Match report: New Milton Town 3-1 Totton & Eling, Brickmakers keep Wessex League Division One title hunt alive
New Milton Town again took all three points to retain the top spot in the Wessex League Division One, beating Totton & Eling 3-1 on Saturday.
This win for the Brickmakers extends their unbeaten run in the league to twelve, making it six wins on the spin, writes Jamie Tarrant.
After the match, New Milton Town manager Matt Maybury said: “With the two weeks off we’ve had, it felt all week like a game we just needed to get through, and that is pretty much how it played out.
“I thought we looked really rusty for the first 25 minutes, but when we shook that off, we started to play some really nice stuff, and it was vital to get the first goal before half-time.
“I thought the second half was pretty much the same. We got the second goal, and as we started to tire, Totton gave us a lot to think about. They got one, and then we scored pretty soon after, which I thought killed the game.
“Ultimately, I thought it was a really good win, given the circumstances, and this group’s determination is second to none.”
With a bumper crowd of 174 in attendance, the game began slowly. The only chances of any note before the half-hour were a shot wide of New Milton keeper Ollie Bull’s goal frame and Barney Stone cutting in onto his left and shooting over the crossbar.
By the 25th minute, the game had become a physical battle after tempers began to flare following an overly robust tackle on Jack Broad earlier, bringing about a controversial yellow card when the home team felt the lunge deserved more punishment.
Totton & Eling controlled the game for most of the first half, but the game changed after a good passing move led to Callum McHale’s deflected effort looping up and just missing the target.
Stone fired at Totton & Eling keeper Theo Widger before the Brickmakers took the lead. Louis Moore’s corner kick in the 34th minute was headed into the net by Snelling despite the away side’s attempts to hack the ball clear off the line.
For the rest of the half, it was one-way traffic, with Barney Stone and Noel McCarthy-Gardiner both denied by Widger. However, Ollie Bull had to be alert between the New Milton posts, delivering a low block of his own.
The second half mirrored the first, with little action before a flurry of goalmouth action.
Neither side had created a chance until the 56th minute when Elliott Pearce-Eavis, playing a home game for New Milton Town for the first in 588 days –he recently rejoined the club from Brockenhurst – saw his cross diverted into the net by a Totton & Eling defender.
The goals kept coming, with Totton & Eling breaching Ollie Bull’s goal – the first goal he had conceded in 496 minutes – in the 68th minute. The ball was played across the face of the goal and swept into the net at the back post by Jamie Craven to make it 2-1.
At this point, Totton & Eling had control of the game, but Matt Maybury’s side defended valiantly, restricting them to pop-shots from just outside the box or blocking the ball before a clear-cut chance could be found.
It was game over in the 83rd minute as Snelling again rose highest from a corner kick to bring the ball down and scramble it over the line.
Chants of ‘he’s one of our own’ began in the stands as the game ended soon afterwards.
New Milton Town are in Wessex League Cup action next. They take on Fawley AFC in the third round, hoping to make the quarter-finals tomorrow (Tuesday) at 7.45pm before facing Romsey Town in the league away on Saturday at 3pm.
New Milton Town: O. Bull, E. Pearce-Eavis, C. Smith, B. Maybury, L. Moore, T. Colmer, J. Broad, N. McCarthy-Gardiner, B. Stone, C. McHale, B. Snelling. Subs: C. McMonagle, O. Mayo, H. Thornton, B. Beard.
