AFC Totton
HAMPSHIRE FA SUNDAY SENIOR CUP
Quarter-Final
AFC TOTTON SUNDAY 6
Lewis Gundry 10mins; Jordan Canning 26mins; Nathan Gray 50mins, 85mins; Tom Munday 61mins; Matt Harrington 69mins
WEST HOWE 1
Dan Edwards 48mins
Sam Conway's revitalised AFC Totton Sunday team, with several players back from injury and returned to full fitness, made light work of their Quarter-Final opponents in the Hampshire FA Sunday Senior Cup at Testwood Recreation Ground this morning (Sunday).
West Howe compete in the Bournemouth Sunday League; presumably, their participation in a Hampshire-based competition owes something to the fact that Bournemouth and Poole were part of Hampshire until the county boundaries were redrawn in April 1974 - just in time for your Stags correspondent to be Hampshire-born and bred, courtesy of the good midwives of the erstwhile Boscombe General Hospital.
Captain Lewis Gundry and winger Jordan Canning came back into the starting line up after both sustaining knocks at Unity 101 two weeks ago that kept them out of last week's 2-2 draw with Empire FC. They re-teamed with Jason Calcutt in the midfield, who had sat out the Unity match with an injury of his own. Michael MacLeod, substituted with a dead leg last week, made a full recovery and started at left-back. The ever-present Matt Harrington was partnered up front by Nathan Gray.
AFC TOTTON SUNDAY
Starting Line-Up
1. Mitch COLEMAN
3. Luke SCOULAR
4. Tom MUNDAY
5. Tom RAFFERTY
7. Lewis GUNDRY (Capt.)
8. Jason CALCUTT
9. Matt HARRINGTON
10. Nathan GRAY
11. Jordan CANNING
13. Dan GAIN
15. Michael MACLEOD
Substitutes
12. Kaine STANTON
14. Luke CRON
16. Josh CAREY
West Howe started the match with the bare 11 - no substitutes - and very quickly suffered a further set-back when their goalkeeper George Gudge came out to challenge Tom Munday on the right side of his penalty area and took a knock that left him limping for the rest of the match. But he got lucky soon after when Tom Rafferty's free header from a Nathan Gray corner rattled between his shins.
Though the bumpy Testwood Rec pitch didn't help either side's passing game, Totton were much the brighter of the two teams during the early exchanges. And they made it count 10 minutes in when Gray's corner from the right wing was headed away, despite the aerial presence of Dan Gain, and the ball bounced kindly to allow skipper Lewis GUNDRY to fire his team in front with a 25-yard right-foot rocket, which flew past the goalkeeper to his left. Roy Race, eat your heart out!
TOP PERFORMERS: Nathan Gray and Lewis Gundry (both facing the camera) were integral to Totton's Hampshire FA Sunday Cup Quarter-Final victory today.
West Howe were neat in possession at times but couldn't break through early on, while Totton were well-equipped to hit them on the counter. Matt Harrington had a shot deflected wide and, shortly after, won the ball in midfield and found Jordan Canning on the right flank. His low cross hit a bobble, causing a well-positioned defender to miss his kick, but Gray's first time shot from the edge of the area was well-blocked by a sliding tackle. From the corner, Gain got up high but couldn't direct his header, missing the target to the right.
Gudge saved a long-range effort from Tom Munday, after Jason Calcutt won the ball by the half-way line and found Gundry to set-up the chance. Then, a late challenge by Scott Pilcher on Tom Rafferty, as the two players converged on a loose ball near the Totton left-back area, earned the West Howe No.2 a yellow card. It was a painful knock for Rafferty but the cultured centre-back was back on his feet and made an important intervention at the near post a minute later, as West Howe attacked down their right wing. Pilcher took the resulting corner and found his teammate Sam Davis unmarked about 9 yards out, his flicked header pulling an impressive one-handed reflex save out of Stags keeper Mitch Coleman.
There were claims for a penalty from the home side around the 20-minute mark, when Nathan Gray ran onto Harrington's flick-on through the centre of West Howe's defence. He and Davis got their arms tangled, which was enough to send Gray tumbling in an uncomfortable heap. The referee was close by and turned down the blue-shirted appeals with the universal gesture of arms that says "Nothing doing". Gray found himself through again, shortly after, from Canning's pass, but he took too long to decide what to do, his shot eventually going straight at Gudge.
