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Totton defeated Hanworth Villa 3-2 in the 4th Qualifying Round of the FA Cup to set up a First Round Proper tie against Bradford Park Avenue. Bradford play in the Evo-Stik Northern Premier Division, the same level as our Southern Premier Division.
This is new territory for Totton, having never progressed further than the 4th qualifying round before. Avenue were a bit of an unknown entity to Totton, as Totton probably were to Avenue, and both sides have similar records in their respective leagues this season, so it was almost impossible to predict the outcome of this game, and no one expected the result that followed.....
The game started at quite a pace with both sides having half-chances to open the scoring early on. Michael Charles attempted a chip over John Lamb but his effort bounced wide of the post, while Richard Marshall had a shot cleared from almost off the line by Nathan Campbell.
But Marshall made it an uphill struggle for Bradford on 11 minutes after getting a straight red card for shoving Tom Baddeley to the ground as he was getting to his feet following a fair challenge to win the ball.
2 minutes later Totton made the extra man count by opening the scoring. Michael Charles flicked the ball on for Jon Davies to shoot from a tight angle and the ball squeezed under Avenue keeper John Lamb.
With almost half an hour gone, Nathaniel Sherborne burst into the box before being sent flying by the combined efforts of Amjad Iqbal and Ross Daly, and the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Fresh back from suspension, spot-kick specialist Mike Gosney stepped up to send Lamb the wrong way.
2-0 to The Stags, and seemingly comfortable. Not necessarily. From the restart, Bradford won a free kick out wide on the left. Martin Drury swung the ball into the box and when Grant Porter failed to deal with it, Adam Clayton was unmarked at the back post to poke the ball home and halve the deficit.
The score didn't stay the same for very long though as Michael Charles restored the 2-goal advantage a minute later when he met Sherborne's low ball across the face of goal to stab home at the far post.
Half time: AFC Totton 3-1 Bradford Park Avenue
The second half was just 7 minutes old when Gosney scored his 2nd and Totton's 4th to just about put the result beyond doubt. Jon Davies crossed from the left and Gosney was on hand to steer the ball past Lamb from just a few yards out.
When Stefan Brown came off the bench to replace Michael Charles on 56 minutes, no one had any idea he was about to write himself into the FA Cup history books.
In the 64th minute Gosney drove forward into the box, nutmegging Adam Clayton on the way, before crossing for Brown to slide in and divert the ball into an unguarded net.
As the teams walked back for the restart, Martin Drury, who had already been booked, had a few words too many to say to the referee and was shown a second yellow, closely followed by the red, to reduce Bradford to 9 men.
Rather than sitting back and being content with their commanding 5-1 lead, Totton went up a gear. Mark Osman, also on as a substitute, battled for possession on the right wing, won the ball and ran to the by-line before delivering a low cross to Brown and he swept the ball past Lamb for 6-1.
Then from a long ball out from the back, Osman leapt to get his head on the ball and Brown got to it before Lamb, who had rushed out of his goal, to stick out a foot and flick the ball into the empty goal to complete the fastest hat-trick by a substitute in FA Cup history.
Totton weren't finished there, however, and Davies put the cherry on the icing on the cake with a composed finish in added time to round off the biggest post-war win by a non-league side in the FA Cup proper rounds.
Full time: AFC Totton 8-1 Bradford Park Avenue
It was a day of records for Totton. The most goals scored by a non-league side in the FA Cup proper rounds this side of the war, the fastest hat-trick by a substitute ever in the FA Cup, Bradford's biggest ever defeat in the competition and our biggest crowd at the Testwood Stadium (2,315). Oh, and if reaching the 1st round proper for the first time in our history wasn't good enough, we're into the 2nd round! And if THAT wasn't good enough, we were drawn at home again for the 2nd round, this time against NPower League Two side Bristol Rovers. Lovely jubbly!
AFC Totton: Porter, Hill, Whisken, Campbell, Baddeley, Davies, Scott (Richardson 75), Pettefer, Gosney, Sherborne (Osman 66), Charles (Brown 56). Unused subs: Casey, Lewis, Oldring, Coutts.
Bradford Park Avenue: Lamb, Drury, Riley, Clayton, O'Brien, Iqbal, Daley (Deacey 46), Hotte, Boshell (Beadle 23), Marshall, Greaves (Ahmed 68). Unused subs: Lydon, Knowles, Duckworth, Law.
Goals:
Totton: Davies (13, 90), Gosney (29 pen, 52), Charles (32), Brown (64, 74, 79)
Bradford: Clayton (30)
Officials: Referee: Mr K Johnson. Assistants: Mr D Jacecko & Mr D Richardson. Fourth Official: Mr M Rushton.
Attendance: 2,315.
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