Saturday 30th November 2024
Venue: M.A. Hart Stadium
Attendance: 174
New Milton Town again took all three points to retain the top spot in the Wessex League Division One, with club captain Brad Snelling netting a brace. This win for the Brickmakers extends their unbeaten run in the league to twelve whilst making it six wins on the spin.
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 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 a strong tackle on Jack Broad earlier on, which brought 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. Barney Stone then fired at the goalkeeper before the Brickmakers took the lead.
Louis Moore's corner kick in the 34th minute was headed into the net by Brad 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 being denied by the Totton & Eling goalkeeper. However, Ollie Bull had to be alert between those efforts with 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 his own 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.
Totton & Eling had control of the game at this point, 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 Brad 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 manager Matt Maybury said the following:
"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 halftime.
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."
The Brickmakers are in Wessex League Cup action next. They take on Fawley AFC in the third round, with high hopes of making the quarter-finals.
New Milton Town: Ollie Bull, Elliott Pearce-Eavis, Cam Smith, Billy Maybury, Louis Moore, Toby Colmer, Jack Broad, Noel McCarthy-Gardiner, Barney Stone, Callum McHale, and Brad Snelling
Substitutes Used: Cam McMonagle, Ollie Mayo, Heath Thornton, Ben Beard
Goals: Snelling 34, 83, Own Goal 56
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