AFC Totton
PLENTY OF POSITIVES FROM 125 TOURNAMENT
Following on from last nights win at Team Solent, The Stags today travelled to Weymouth, to take part in The Terras 125th Anniversary Tournament. The games were 15 mins each way. The Stags were without Sherborne, Gosney, Allen, Hibberd, Dempsey, Watts, and White who were all unavailable.
STAGS TROUBLE TORQUAY
Totton’s 1st game of the afternoon came against Torquay United. The game started fairly evenly, with The Stags playing some good football and holding their own against a Torquay side, from 3 divisions above, which included a number of 1st team players. After 8 minutes, Craig FEENEY was bundled over in the area and then dusted himself down to despatch the penalty, to the right side of the keeper. This woke Torquay up and 2 minutes later, a Freekick was crashed off the crossbar from 25 yards. Just before the break, Feeney played in Mark Lilley, but he had to twist his body, in a difficult position to get a shot away and his shot went into the keepers arms. HT TUFC 0-1 AFCT
Torquay began the second period trying to be more assertive, however, Neil Williams made sure that effort was in vein, breaking up 3 or 4 attacks that Torquay threw at Totton. The game then petered out and The Stags gained a well deserved win.
FT TUFC 0-1 AFCT
CHERRIES CLASS TELLS
Up next for The Stags was AFC Bournemouth. Almost immediately The Stags were on the back foot and managed to survive a quick flurry of corners and cross attempts. 8 minutes in, Kieran Greene made a fantastic double save to deny The Cherries breaking the deadlock. However, Bournemouth kept huffing and puffing and eventually got their reward. Following a nice move, which stretched The Stags down their right hand side, a cut back was made and a very well placed side footed goal was scored (scorer unknown). Just moments later, Bournemouth were back on the attack and as players seemed to line up for a shot on the edge of the area, The Cherries were patient and eventually found some space and rifled home a low hard shot beyond Greene (scorer unknown). HT AFCB 2-0 AFCT
The Stags seem to get a bit more settled in the second period of this game, but couldn’t find a way through Bournemouth’s stern defence. Probably as you would expect of an outfit preparing for their first season in the Premier League, with youngsters looking for a starting berth in their team. Not to mention that many Stags players were involved in the 8-1 win over Team Solent the evening before. However, it was still Bournemouth who had the final say in the match and with just a minute to go, The Stags were stretched again, which allowed for another cutback and this time a finish by POPE. FT – AFCB 3-0 AFCT
TERRAS EDGE FINAL ENCOUNTER
The Stags final outing came against hosts Weymouth. In truth, the 1st half didn’t really have much to it. Weymouth had the majority of the play, owing to The Stags tiredness due to the fact that The Terras were now technically the 4th opponents in just 18 hours. Even so, The Stags ended the first period on the front foot, with an attack and a corner. HT WEY 0-0 AFCT
5 minutes into the second period, The Stags had a promising move going involving Lilley and then Feeney, who was judged to have been offside, when he may have had a decent chance on goal. However, Weymouth were determined to get themselves a win on their special day and kept penning Totton back in their own half. Mowthorpe made an outstanding save from a long range effort, which he managed to tip onto the bar. That seemed to spark The Stags into action as they raced down the other end and Feeney shot over from distance, following a quick break. Unfortunately, with almost the last touch of the tournament, Weymouth got their goal. The Terras seemed to be allowed to advance further and further into Stags territory, which resulted in them being punished, having to go down to a last gasp winner. FT WEY 1-0 AFCT
FINAL STANDINGS
Torquay – 6pts +3gd
AFC Bournemouth – 4pts +1gd
Weymouth – 4pts -1gd
AFC TOTTON – 3pts -4gd
Stags Squad: Mowthorpe, Smith, Rolls, Roden, Ferguson, Williams, Burgess, Rawkins, Feeney, Lilley, Manning, Greene, Diaper, Edwards, Lanahan.
Although The Stags had to settle for 4th place, in actual fact, there were plenty of positives to take out of this tournament. With notable absences in the squad and tiredness, understandably so, setting in, The Stags certainly did the club proud. We now look forward to having our first home friendly of Pre-Season on Thursday 23rd July, when Poole Town visit the Testwood Stadium
