AFC Totton
By Josh Cole
A 4-2 scoreline in Farnborough condemned Totton to their fourth defeat in a row.
The Stags showed early promise, going close after just two minutes when Sam Ashford arrived onto a Dec Rose corner at the back post and just tapped the ball wide.
But two minutes later, the hosts got in front. It was their first shot and Hakeem Sandah managed to squeeze the ball in at the near post from the edge of the box.
Totton then had the lion's share of possession and finally got a reward for it! Ralph Vigrass scored an absolute screamer in the 22nd minute, 25 yards out he fired a rocket into the top left corner of the goal!
This goal gave Totton new life, and they were now controlling the game.
Chance after chance went begging, the best of this spell coming in the 29th minute when Ash Clarke shot from the edge and forced Jack Turner into a good save as he dived low.
On the 42nd minute, a bizarre sequence occurred… Tony Lee was through on goal, he unfortunately scuffed his shot and thought it was going to be easily saved, but with the condition of the pitch it rolled past the ‘keeper and in slow motion came off the post.
Then in the ensuing chaos to scramble clear, a Farnborough player clumsily clattered into Clarke and The Stags can count themselves unlucky not to have had a penalty.
Just two minutes into the second half, Boro had their lead back and it was Rakish Bingham with the goal and it was a low shot and a tidy finish that hit the back of the net.
It was all Farnborough in the second half, and Jimmy Ball wanted to wrestle back control for his team so he used up the remainder of his four subs in the 61st minute.
And it did bring some life to Totton, but only for a short while before Farnborough managed to slow the game down.
In the 77th minute, The Stags finally had a penalty as Tony Lee was bundled over in the box and who else other than Scott Rendell scored it!
But just three minutes later, the hosts retook the lead, a dangerous corner delivery met the head of captain Ollie Robinson and he glanced the ball past Ryan Gosney and into the far corner.
The game was then put to bed in the 89th minute after Totton failed to deal with the long throw and it bounced twice as it made its way to the back-post where Bingham was waiting to fire into the net.
A forgettable day for The Stags in North Hampshire.
AFC Totton XI: 13. Ryan Gosney, 2. Joe Oastler ©, 7. Ash Clarke (Luke Bennett 61’), 8. Lee Hodson (Ryan Jackson 61’), 10. Tony Lee, 11. Malachi Linton (Scott Rendell 34’), 17. Dec Rose, 18. Sam Ashford (Hisham Kasimu 61’), 21. Christos Batzelis, 23. Ralph Vigrass (Andre Changunda 61’), & 26. Tyler Cordner.
Unused subs: 1. Max Evans & 28. Jacob Towns.
Attendance: 705
GO STAGS
