AFC Totton
Photo courtesy of Ben Cole
By Josh Cole
A hard-fought point for The Stags on home soil as we drew 1-1 with Chesham United.
It was Chesham who started the brighter with a corner and a couple of pop shots from the edge of the box but nothing meaningful occurred.
The first half was filled with possession for The Stags but no real forward passes breaking the lines of the Chesham shape.
The Generals had the first big chance of the game and it fell to their number nine, Nathan Minhus, as Mitchell Weiss found him at the back post but Ryan Gosney in net made himself big and blocked the effort!
Gosney then was called into action making another two big saves in quick succession to tip over the bar an effort from Weiss and a header from Connor Stevens.
The first half ended 0-0, it was a frustrating half for The Stags with no real ball speed Chesham were happy to let Totton have the ball in front of them.
Two changes were made at half time by Jimmy Ball, bringing on Ash Clarke and Malachi Linton in the hopes of injecting some pace and dynamism into the side.
It paid dividends early on with the Stags looking much brighter but still struggling to muster any real chance inside the final third.
It took until the 73rd minute for the deadlock to be broken, and after coming very close just a minute beforehand from the same area, Chesham took the lead.
Gosney had pulled off a fine reaction save to claw a shot off the line but the away side came back a minute later with a low ball across the box and the Totton goalie could only parry to the feet of Connor Roberts and he turned home into the empty net.
The goal though had injected some life into The Stags and they showed the desire and heart to be brave on the ball and start to take back control of the game.
But in the 80th minute, Karl Oliyide thought he had a certain one-on-one opportunity with Gosney if it wasn’t for a last-ditch sliding tackle from Joe Oastler, which he timed superbly well and nicked the ball off the toes of the attacker.
Four minutes late, Totton were back on level terms!
After trying to penetrate down the left side, Clarke switched the ball out to Dec Rose on the right and he took one touch out of his feet to whip a perfect cross onto the head of TONY LEE and he gracefully glanced the ball over the ‘keeper and into the net, 1-1!
The Stags continued to push for that winner, even Chesham were trying as well, they even had the ball in the back of the net but the lino’s flag spared AFC Totton.
A cracking chance fell to Linton inside the box after great play from Clarke down the left-hand side and Linton took the ball past a defender and struck the near-post with his shot, so unlucky!
Then in the dying moments of the game, Totton threw everything forward and there were huge appeals for a penalty at the end after Ralph Vigrass was sure he was taken out, the referee waved away and it ended one apiece.
AFC Totton starting XI: 13. Ryan Gosney, 2. Joe Oastler, 4. Mike Carter © (Hisham Kasimu 75’), 5. Luke Hallett (Dec Rose 75’), 9. Scott Rendell (Malachi Linton 45’), 10. Tony Lee, 19. Christie Ward, 20. Ryan Jackson (Ralph Vigrass 82’), 21. Christos Batzelis (Ash Clarke 45’), 26. Tyler Cordner & 27. Craig Tanner.
Unused subs: 1. Max Evans & 16. Josh Dolling.
Attendance: 1,305
GO STAGS
