MATCH REPORTS AUGUST 2024
Littlehampton Town 1-0 Tooting FA Cup Extra Qualifying Round, Sunday 4 August 2024 by Ed Parlett
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Our opening competitive fixture of the season saw us bow out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle, but the Terrors battled all the way on the south coast, and can consider themselves unfortunate not to - at the very least - drag Littlehampton back to Imperial Fields for a replay. The only goal of the game came early on, as our Step 4 hosts went straight on the front foot, and looked as if they might overwhelm us. With just eight minutes on the clock, and the Terrors on the retreat for most of those, a cross from the left by Alex Laing was diverted past Tooting ‘keeper Toby McKimm by the unfortunate Andy O’Brien. At this stage, it looked like a long afternoon was in prospect. But Tooting quickly bounced back, established a stranglehold on the game, and proceeded to dominate much of the rest of the half, always looking dangerous as we forced a succession of corner kicks, none of which the hosts looked overly comfortable defending, but managed to get away with without conceding. The closest we came in the half was on the quarter hour, when the impressive Taz Mahmoud connected firmly with Hussein Siklawi’s cross from the right, and home ‘keeper James Binfield managed to turn his snap-shot onto the post. That smart piece of keeping ensured the hosts departed for the half-time break with their narrow lead intact.
The Marigolds emerged for the second period as if they had had a rocket in the Dressing Room from their manager, yet their re-found confidence only lasted for the opening ten minutes once again, and only really culminated in one half-chance to extend their slender lead, when Tom Butler headed Rob O’Toole’s cross high over the bar. Like the first period, Tooting gradually took control of the game, with the powerful Steven Ita - an early substitute for injured Sam Williams - proving a handful for the home defence to contain. Littlehampton looked content to sit on their lead, and attempt to hit us on the break (quite a testament to the control we had of the game, considering their higher tier league placing). Ashley Sheppard was catching the eye in midfield, and he came closest to an equaliser yet as he advanced on to a flick-on from Ita, but got too much height on his lob and sent it over the bar of the advancing Binfield. Tooting continued to enjoy the bulk of possession but were still struggling to fashion anything overly meaningful to make us believe an equaliser was imminent. That changed somewhat with the introduction of sub Alex Cruickshank, an impressive figure for the U23s last season; his willingness to run with the ball, allied to some fancy footwork, began to cause consternation to the hosts’ back line; a nice flick sent Ash clear again, but Binfield was quickly off his line to foil the midfielder with a close-range block. More nice footwork from Alex saw him twist and turn, and lose his marker, but his shot was cleared away for a corner by an alert defender, and Hussein’s flag-kick caught on the wind and bounced off the top of the crossbar as wood denied Tooting again with time beginning to tick away. At the death, with injury-time approaching, Tooting came as close as they had all afternoon, and it was Ash Sheppard again who almost made the breakthrough, turning smartly in the box and hooking a shot against the inside of the far post; the ball ran along the goal-line, but not over it, despite the hoards of Terrors fans behind the goal willing it in.
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Tooting 0-2 Redhill (CCL Premier Division South, Tuesday 6 August 2024) by Ed Parlett
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Our home league campaign got off to a disappointing start, as we fell to defeat against a decent Redhill outfit, but will feel frustrated not to have gained anything worthwhile from a solid performance. Redhill were something of a bête-noire to us last season, winning both fixtures by a comprehensive 5-1 scoreline. The Lobsters just missed out on a play-off place - mainly due to being unable to maintain consistency when it really mattered - and had started the season in thumping style three days previously, with a 5-2 FA Cup success at another south London outfit, Fisher. They’ll be one of the challengers for promotion this time round, no doubt. The Terrors may have still been feeling the effects of a hard-fought FA Cup encounter of their own, the final whistle having been blown at Littlehampton little more than 48 hours ahead of the commencement of this game. It was no surprise, then, when Redhill started the brighter. But Tooting got on top as the half progressed, and will feel slightly unfortunate not to have departed the field with an advantage. Steven Ita came closest for the hosts, the powerful striker’s low shot being pushed away well by visiting ‘keeper Luke Wynne-Roberts; for the visitors, set-pieces looked their most likely avenue to a first-half goal. Toby McKimm had to be alert to gather Ethan Ford’s free-kick just under the bar to ensure parity at the break.
