Sholing 2-1 AFC Totton

Scorers : Stu Green 50, Dan Mason 77 / Ethan Taylor 47

Date: Tuesday 25th January 2022, 7:45pm – Southern League South Division 1

Venue: Mackoy Stadium

Sholing: Ryan Gosney, Tomasz Gruzewski, Marv McLean, Owen Roundell, Dan Miller, Rob Nicholls, Sami Makhloufi, Byron Mason ©, Dan Mason, Stu Green (Conor Whitelely 88), Brad Targett (Claudio Herbert 71). Unused subs : Ryan Cluett, Jack Mann, Luke Deacon

Yellow Card: Owen Roundell

AFC Totton: Lewis Noice, Adeoye Olumuyiwa, Jordan Ragguette, Fredrick Read, Harry Medway ©, Pascal Kpohomouh, Jack Hoey (Jordan Ngalo 70), Jack Masterton (George Britton 88), Hisham Kasimu, Ethan Taylor (Shaquille Gwengwe 78), Sam Griffin. Unused subs : Callum Baughan & Lewis Waterfield

Yellow Card :

Referee: Iain Parsons Assistants: Adrian Berry & Lucas Bomela

Attendance: 407

Powerplus Man of the Match : Stu Green

Sholing came from behind to win the Southampton Derby and leapfrog AFC Totton into 3rd place in the table. The visitors took the lead early in the second half, but the Boatmen hit straight back through Stu Green and then Dan Mason hit a sensational winner direct from a freekick as we extend our unbeaten run to 10 games.

Team News : Dave Diaper had the very rare luxury of an almost completely fit squad, with the welcome sight of Charlie Wagstaffe, Jake Cope, Jake Hoole, Josh Batt & Mitch Byrne all joining in with the warm-up. Tomasz Gruzewski got the nod at right back in the only change from the previous game.

Boatmen started the better with Sami Makhloufi forcing an early corner, but it came to nothing, but soon after the first opening of the game was created by Brad Targett who cut in from the left and hit a curling shot that Noice tipped round the far post. The pace of Targett & Green were stretching the visitors and Brad sped to the line with his cut back finding Dan Mason, but he couldn't get a clean connection and the ball was claimed by the keeper.

Both sides were offering little room in midfield as the game remained very tight, although Totton had a half chance that was hooked wide from the middle of the box. The Stags were claiming a penalty on 29 mins when Taylor went theatrically to the ground, but the referee wasn't interested. Against his former club, Stu Green showed great skill to beat two men to the left of the penalty area, but his cross into the middle floated onto the roof of the net. An understandably cagey first half came to an end without too much goalmouth action, but plenty of commitment by both sides. HT 0-0

Totton were on the front foot from the restart, with a softly awarded freekick on the edge of the area, but the effort was straight at Gosney. However, the visitors then took the lead on 47 mins when Hisham Kasimu appeared to collect the ball coming back from an offside position, but he turned and powered past a couple of challenges into the left side of the box and squared the ball for Ethan Taylor to finish. Sholing claimed for the offside, but the goal stood as the Totton bench celebrated wildly down the touchline.

Sholing didn't let the goal shake them and were level within 3 minutes. Rob Nicholls won the ball on the half way and instantly played it to Sami Makhloufi, who fed a lovely reverse pass that split the Totton defence for STU GREEN to run onto into the right side of the box where he smashed the ball past Noice for his 9th goal of the season. Greener was put in again, this time down the left channel, but as the ball sat up, he couldn't get the connection he wanted to chip the onrushing keeper and it was cleared. Stu then embarrassed a couple of Totton players with some fancy footwork in midfield.

Freddie Read fizzed a 25 yard shot narrowly over the bar for the visitors and Gosney got down low by the foot of his near post to deny a shot from Griffin. Claudio came on for the injured Brad Targett on as the game went end to end. He was immediately involved as Sholing completed the comeback to take the lead on 77 mins. Claudio turned past his marker who then fouled him a couple of yards outside the area, just to the right of the D. DAN MASON grabbed the ball, stepped up and hit a powerful effort round the outside of the wall and inside the post with the keeper rooted to his spot! A sensational strike as D-Dan celebrated with the fans in the corner and was mobbed by his teammates.

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A shellshocked Totton tried to lift themselves to get back on terms, but were up against a Sholing team who gave them no room, with every player working incredibly hard, Miller, Marv & Byron mopping up everything at the back, Rob Nicholls & Owen Roundell covering every blade of grass and 17 year old Tom Gruzewski impressing once again at right back. In fact, the final 15 mins passed without any scares for Sholing and we could have extended our lead. From a short corner, Sami cleverly flicked the ball over the heads of two Totton players for Claudio to run onto and hit a low shot that clipped the outside of the near post.

The final whistle was greeted by a roar by the big crowd as the Boatmen take the local bragging rights, but more importantly, three big points against a promotion rival that continues our fine run of form and sets us up nicely for another huge game on Saturday, when the current league leaders visit the Mackoy Stadium. FT 2-1

Many thanks to everyone for coming out on a freezing cold night, see you again on Saturday!

Next Home Game : Sholing v Cirencester Town - Southern League - Saturday 29 January 3pm

Photos courtesy of EspieJaz (swipe to view pics)