Tooting and Mitcham United 2 Redhill 2 – 11 October 2025 Report

Match Report

Yet again, Redhill proved to be our bête noire as two late goals enabled them to sneak out of Imperial Fields with an unlikely point, despite being completely outplayed for the majority of the match.

Our Surrey rivals had been many people’s favourites for the title before a ball had been kicked this season, following on from play-off disappointment in the last two campaigns, and the shambolic fallout from ineligibleplayergate last time around. But they arrived in south London in indifferent form, below us in the table and with only one win in their previous four league outings. It seemed there would never be a better time than the present to finally get one over a team who had won all four of the previous meetings between the sides since our demotion to this level two and a half years prior.

And that’s the way it looked for much of the afternoon; from the first whistle a determined Terrors side ripped into their somewhat discombobulated-looking visitors, driving them back and keeping the tempo high. With just six minutes gone, our early pressure was rewarded by Max Oldham’s ninth goal of another increasingly productive season – a clinical strike from just inside the area that gave Lobsters ‘keeper James Dillon no chance, and is fast becoming his ‘signature dish’. There was no sitting on the lead either, as Tooting kept their foot on the gas, and might have gone further in front when Darral Wopara’s free-kick was well-held by Dillon, and a curling effort from Max just evaded the far post denying him his second of the afternoon. Jordy Ndozid then shaved the same post with a long-range effort.

Redhill weren’t really in it – their first effort on goal came more than half an hour in, and didn’t cause any discomfort to Toby McKimm. The only surprise was that it took so long for Tooting to press home their significant advantage with a second goal. It finally came in added on time at the end of the first half when Conor Melody skipped down the left flank, rode a couple of attempted challenges, and fired a low ball across which was turned past his own keeper by visiting defender Malachi Mullings for an own goal, and the scoreline finally reflected the host’s dominance.

Redhill opened the second half with a gilt-edged chance to get back into proceedings when a well-placed cross found Tommy Smith inside the penalty area and unmarked, but the Redhill man couldn’t keep his composure and headed the ball well wide.

Normal service was soon resumed though, and Conor’s nicely flighted free-kick found the head of Lewis Jackson, but he emulated his Redhill counterpart by heading over when well-placed. The next action saw a potential penalty claim as Shay Brennan indulged in a foot-race with Ta’Shae Andall-Gibbons; the Terrors striker won this mini-contest, and was about to get a shot off when the desperate Andall-Gibbons just caught his heel, bringing down the Tooting man. The referee decided it was not malicious, and waved play on. Shay was still looking for goals, and brought a good save out of Dillon after good work by sub Geovanni Johnson, while Darral Wopara also went close when his stooping header was well turned round a post by the overworked Lobsters stopper.

However, failure to take any of those chances proved costly when former Terror Troy Walters just about got his boot to a looping free-kick from Ben Jordan, and the ball found the net via a post; then, deep into stoppage time, a high ball into the box was well controlled by Timothy Obisanya, who then lashed it past Toby for an unlikely point.

Team Lineup