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As he arguably had been on Saturday, summer signing Ashley Sheppard was stamping his authority on things in midfield, in a man-of-the-match winning performance, yet it was un-necessary ill-discipline on his part that (indirectly) led to the Lobsters going in front on the hour mark; Ash decided to vehemently dispute the award of a throw in to the visitors, and was promptly despatched to the sin-bin. Whilst he was indisposed, Redhill forced a corner against the tenman Terrors, which was not adequately dealt with and - after the ball bounced around the area like it was in a pinball machine - Joe Dyett forced it home from close range. With half-an-hour remaining, there was plenty of time for Tooting to conjure an equaliser. With Ash restored to the field, we looked more likely to do so and yet, despite plenty of possession and some nice passing and movement, the final ball was lacking, and our visitors were not overly stretched in keeping us at bay. With time running out, and the Terrors committed to attack, we were caught out by a long ball over the top, and Jaevon Dyer showed speed and composure to outwit the backtracking home defence. As Toby McKimm advanced, Dyer coolly placed the ball under his body to double the advantage, and - to all intents and purposes - put the game to bed. Commendably, Tooting refused to give up - commitment that might yield some tangible reward as the season progresses - and substitute Habeeb Adepoju’s powerful header forced Wynne-Roberts into a terrific one-handed save to protect the visitors’ two goal advantage. Had we pulled one back then, it would have really set up a grandstand finish. But it was not to be, and the evening finished in a disappointing result, but an encouraging performance; we won’t meet sides of Redhill’s quality every week in this division, and with some calmer finishing it surely won’t be too long before we get some points on the board.
Fleet Town 0-0 Tooting (CCL Premier Division South, Saturday 10 August 2024) by Ed Parlett
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It was déjà vu all over again as we travelled down to Fleet on a balmy afternoon a fortnight or so ago. The match resembled last season’s affair at the Mustard Seed Stadium in so many ways - identical result, identical weather; the Terrors unlucky to have an early ‘goal’ ruled out, and striking wood when pushing forward late in the game. In fact, the only discernible difference between the two matches was that erstwhile Terrors goalkeeper, Tom Theobald, was now playing for them, having been between our sticks for the corresponding fixture last season. Fleet are a solid outfit at home. They didn’t drop many points there last time around, and were coming into this one off a fine 4-1 FA Cup replay victory over Alton in midweek. They had their moments, for sure, but Tooting controlled much of the play, and can consider themselves unfortunate not to have brought more than a single point back to south London. Inside the first ten minutes, a nice interchange of passes between new signings Ash Sheppard (already impressive in his prior two outings for the Terrors) and Max Oldham (making a fine debut) saw the latter thread an inch-perfect pass through to Kieran Campbell - himself returning for a second stint in black and white (or lavender, once again, on this occasion) - who slipped it nicely under his former team-mate’s body. The roar from the visiting fans was curtailed by an Assistant Referee’s flag being lofted for offside; if he was, it was borderline, and surely in the absence of VAR the benefit of the doubt should be given to the attacking side in the interests of entertainment. However, should a similar decision be given in our favour in the coming weeks, I’m sure I’ll be the first to yell “well done, Lino”!
