Tooting and Mitcham United 3 Alton 2
Combined Counties - 09/08/2025
Report by: Ed Parlett
Match Report
Since our demotion to Step 5, matches between the Terrors and Alton have usually been high-scoring, dramatic encounters – and this latest meeting once again ticked those boxes as Tooting emerged victorious thanks to a late, late winner against the early league leaders.
Alton arrived with three wins out of three, but were immediately on the back-foot as the hosts drove forward with purpose from the word go. With just seven minutes gone, Shay Brennan collected a looping cross, on the edge of the box, showed quick feet to sidestep his marker, and sent a cross into the six-yard area which caused panic and confusion in the visitor’s defensive ranks. Keeper Adam Melville flapped at the ball, lost it, and a desperate attempt to clear by an Alton defender fell perfectly to Conor Melody on the edge of the box who looped in a beauty on the volley to give the Terrors a dream start.
As so often happens, however, Tooting seemed to go to sleep after a dominant opening, allowing Alton to drag themselves on terms just four minutes later; a free-kick sent in deep was not dealt with by the home back-line, and Adam Poynter headed past a stranded Toby McKimm.
On sixteen minutes, Shay controlled a pass on the edge of the box, and held the ball up well before feeding the overlapping Wassiem Ahmed, whose attempt to dink the ball over the keeper was thwarted by Poynter’s rash challenge. Referee Isaac Nsubuga intially pointed to the spot, but after being harangued by Alton players consulted his assistant, and for some reason reversed his original decision.
No matter; spurred on by the sense of injustice, Shay soon netted his first league goal of the campaign, taking advantage of a lovely decoy run by Wassiem to use him by not using him, and driving past Melville whose indecision had left him in no-man’s-land.
Annoyingly, having played so well, Tooting were pegged back to 2-2 by another quick equaliser. Alex MacAllister took advantage of some more hesitancy at the back, and drove the ball wide of Toby for parity at the break.
Alton finished the first half on top, and dominated the first half of the second period – at least until home manager Jamie Byatt changed things round with a couple of inspired substitutions. Alex Cruickshank had joined the fray at the start of the second half, and just past the hour he was joined by Nathan Mampono and Taz Mahmoud. Finally, their introduction gave Tooting the width they’d been missing, and two players showed willingness to run at defenders which was matched by their enthusiasm when doing so. The result was that Tooting turned the screw effectively; Darral Wopara shot narrowly wide after a defensive mix-up, Alex had a shot charged down as he attempted to manufacture a better angle, and the same player then saw a shot cleared off the line after impressive set-up play from Nathan.
We thought we’d won it when Shay headed home with six minutes left, but the ‘goal’ was ruled out due to a borderline offisde decision. However, we weren’t to be denied, and Declan Smith’s low, precise drive from the edge of the box provided his first goal for the club, and a dramatic – and well-deserved – injury-time winner.