AFC Totton 2-0 Bashley, 26/12/11 1pm

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After a last minute draw at Oxford City last time out, Totton were hoping for a slightly easier ride in this Boxing Day derby clash against Bashley. Ryan Hill scored with nearly the last kick of the game to rescue a point against Oxford for only our second draw of the season. Bashley were undone by 2 second half goals as they lost 2-1 at Weymouth in their previous game.

Bashley made the stronger start to the game and with just 40 seconds on the clock Mark Gamble forced a corner after his shot was blocked by Ian Richardson. Totton dealt with the corner and set up a counter attack as Nathaniel Sherborne was released down the left flank, but as he made his way towards the box there were no other Totton players up with him so he had no choice but to have a go at goal himself and his effort was blocked and went behind for a corner.

A foul on Carl Pettefer in the centre circle resulted in Jamie Whisken launching a long free kick into the Bashley box. The Bash defence cleared the danger but Totton came straight back at them and Michael Charles managed to squeeze through the back line but his shot was high and wide.

Bashley were quite physical in their approach and they conceded another free kick out wide on the right when Jon Davies was fouled. Mike Gosney swung the ball into the box but it evaded everyone and went straight into Tommy Smith's arms.

Soon though, Bashley were made to pay for the physical nature of their play when a foul on Sherborne resulted in a free kick 35 yards out. Ryan Hill fired the ball through the packed penalty area without anyone getting a touch on it and it crept past the keeper and into the bottom corner to give Totton the lead.

Bashley came back at Totton in search of a quick equaliser and 3 minutes after the goal a corner to the far post was headed back across goal and Grant Porter commanded his area well to come off his line and punch the ball clear.

With nearly half an hour played Bashley were denied by Porter again. From a long throw-in, James Stokoe's looping header was caught on the line by Porter. Then after some pinball in the Totton box a Bashley player, (it was hard to tell who), fired wide of the left-hand post.

Bashley pair James Stokoe and Jack Smith picked up a booking each for a foul on Scott Sampson and kicking the ball away respectively. Those bookings, and a couple of half chances for both sides, made up the remainder of the first half.

Half time: AFC Totton 1-0 Bashley

60 seconds after the restart Totton fashioned another chance for themselves when Gosney played in Sherborne who timed his run well to beat the offside trap. He ran to the by-line and crossed for Michael Charles whose shot was deflected behind.

From the resulting corner The Stags doubled their lead. Gosney took it short, playing a one-two with Jon Davies before taking a touch and rifling a shot into the bottom corner. The ball came through a group of players in the box which made it difficult for Bash goalkeeper Tommy Smith to see it until it was too late.

Bashley didn't lie down and roll over though, and they could have pulled one back on 52 minutes. A cross from Bash skipper Dave Allen was turned goalwards by Ian Oliver but the effort was deflected wide for a corner by Jamie Whisken.

Liam Green delivered the corner to the near post where Luke Whitley controlled the ball and volleyed it towards the top corner where a magnificent acrobatic save from Grant Porter prevented the back of the net from bulging.

Mark Gamble then beat the Totton offside trap but should have done better as his weak effort was straight at Porter. Gamble was booked a minute later for a foul on Matt Oldring.

Bashley continued to go forward in search of a goal and their policy of committing lots of players to attack left them susceptible to counter attacks. Totton should maybe have had a penalty when Luke Whitley sent Sherborne tumbling in the box with a mistimed tackle but the referee waved play on much to the anger of the Totton fans in the stand near to where the incident occurred.

Totton almost trebled the advantage with 8 minutes to go when Gosney's cross was too long but substitute Stefan Brown did well to hook it back across the box to the penalty spot where Sherborne attempted an overhead effort that wasn't far over the crossbar.

Full time: AFC Totton 2-0 Bashley

Bashley may have been beaten but they were by no means second best in a contest that was even in almost every department except the one that matters: Goals. Totton weren't at their best but two long range goals that could have been described more as half-chances were enough to get them back to winning ways in the league. Next up for The Stags is Chippenham Town away on New Year's Eve.

AFC Totton: Porter, Hill, Whisken, Richardson, Sampson (Oldring 48), Davies, Pettefer, Campbell, Gosney, Sherborne (Jack 83), Charles (Brown 66). Unused subs: Sturgess, Osman.

Bashley: Tommy Smith, Jack Smith (Vokes 85), Oliver (Foster 89), Middleton, Whitley, Finlay, Gillespie, Allen, Green (Penny 67), Stokoe, Gamble. Unused subs: Gazzard, Prodomo.

Goals:
Totton: Hill (12), Gosney (47).

Officials: Referee: Mr S Tomlinson. Assistants: Mr S Wade & Mr G Skillen.

Attendance: 577.