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The first half had dovetailed quite nicely, with play flowing from end-to-end. The second saw Tooting enjoy the bulk of the possession, and create the more meaningful chances. In any other game we might reasonably have expected to convert at least one of them, but as I had proclaimed loudly to anybody who cared to listen after about twenty minutes, “This is going to be just like last season, isn’t it? Got 0-0 written all over it.” I take no pleasure in being proved right, even though it doesn’t happen very often. For the record, the second half chances went something like this: an early corner was won which Daryl swung in dangerously. Theo was jostling for position with a couple of our forwards, and could only get a weak fist on it. The ball fell to Max on the edge of the box, but his driven shot was always rising and cleared the bar, though not by much. Then Ash displayed some more neat footwork to escape his marker, cut into the box and measured a curled effort towards the near post, which deceived our former keeper - who seemed as if he was expecting the other end of the goal to be targeted - but managed to adjust his position enough to cuff the ball away. The next promising passage of play involved the two Sams; Orisatoki in the left-back position performed a lovely turning manoeuvre to outfox his opponent, then hooked the ball forward down the line for Williams to run onto. He took the ball down superbly, and spotted Ash making a run into the box. Unfortunately, so too did a defender who anticipated the move and cleverly checked his own run to get a foot in the way and prevent Ash from gaining possession. It wasn’t quite all one-way traffic; there was a great block from Andy O’brien as Fleet threatened, and his centre-half partner Antonio Simeone also produced a great piece of defending to prevent a forward getting a run at Toby McKimm, but Tooting always looked the likelier, none more so than a few minutes before the end. Daryl Coleman’s long throws had been causing panic in the home defence all afternoon, and Kieran Campbell got up highest to twist his body and connect with a powerful header that Tom Theobald was nowhere near; sadly, the ball crashed back off the crossbar, and Fleet escaped with a point.
Knaphill 0-3 Tooting (CCL Premier Division South, Tuesday 14 August 2024) by Ed Parlett
The Terrors got their season off and running with a bang, as they demolished a pretty decent Knaphill side on their own pitch to seal a welcome first three-pointer of the new campaign. The Knappers had done the double over us last season - including a quite comprehensive victory here at their Redding Way ground, a venue that proved quite a stronghold for them last time around. So it was a double celebration for those travelling fans who made the long journey into the Surrey countryside; not just revenge for last season’s disappointments, not just three points on the board, but a comprehensive dismantling of a team who could be one of our key rivals over the next eight months. They’d started well, too, with six points out of six in the bag before kick-off here, so it wasn’t as if we taking advantage of a side who were struggling to find their feet in the new campaign. Tooting took a stranglehold on the game from the word go, and went in front after only five minutes, when skipper Antonio Simeone headed firmly home from a well-flighted corner. They didn’t ease their foot off the pedal afterwards, either, continuing to push the home side back for much of the half, and adding a second just before the half-hour when Sam Orisatoki took advantage of some wayward defending to drill home the second with a neat volley. The shellshocked hosts tried to play their way back into the game, and Toby McKimm had to be on his toes when Rahman Ajibola broke into the area in a promising position, but the Tooting stopper came out to meet him and make a smart block to preserve the Terrors lead going into the break.
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The home side made two changes at the break in an effort to turn the tide in the second period, and a brief flurry of pressure resulted in Ben Mitchell - one of the substitutes - creating space for a shot that he placed just wide. But the early matches have been notable for some much-improved Terrors defending compared to last season, and - marshalled superbly by skipper Simmo - the back line held firm. Knaphill made a further two substitutions midway through the half, but it seemed more of a case of desperation rather than inspiration and it was Tooting who were creating the chances that could have seen them put the match well and truly to bed. Kieran Campbell, playing his second game since re-signing for the Terrors a week or so earlier, hit the post with twenty minutes or so to go, the woodwork proving to be our nemesis once again as we struck it for the twenty-second time this season (seems like it anyway). But it didn’t take him too much longer to get his name on the scoresheet. A strong run from Max Oldham into the box was curtailed in rough-house fashion by a home defender and Kieran - a very reliable penalty taker in the first half of last season - confidently drove home the spot-kick, smashing it low to the keeper’s left, to make it three. There was still time for another encounter with the woodwork, when Hussein Siklawi - who had earlier replaced Conor Melody - once again hit the post, but even the timber couldn’t spoil our mood on this evening, as we comfortably saw the game out to haul ourselves nicely up the fledgling table.
