Larkhall Athletic booked their place in the fourth round of the FA Trophy for the first time in club history with a battling performance against fellow Southern League team AFC Totton.

It was a reversal of the score last time the two sides met only a fortnight ago. With that game having been a dress rehearsal for the Trophy tie in which we were unlucky not to get at least a point, the Larks got off to a strong start and were unlucky not to take an early lead when striker Brad Norris was flagged offside.

The Stags’ defence were called into action a few times as the home side sought the goal their dominance deserved. The visitors had to clear off the line twice and Norris fluffed his lines when clear on goal. So it was against the run of play that Hisham Kasimu fired the Stags into the lead 5 minutes before half time.

A rather deflated Larks side took a little while to get back into their stride as the second half began but gradually began to peg the Stags back. They were rewarded when Dan Demkiv picked up on a long pass from Shaun Semmens in the Larks goal to coolly shot past the advancing Totton keeper Amadeusz Skrzyniarz and watch the ball slowly trickle into the goal. The home crowd were in dreamland when only 5 minutes later Norris was the first to react from a fine Alex Lambert corner, prodding home from close range in the box. Lambert himself had threatened to score a few times as his strong running bamboozled the Totton fullbacks. 

As the last 10 minutes drew on the game got more ragged and the bookings started to rack up. Totton’s number 10 Ethan Taylor saw red for a bad foul and the Larks held on, with the help of a determined sub Harry Simons, for an historic win. Larks’ boss Ollie Price was delighted with the win, saying ‘I am very proud of the players today. They were a credit to the club and it was fantastic to get a result like this in front of a large home crowd. We are hoping to draw one of the big boys in the next round ’

 

TEAMS 

LARKHALL ATHLETIC

GK SHAUN SEMMENS

2 JOE HILLARD 

3 JACK GOODALL

4 DALE EVANS (Simons 70)

5 MIKE BAKER (C )

6 DAN RESTORICK

7 ALEX LAMBERT

8 MATT BRITTON (Warren 82)

9 DAN DEMKIV

10 BRAD NORRIS 

11 JACK CAMM 

Subs not used

Landon Golding

16 JAY MALPAS

17 CHRIS HUMPRHIES (GK)

AFC TOTTON 

GK AMADEUSZ SKRZYNIARZ

2 CALLUM BAUGHAN

3 BEN JEFFORD (RAGGUETTE 65)

4 ADAM TOMASSO 

5 HARRY MEDWAY (C)

6 ADEOYE OLUMUYIWA (Williams 81)

7 JACK HOEY (GWENGE 77)

8 JORDAN NGALO 

9 HISHAM KASIMU 

10 ETHAN TAYLOR 

11 SAM GRIFFIN 

SUBS not used

12 JACK MASTERTON 

16 LEWIS WATERFIELD 

18 LEWIS NOICE (GK)