Oxford City 2-2 AFC Totton, 17/12/11 3pm

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There was a pitch inspection the morning of the day of this game. Thankfully it was passed and the game could go ahead as planned. Oxford City are doing very nicely in the league so far this season, and are level on points with Totton. If you were at the reverse fixture at the Testwood Stadium back in August you might find that a bit hard to believe, as Totton triumphed 6-0 that day. The Stags brushed Oxford aside with relative ease and notched up their biggest league win of the season so far. But Oxford have pushed on from that freak result and are now a real contender at the top of the table.

Oxford made all the early running without really testing Grant Porter. Totton soon got themselves into the game with Tom Baddeley and Mike Gosney linking up well down the left on a few occasions to put crosses into the box. Totton won a free kick, but Gosney was denied by Oxford goalkeeper Jason Mooney. Michael Charles then came close from another set piece a his header was just over the bar.

Oxford came back at Totton on 15 minutes when Adam Learoyd sent a header straight at Porter, and then good play from Darren Pond and Liam Malone resulted in an Andy Ballard long throw-in that was scuffed wide by Pond.

A minute later though, Oxford's pressure paid off. Lee Steele won a throw-in off Tom Baddeley and Ballard was the one to launch it into the box once again. This time the ball fell for Steele in a penalty box that more resembled a quagmire, but the mud stopped the ball from bouncing and Wayne Blossom reacted swiftly to drive a shot across goal and into the bottom corner.

Totton reacted well to falling behind and a cross from Gosney almost resulted in an equaliser but Nathaniel Sherborne's effort was just wide of the post. Oxford replied when Michael Lyon crossed for Pond to head the ball down for Steele but his shot on the volley was held comfortably by Porter. 

Totton then hit Oxford on the counter attack when a solid but fair tackle by Jamie Whisken set up Ryan Hill to charge forward but he was eventually brought to a halt by a foul on the edge of the box. Gosney stepped up again but fired the free kick over the bar. 

After a period of scrappy play from both sides, Totton grabbed an equaliser on the break. A long ball down the right from Hill was headed away by Blossom but the ball got bogged down on the muddy surface and Michael Charles collected the loose ball and ran to the by-line. He managed to get goal-side of the defender marking him and shot across goal. Mooney got down to push it away but the ball fell to Sherborne who planted a first time shot into the far corner.

After surviving a couple of Totton corners, Oxford went on the counter attack before winning a free kick on the right flank. Marvin Martin swung the ball over to the far post and it was knocked back across goal to Lee Steele who fired home first time into the far corner for the half time lead.

Half time: Oxford City 2-1 AFC Totton

Totton came out fighting in the second half and Gosney got in behind the defence only to find Mooney with his cross. Oxford found it difficult to beat the Totton defence, with balls over the top being dealt with comfortably by  Jamie Whisken and Ian Richardson. 

Totton didn't make the most of their chances though, with the ball too often ending up going behind for a goal kick after good goalscoring opportunities had been created.Felipe Barcelos came on to replace Michael Lyon and almost made an immediate impact when he beat the Totton offside trap and ran clear but was unable to get a shot on goal before the defence got back to halt his progress. 

Totton came back again and Carl Pettefer crossed for Michael Charles who headed wide from a good position and moments later Ryan Hill's free kick was tipped around the post by Mooney's acrobatic dive.

Oxford's substitutions seemed to be paying off and when Alex Fisher replaced Declan Benjamin he appeared to be in on goal but was halted by the offside flag, and seconds later he forced Porter into an excellent save when his curling effort was deflected and the keeper had to correct his footing to make the stop.

Totton were well on top for long periods of the second half and even Porter was hitting regular long balls into the City penalty area as they searched for a second equaliser. Oxford just couldn't get the ball clear and, whenever they did, it came straight back at them.

As the game moved into added time, Totton won two corners in quick succession but both were comfortably held by Mooney. A low cross then skidded across the face of goal without anyone getting a touch on it and a couple more crosses ended up on the roof of the stand, drawing frustrated groans from the travelling Stag Army behind the goal. 

Mooney then did well to back-track and get a hand on Nathan Campbell’s looping header and tip it behind for another corner. From the corner, a clearance fell kindly for Sherborne and he thought he'd scored when his shot seemed destined for the back of the net when Mooney dived far to his right to make an almost impossible save to touch it behind for yet another Totton corner.

The ball was delivered for the umpteenth corner of the game and, from a position similar to Sherborne's chance seconds earlier, Ryan Hill smashed a volley past Mooney’s dive and into the top corner before being mobbed by his team mates and sparking scenes of delirium from the Totton fans.

