aldershot regain possession, again. Then it was Kennedy making an important last-ditch intervention to prevent Frost and Stokes working their way to goal from The Shots’ right wing.
Jordan Ragguette was cautioned for a foul in the centre-circle, before a trialist survived a valid hand-ball shout to try a shot from the right of the penalty area that drifted wide of the near post. Pelham got back to concede a corner after a misplaced pass out of the Totton defence.
There was little by way of injury time at the end of the game before the Referee blew the final whistle.
After the match, AFC Totton Manager Jimmy Ball (pictured) said:
“That was a fantastic test for the players, today. Aldershot Town are a National League side who are well-coached, well-managed and well-drilled, and I think it’s fair to say they are the best team we have faced during my time at Totton. We went toe-to-toe with them for the first hour, and I thought we had a couple of chances in the first half, and they did, as well. But as the game went on, Aldershot were a bit fitter and moved the ball better, and ended up with a deserved win.
“I don’t have any complaints. It’s pre-season, so you can never get too ecstatic when you win, nor too low when you lose. The lads have had another good run-out, which will help them to get to the level we need them to be when the competitive season kicks-off, and despite a couple of players needing treatment during the game, nobody was injured.
“The new season’s fixtures were published this week, and I was asked my opinion regarding the order in which we’ll be facing certain opponents. It really doesn’t matter; you have to play every team twice and, whatever any one team did or didn’t achieve last season, you have to take every one of them seriously and prepare in a professional manner, or you will come unstuck.
“We’re still looking to strengthen the squad in a couple of areas, but we’re not far away from being ready for the new season. Bognor Regis Town will be a good test on Wednesday. They are a Step 3 club, same as us, but they also like to get the ball down and play football, so it should be another entertaining game.”
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Photography from this game is currently embargoed until Tuesday 18 July; it will be added then.
