Match Preview - AFC Totton

AFC Totton v Tiverton Town 

Saturday 12th April, 3pm kick off

The Snows Stadium 

Asa Hall and Steve Orchard's men aren't expected to come away from Totton with either a victory or even a point. However, they know all too well that anything taken from this game will be a bonus and will enter the field of play with every intention of causing an upset. 

Four games remain and this is the first of two on the road. Both presenting different challenges, as the other is at local rivals Taunton Town on the 21st of April, who coincidentally played our hosts in the week on home turf and drew. When Saturday comes, fourteen days of the season will be left. 

Buoyed by last weekend's home success against Bracknell, the team should not be overawed by their trip to second placed Totton and if they play as they did at Gloucester in front of a sizeable crowd and keep focused for the full 90 mins, then getting something will not be out of the equation. 

The emerging Dan Koita opened his account at the weekend, meaning both him and strike partner Joe Parker have been on the score sheet in recent games. We have started to create more chances and not wanting to be the kiss of death in saying this, have tightened up defensively. 

I say this, because The Stags have an embarrassment of riches in the final third; with former Premier League striker Charlie Austin, ex EFL forwards Ben Seymour and Scott Rendell, and the most prolific marksman in this division in the last decade Tony Lee, all at the disposal of Manager Jimmy Ball, son of World Cup winner, the late Alan Ball. 

Austin’s well documented high profile playing career saw him notch 34 Premier League goals in 111 games, whilst with QPR, Southampton and West Bromwich Albion, earning him some England call ups along the way. 

Charlie Austin & Toby Down `get to grips` with one another, as Matt Britton looks on.

His goalscoring feats at Burnley and Swindon were equally impressive and he also played in Australia for Brisbane Roar. In all, he found the net over 200 times in his professional career and I think it goes without saying, that The Yellows’ will need to be on their guard. 

Ben Seymour had quite a few loan spells in Southern League Premier South, before breaking into Exeter City’s first team. The striker played 50 times in the EFL for the Grecians but was released at the end of the 21/22 season and surprisingly signed for Plymouth Parkway, where the talented player rediscovered his goal touch. 

The 20-goal tally he achieved for Parkway, saw him move up the football pyramid to National South side Hampton & Richmond, where a decent return of 14 goals resulted in him moving back to his native Devon, when Torquay United came calling. He is currently on loan with The Stags. 

Veteran Forward Scott Rendell is a high calibre player in this level of Football. The 38-year-old is in the 21st season of his senior playing days. A different type of frontman to Austin, he played 129 times in the EFL for Peterborough, Yeovil, Torquay, Wycombe, Bristol Rovers and Oxford United. 

It’s his glittering non-league career though, that is particularly eye catching. 374 appearances and 141 goals in The National League, when wearing the colours of; Aldershot, Woking, Luton Town, Cambridge United, Crawley Town, Forest Green and Eastleigh. He moved to Totton in the 23/24 campaign. He often plays in midfield these days. 

With 103 league goals over the last 4 seasons in this division it’s easy to see why Tony Lee is revered by many. Earlier on in his senior career, as a teenager he played briefly for Tiverton. However, it was firstly at Wimborne and then during his notable time with Poole that his prowess in front of goal became apparent.  

He played 86 League games for the Dolphins across three seasons and amassed 74 goals, finishing the third of those seasons at Totton, where he made a further 14 appearances and scored another 12 goals. 86 goals from 100 games! His 17 this season have come from 38 appearances. 

Our focus though should not just be on The Stag’s front line. Midfielder Roddy Collins, captained Chesham to title glory last season and is a notable performer in this standard of football. He started the season at Torquay and has also visited Ladysmead with Hayes & Yeading and Kings Langley. 

The versatile Collins is also an adept defender who began his senior career in Ireland. He is the nephew of ex World middleweight Champion boxer Steve Collins, and his dad Roddy Snr was a successful professional footballer in Ireland. 

Defenders Joe Oastler and Sam Magri are two other players to have played in the EFL. Oastler who started his career as a midfielder played for QPR and Torquay United. He made more than 100 League Two appearances for the Gulls. He then moved to Aldershot and has enjoyed an impressive time in non-league football with Gosport Borough, Oxford City and Havant & Waterlooville. 

Sam Magri does provide us with another boxing link but isn’t related to Charlie. Although he has played Seven times for Malta and before representing Malta who he qualifies for through his grandfather. He is also an ex-England Under 16, 17, 18 and 19 player.  

Professionally contracted twice to Premier League sides Crystal Palace and QPR, Magri’s solitary professional game for a club side, was for Portsmouth. 

Mike Carter a vastly experienced combative midfielder, will wear the captains armband. Carter has shown strong leadership skills before, with Gosport Borough and Havant & Waterlooville. Tom Blair formerly of Dorchester, Eastleigh, Weymouth and Dorking Wanderers is a wide man with plenty of ability. 

Keeper Ryan Gosney has claim of the number one shirt at the moment, though faces strong competition from Max Evans. Gosney began the 24/25 season with National South side Salisbury. He was loaned to Gosport, before Totton acquired his services. The sought after gloveman, spent nine seasons at Sholing. 

As you can tell The Stags appear to have higher playing resources than any of their rivals in this division. However, when the two teams played earlier in the season, we were only narrowly beaten 1-0 and Asa Hall and Steve Orchard will be doing all they can to cause a shock here.