Full time: Oxford City 2-2 AFC Totton

For the second time in a week, Oxford were denied all 3 points by a last minute equaliser, having done the same against Chesham in midweek. For Totton, it was a well deserved point and, were it not for Jason Mooney in the Oxford goal, we could have won this one quite comfortably. Our next game is not until Boxing Day (Monday 26th Dec) when we play Bashley at the Testwood Stadium in our local derby this season. Hopefully you won't all have eaten too much to drag yourself to the game or drank too much to form a coherent sentence! Merry Christmas everyone!

AFC Totton: Porter, Hill, Richardson, Whisken, Baddeley (Sampson 81), Campbell, Pettefer, Gosney, Brown, Sherborne, Charles. Unused subs: Casey, Sturgess, McKie, Jack.

Oxford City: Mooney, Blossom, Learoyd, Ballard, Pond, Wilmott, Lyon (Barcelos 52), Malone, Benjamin (Fisher 66), Steele, Martin. Unused subs: Fleet, McLoughlin, Heapy.

Goals:

Oxford: Blossom (15), Steele (45)

Totton: Sherborne (34), Hill (90)

Officials: Referee: Mr M Foley. Assistants: Mr P Andrew & Mr A Hickham.

Attendance: 243.

Top 5 League Goals So Far This Season IMO

For those of you not down with the kids and therefore unfamiliar with shortened 'text speak', which is essentially now just acronyms, 'IMO' means 'in my opinion'. Like 'LOL' means 'laugh out loud' or 'BRB' means 'be right back', or 'WTF' means.....you get the picture.

Basically, these are the best goals we've scored in the league so far this season in my opinion. As there is little or no video footage of any of these goals, they have been accurately recreated with the magic of Microsoft Paint. If you can think of other goals which didn't make it into my top 5, you can of course voice your displeasure at their exclusion in the comments section below. Please note that all complaints will be ignored. Also, anyone who criticises my artwork will be shot down in a tirade of abusive language. :-)

So here we go:

Number Five

Mike Gosney v Oxford City (Home, Tues 16 Aug 2011)

With Totton already 4-0 up, this game was pretty much a foregone conclusion. A brilliant flowing passing move 10 minutes into the second half ended with Gosney receiving the ball on the edge of the area, taking it past one defender and firing a fierce shot past City goalkeeper Jason Mooney that went in off the underside of the crossbar. I do love a goal that rattles the woodwork on it's way in, like Tony Yeboah for Leeds against Wimbledon in 1995. Smashing.

Number Four

Michael Charles v St Albans City (Away, Tuesday 13 Sept 2011)

Totton had fallen behind early in this one but stormed back to take a 3-1 half time lead. But St Albans quickly got themselves back in it with a goal seconds after the break to make it 3-2. But as quickly as they reduced the deficit, Totton increased it again. From Matt Oldring's cross, Michael Charles controlled the ball with his chest and, with his back to goal, hit a lovely volley (lovely is an anagram of volley! I just noticed that) over his shoulder and inside the post for 4-2.

Number Three

Ryan Hill v Barwell (Home, Sat 3 Sept 2011)

After Barwell had wasted more time than Abu Hamza takes when tying his shoes, the referee played 9 minutes of added time. And in the seventh of those, Totton grabbed the winning goal and all 3 points when Ryan Hill's 30-yard free kick found the bottom corner. Cracking timing, and a goal right out of the top drawer.

Number Two

Nathaniel Sherborne v Barwell (Home, Sat 3 Sept 2011)

The penultimate goal comes from the same game as number three. Sherby's quality finish from outside the box gave Totton a 10th minute lead against Barwell. After receiving the ball out on the right wing, he cut inside, dodged his marker and sent a superb curling strike into the far top corner with Barwell  keeper Liam Castle well beaten. Despite how he is depicted below, Liam Castle's left arm is not twice as long as his right arm in real life as far as I'm aware.

Number One

Matt Oldring v St Albans City (Away, Tues 13 Sept 2011)

So here it is, number one. The best goal Totton have scored so far this season (in my opinion). Totton had already equalised after falling behind to Tobi Jinadu's 3rd minute goal for St Albans when Matt Oldring produced a quality finish to give The Stags the lead. From Mike Gosney's long throw in, Nathan Campbell rose above his marker to head the ball on to Oldring in the box who took a touch to flick the ball up in front of him, then swivelled and hit a sweet volley on his right foot into the far top corner over the head of the defender on the line. You'll notice one of the players is wearing a top hat. I got bored. Don't begrudge me a bit of artistic license.

So there we are. As I said previously, if you believe any other goals were overlooked then do feel free to tell me by commenting below. Not that it will change anything. I've already made my decisions. Hard cheese.

I will compile another selection of top notch goals at the start of December, after our next 9 league games. At the end of the season I might do a round up of the best goals scored in cup competitions across the whole season. Maybe. If you behave yourselves. We'll see.