Stags tamed by young Saints in Hampshire Senior Cup
Hampshire Senior Cup Third Round: AFC Totton 1-4 Southampton U23
AFC TOTTON bowed out of the Hampshire Senior Cup after a 4-1 defeat to Southampton U23s at the Snows Stadium.
The Stags went ahead early through Adam McWilliam’s long-range strike. However, the Saints pegged the hosts back with three goals in 16 minutes. Striker Dan N’Lundulu added a fourth in the second half to cap a resounding victory for the Premier League youth side.
Perfect start
The hosts, who had won their last three games in all competitions, got off to the perfect start when McWilliam curled his 30-yard effort into the roof of the net past sprawling Saints keeper Tommy Scott on three minutes.
The visitors kept their composure despite the early setback, and they were soon level after a slick one-two, Enzo Robise coolly slotting past Aman Skrzyniarz to equalise.
Southampton continued to go through the gears, and Skrzyniarz was called into action several times before Saints captain Callum Slattery fired home from an acute angle.
The visitors struck again just a minute later when Slattery caught the Totton defence still reeling from going behind. His ball fed forward Will Ferry, who rounded Skrzyniarz and tapped in to make it 3-1.
The game then cooled down after a frantic opening 20 minutes. N’Lundulu was denied by Skrzyniarz who produced a fantastic full-stretch save before half-time. However, N’Lundulu finished the scoring early in the second half when he received the ball from Ferry six yards out and clinically converted to round off an impressive outing for Saints.
Totton, who were missing several key players coming into the fixture, suffered another injury blow to striker James Granger after breaking his leg and dislocating his ankle in a tackle midway through the game.
'Really pleased'
Despite the result, AFC Totton manager Louis Langdown was happy with his side’s performance against a team of full-time professionals: “I’m really pleased with the lads and with the effort.
“We’ve got to take the positives; we got a goal and we played with two up top. I thought that was something they were probably not used to in the under 23s, and it worked as we stopped them getting out too easily.”
AFC Totton will travel to Frome Town on Saturday in Southern Division One South.
AFC Totton: Skrzyniarz, Chugg, Masterson (c), Nolan, Smith, Byrne, McWilliam, Haynes, Feeney, Obeng, Granger. Subs: Bakary, Bradley, Nicholls, Allen.