The Stags settled into their game, passing the ball around at the back and in midfield, despite a willingness among the visitors to press the ball. Rafferty's pass to Michael MacLeod on the left touchline appeared to put his teammate under pressure, until MacLeod spun and flicked the ball through the legs of Richie Whiting before advancing the play upfield for this team. And when Tom Munday pressed in a similar fashion at the other end of the pitch, a rushed clearance presented the ball to Harrington mid-way inside West Howe's half, his diagonal cross searching for Gray in behind the visitors' left-back but the bounce of the ball eluded him.
Gundry got forward from midfield to receive Munday's pass from the left flank, and squared to Harrington just outside the penalty area, with Gray queuing up to his right. Gudge managed to parry Gray's shot and, although West Howe got the ball away for a moment, the keeper had to react again to stop MacLeod's follow-up shot.
A short period of pressure from the away team earned them a free-kick in a dangerous area, when Luke Scoular was adjudged to have gone over the ball just outside his own penalty area. Dan Gain lined up a few yards behind the defensive wall, from where he was able to block the shot, before the visitors were called up for a foul.
Totton attacked down the right wing on 26 minutes, with Gray turning the ball infield to Harrington who, with his back to goal, flicked it round the corner to free Jordan CANNING - he took a touch and struck a low shot across the goalkeeper, against the inside of the left-hand post and into the net to double Totton's advantage.
Gundry and Gray went in search of a third goal, utilising the overlapping run of Scoular down the right-hand side, his cross finding Gray again but the striker's shot was too high. Then, Canning also shot over the bar after good defensive work from Gundry in midfield enabled MacLeod to cross from the left and Gray to tee-up the chance.
West Howe went down to 10 men when their player came off worse in a heavy challenge with Jordan Canning, which also left the Totton man limping for a while, the referee awarding the free-kick to the Stags deep on the right flank. Gray sent it into the box, it was headed out and Calcutt tried to wrap his left-foot around it, sending a shot bouncing wide of the post to the right. Then, Harrington showed his strength, taking a pass from MacLeod in the inside-left area and turning his marker to shoot for the far bottom corner where Gudge did well to get down and make the save.
The Bournemouth-based team came forward, moving the ball from the middle to the right wing, with Whiting playing Amir Ain-Zehga in behind the tracking run of Munday. Ain-Zehga's strong effort from a tight angle beat Coleman, Dan Gain was on-hand, though, to stop the ball behind his keeper.
Rafferty was momentarily deceived by the flight of a long ball, as the swirling wind held it up above his head. Benjamin King ran onto the dropping ball and fired for the top-right corner, bringing another smart save out of Coleman. Gray came close again, at the other end, when Munday's forward progress down the left wing was halted and Gundry picked up the loose ball to square for the livewire striker to ping a right-footed snapshot narrowly wide of the left-hand post.
The experienced Lewis Gundry made his presence felt in midfield, talking to his teammates throughout and keeping them calm and focused on the job in hand, as evidenced just before half-time when West Howe tried to counter-attack down their right and the Totton skipper marshalled the positioning of both Munday and MacLeod to help them shut down the angles and bring the ball out of defence with several passing options available.
HALF-TIME
AFC TOTTON SUNDAY 2-0 WEST HOWE
Nathan Gray had the ball in the back of the net in the first minute of the second half, but Harrington was judged to have fouled a defender during the build up. Then, Gundry fed Canning on the right wing, whose cross eluded Harrington but fell to Munday coming in from the left, his shot stinging Gudge's palms at the keeper's near post.
The 10 men of West Howe got themselves on the scoresheet in the 48th minute when Tom Rafferty stretched for a through-ball, only to divert it to Ain-Zehga on the right flank. He had the time and space to bring the ball infield and square past Coleman for Dan EDWARDS to convert from close range to halve the deficit.
