CHURCH UNDER 18’s IN CUP FINAL AS TOTTON SELF-DESTRUCT
10th February 2008


On a warm still afternoon with Hurn Bridge bathed in spring sunshine the Under 18s and their counterparts from AFC Totton met for a place in the Hampshire FA County Cup final to be held on 30th March 2008 at Fareham FC. Totton playing in their away kit of mellow pink were no doubt still smarting from their league defeat by Church seven days before and were in no mood to play second fiddle and began the game at a terrific pace. Totton were consistently first to every ball and every second ball and Church was decidedly second best. Built round the muscular uncompromising defence with both power and pace in midfield and speed and guile upfront Totton spent the first half giving a footballing lesson in passing and movement with Church chasing shadows. Clear cut chances were few and came all from Totton as the Church defence repelled wave after wave of attack. Totton were in no mood to give an inch in midfield and their raw and physical approach for a time unsettled the Church team. A dreadfully late tackle saw Harry Rolph hobble off just before half time with a serious ankle injury to take no further part in the game and the referee allowed a number of cynical lunges from both sides to go unpunished. No score at half time flattered Church and they were grateful to go in at the break on even terms. Nothing in the first half however prepared the decent crowd for the incident packed second half.

Whatever magical managerial words were said by Andy and Tim at half time clearly had no effect as within ten minutes of the restart Church fell behind to a well worked goal. Totton passed and developed the play down the left-hand side and a deep cross eluded the Church defence to fall at the feet of the Totton number 7 who tapped in from four yards. Cue scenes of Totton joy as they no doubt sensed they would go on and win the match. Worse was to follow as Totton continued to dominate and Adam Costello left the game with a recurrence of a rib injury. With twenty minutes to go there seemed no way back for Church who had no answer to the speed, tempo and combative Totton style. Totton attacked at will and only a combination of last ditch defending and wasteful chances kept the score to one. Totton were not pretty but were effective.

With fifteen minutes to go at last Church produced a move of quality, which had been so lacking up to that point. A long angled clearance from Chris Dillon found Russell Cooke’s head and his deft flick into the path of Tom Price and beyond the last defender allowed Tom to close in on goal and coolly finish low past the goalie to bring the scores level.

Totton’s concentration and discipline faltered and they began to argue with the referee whose patience to that point with the most disgraceful language directed at him from Totton players seemed endless. They began to argue with each other and argue with their management team and once their concentration began to falter their play suddenly began to look ragged and the passing movements which were so effective in the first half started to go astray. Church sensed that the tide was beginning to turn in their favour.

Church pressed forward and a series of corners put Totton under pressure. From one such corner the assistant referee spotted illegal holding in the area and called the referee over. After a short deliberation the referee pointed to the spot for a Church penalty.

Whatever semblance of discipline and self-control Totton had immediately evaporated into a tirade of disgraceful abuse towards the match officials. Players crowded round the referee and assistant referee in a disgraceful display. The management team of Totton exacerbated the problem by abusing the match officials and the referee was called over on two occasions to the Totton dug out to try and restore calm. The delay between the penalty award and the spot kick being taken was a disgraceful ten minutes of uproar. The referee to his credit remained calm and could easily have shown several red cards given the totally unacceptable conduct. Managers have a responsibility to control their players and to exercise discipline but the Totton management team seemed unwilling or unable to exert any influence over their players.

Eventually, ten minutes later, the calmest player on the pitch, Dan, put the ball on the spot and despite as much gamesmanship as Totton could muster struck the ball high to the goalkeeper’s right to give Church the lead. The kick off immediately showed that the Totton players had lost the plot and all discipline and concentration on the game had gone. Totton’s quality passing football gave way to long aimless route one football interspersed with a succession of crude fouls and yellow cards. Church did not need to play Totton any more as Totton were clearly beating themselves with their lack of discipline and concentration. A long diagonal ball into the Totton box saw Jamie jump with the goalkeeper and as the ball squirmed out of the keeper’s hands it dropped at Jamie’s feet to tap in from two yards. Totton cried foul on the goalkeeper but the assistant referee and referee waved away the further abusive protests and the goal stood.

At that point Totton were a totally different team to the slick impressive outfit that had started the game. They now kicked the ball forwards aimlessly at every opportunity and tried to press in the twelve minutes of added on time allowed by the referee for the penalty stoppage.

All Church had to do was to keep their head, retain their discipline and carry on playing and a place in the Cup Final was theirs. As gaps developed at the back for Totton another pinpoint accurate cross-field ball was played into Tom Price’s path and he skipped past the lunge of the defender to coolly slot home his second goal and Church’s fourth of the afternoon.

The real irony of the game was that Totton were by far the better team up to the equaliser and could, and probably should, have gone on to win the tie if they had kept their head and concentrated on playing football. It was so disappointing to see a total lack of discipline on the pitch destroy their chances on a day when Church were below par but had the team spirit to never give up.

The Totton management and players felt aggrieved that decisions made by the match officials had cost them the game but they were wrong. What cost them the game was their own lack of discipline, lack of team spirit, lack of concentration, lack of respect to the match officials and ultimately the players’ lack of respect for their managers. What cost them the game was their attitude.

By contrast Church weathered a number of setbacks, used the excellent team spirit that had been built up by Andy and Tim over more than one season and gritted their teeth and carried on playing even when they were far from at their best. Even when the goal went in the boys encouraged each other and increased their effort to try and get back into the game. They listen and take on board what they are told by their managers and they concentrate on playing football even when decisions go against them. I know which team I would prefer to be associated with.

The Under 18s now move for the first time into the Hampshire FA County Cup Final on 30th March 2008 at Fareham Town and I hope that everybody associated with the club will turn out to cheer the boys on in what for many of them will be their final season at Under 18 level.

Final score: Christchurch 4 – AFC Totton 1