○Totton & Eling2–0Andover Town

It’s not too often that there is a long queue of traffic to get in to the ground and then no parking spaces at a Wessex League Division One match but there was on Saturday because Totton & Eling are right next door to Southern League AFC Totton who were at home on Saturday with a 3pm kick off. The home side are only a couple of places below Town in the league and the reverse fixture at home in August was a very closely fought encounter ending in a 1-1 draw at a time when Town were going really well in the league and were unbeaten. A perfect afternoon for football on a very mild February afternoon and no doubt a stiff test would follow. Jordan Brooks started in goal as Steinborn – Busse was still injured.

Totton started brightly and it took a while for Town to get going so but as the game developed some good open play from both sides was easy on the eye. Two early yellow cards for Ben Emans in the 11th minute and David Jerrard in the 16th minute both for what looked to be fairly innocuous challenges. But it was no real surprise when Brenno Navezzi opened the scoring for Totton with a nice turn and shot in the 20th minute. The home side were looking lively going forward and their second goal arrived in the 32nd minute when striker Ashton Goodger was unmarked in the penalty area and slotted the ball home to make the score 2-0 after half an hour. At this stage the score fairly reflected Totton’s dominance, particularly in midfield and it was not until the 42nd minute that Andover looked like scoring when Lewis Williams was unended in the penalty area but the referee waved away what seemed like a stonewall penalty.

Half time arrived with Town 2-0 down and surely there would be a heated discussion in the changing room about how to turn things around in the second half. Jay Jay Tucker replaced Taylor-Kelly at half time and the half started with Andover looking slightly more threatening but after lots of huffing and puffing Totton managed the game out well and there never really looked like a comeback was on the cards. So a very disappointing defeat after the outstanding performance against Hamble Club in the midweek cup match. Too many inconsistent performances from Town since Christmas have not allowed them to push up the table into a play-off place.

Another midweek league match is next up away in the local derby at Whitchurch United on Wednesday 8th February kick off 7.45 pm and the next league match is at Portway on Saturday February 11th against top four side Petersfield Town.