But Totton quickly restored their two-goal lead. Their attack appeared to have lost momentum when Gray trod on the ball inside the away team's penalty area but he retained possession as players from both teams arrived around him. He retreated and played a short pass to Gundry, then he ran around the back of his skipper as Harrington received the ball with his back to goal and laid it back to his strike partner for Nathan GRAY to bend a 25-yard gem into the top-left corner - Gudge was rooted to the spot and just watched it fly in.
Calcutt released Gray down the inside-right as the Stags went in search of more goals against their weakened opponents. Gray's angled shot was parried by Gudge and Harrington tried to pounce on the rebound, being crowded out by defenders before Gray followed up with a shot wide.
Luke Cron stepped off the bench for Totton in the 58th minute to replace Canning, and he was straight into the action trying to juggle the ball past two defenders from Gray's right-wing cross, without success. Three minutes later, an errant backpass from a tiring West Howe midfielder presented the ball to Gray in the final third with Munday available to his right. The winger, repositioned to the right flank to accommodate the introduction of Cron, ran onto Gray's through-ball beating his marker in the process and, from an acute angle, Tom MUNDAY lashed his right-foot shot across Gudge and into the far-top corner of the visitors' goal to make it 4-1.
HAPPY STAGS: Tom Munday (front, centre), Dan Gain (No.4), Lewis Gundry (No.7), Tom Rafferty (middle) and Jordan Canning (back).
Gray and Gundry were enjoying themselves, with Gray dropping deep from his striker's berth to take part in the build-up play. Gundry saw the chance to make a surging forward run, which created an opening for Munday to test the keeper again. Then, on 69 minutes, Luke Scoular carried the ball forward into the heart of the West Howe defence. They nicked it off him but failed to clear, allowing Scoular to regain possession and force the ball forward to Harrington. The centre-forward was being closely marked but the defender scuffed his attempted clearance, allowing Matt HARRINGTON to poke the ball past the keeper from close range for an almost apologetic fifth goal.
Midfielder Kaine Stanton came off the bench to make his AFC Totton Sunday debut, with Lewis Gundry taking a breather. Munday found space down the right wing and sent a fiercely-struck cross into the centre where it was met by the head of an airborne Nathan Gray, bringing an excellent save out of the injured George Gudge.
West Howe defender Graham Warren tried to control a high ball into his area on his chest but only gave the ball to Stags substitute Josh Carey, who smashed over from close to the penalty spot. Another move instigated in midfield by Gray released Munday on the right, again. This time his cross reached Cron on the left, who controlled under pressure on his right thigh before firing over with his left foot.
It had never really been a fair contest with West Howe down to the bare bones from the very beginning - their league position in the Bournemouth league suggests they are a much better football team than they were able to showcase in the cold of Salisbury Road, today. And by this stage, it was all one-way traffic as their 10 men tired with an unassailable deficit already on the scoreboard. They did manage to get forward and earn a corner from a miss-kick by Gain that hit his own side-netting, but Luke Cron headed the cross away at the back post. And with 5 minutes of the match remaining, Totton hit the half-dozen.
Tom Munday dropped deep into midfield in his own half to claim possession and clipped the ball into the path of Gray, who had taken up a starting position just behind a defender in the inside-right channel, where he was kept onside by weary defenders on the far side of the pitch. Nathan GRAY controlled the forward pass, chopped infield to wrong-foot the retreating defenders and, falling as he swept his left foot into the ball, beat the keeper with a shot to the bottom-right corner from around the penalty spot.
Josh Carey almost added a seventh in the dying seconds, hitting the left-hand post from inside the D after good work from Munday to get free at the right-wing byline, shortly before the final whistle confirmed AFC Totton Sunday's progress to the Semi-Finals of the Hampshire FA Sunday Senior Cup.
And there was more good news for the Sunday Stags when they learned that two of their City of Southampton Sunday Football League Div.1 title rivals lost in league action, today; Chamberlayne Athletic Sunday went down 1-5 at Durley, while Empire FC - the only team to take a point off AFC Totton Sunday so far this season - were beaten 2-3 at home by AFC Riverside.
Man of the Match: Lewis GUNDRY
AFC Totton Sunday would like to thank our sponsors Gentlemen's League Barbers and Hurst Auto Assistance for their invaluable ongoing support.
Match Report: Ben ROCHEY-ADAMS