Whyteleafe 2-0 Tooting (CCL Premier Division South, Saturday 17 August 2024) by Ed Parlett
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Two goals in as many first-half minutes put paid to Tooting’s hopes of bringing anything home from our visit to Church Road earlier this month. For the second successive week, we came up against a popular former Terrors keeper, and James Shaw will have been slightly more satisfied than Tom Theobald seven days previously, although both kept a clean sheet against their erstwhile team-mates. Two things that didn’t really help our cause were the conditions - a sweltering afternoon which leant the match a preseason friendly-type vibe - and the poor surface. 3G and 4G pitches go a long way towards keeping clubs ticking over, thanks to the rarity of postponed matches, even in the worst of weathers, and the ability of the surface to withstand multiple matches in a short space of time, meaning the pitch can - effectively -be rented out 24/7. However, when the pitch is more pellets than ‘grass’, they can become a bit of a lottery - particularly for visiting sides who are not used to the way the ball bounces, or travels on the uneven surface. The home team here were obviously able to read the run of the ball better, being used to the turf, and used that knowledge to their advantage - in the first half at least. They went in front when Daniel Bennett received the ball just outside the Tooting box, drove into the right-hand side of the area, and curled it past the advancing Toby McKimm. There was barely any time for the Terrors to take stock of the situation, before Aaron Watson doubled the advantage with a similar strike from the same right side of the penalty area, and Tooting were up against it at the break.
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It was always going to be a tall order to retrieve the situation in the second period; despite still struggling with the pitch and the conditions, Tooting at least managed to retain possession of the ball better, and create some half-chances. Darral Wopara was looking threatening on the left flank, and he sidestepped a defender nicely before sending over a cross that Conor Melody got his head to at the far post. It wasn’t the most powerful header he’ll ever connect with, but it was on target and James Shaw had to be on his toes to scramble it round the post. Tooting were keeping their hosts penned back much more effectively now, although there was a moment of panic at the back when Whyteleafe hit us on the break, taking advantage of players caught upfield. There was a collective sigh of relief from travelling Bog Enders when Harrison Carnegie slipped the ball past Toby, but also just past the post. It was Tooting controlling the bulk of play now, though, and Ash Sheppard - who’d had a quiet first half - was beginning to come into things a bit more, showing some nice skills to wrongfoot a defender, but his cross was just too high for Max Oldham, who was arriving in anticipation at the far post. Hussein Siklawi, a first half sub for Daryl Coleman, was also looking increasingly effective; he attacked purposefully down the left, but his ball across was just behind Max who had over-run it, allowing the Leafe defence to clear. Tooting kept plugging away, Conor went on a forceful run, but seemed unsure of when to commit to a shot, giving a defender the opportunity to make a perfectly timed tackle. Conor then had another headed chance which Shaw gathered fairly easily. The closest we came was very late on, when two defenders mis-judged a bouncing ball and Elliott McKimm improvised a delicate curled first-time effort from the edge of the box, which just cleared the bar.
Tooting 4-3 Sheerwater (CCL Premier Division South, Tuesday 20 August 2024) by Ed Parlett
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An extraordinary evening saw the Terrors - finally - bag three points against a stubborn Sheerwater side, who never seemed to accept when they were beaten. The visitors, who had narrowly avoided relegation last time out, had started their season fairly well, and looked confident early on as they stroked the ball around nicely. But Tooting were also playing some neat football, and carved out the first chance when Sam Williams made space for himself inside the box, and fashioned a firmly-struck shot from a difficult angle, which flew just over the bar. The visiting keeper, Chris Adams, was by far the busier at this stage, and had to be quickly off his line to make a close-range block as Tooting threatened again. They broke clear after twenty minutes, though, and forced a corner from which George Sellick found himself unmarked, and in a good position, but couldn’t find the accuracy he was looking for as he drove the ball wide of Toby McKimm’s right-hand post. The Terrors made their visitors pay for this profligacy four minutes later, when a nice move saw Conor Melody slip his marker and power down the right, firing a low cross in with pace and accuracy to find Max Oldham, unmarked, just inside the box. He kept a cool head to control the ball well, took another touch to make space for the shot, and drilled his first Terrors goal past Adams to open the scoring. Tooting looked comfortable in the lead, and created several promising openings without adding to it. Sheerwater were offering less now, so it was something of a surprise that they went into the break on terms; Sellick was looking their most dangerous attacker, and when he cut into the box and had his legs taken from behind by Isy Nzelo, the referee had little option but to point to the spot. Elliott York fired home the kick, and with three minutes to go until half-time, it was one apiece.
The second period started with a bang, as anybody slow to re-take their position will have missed a significant moment. Max Oldham had caused them all sorts of problems and showed he was in the mood to continue to do so as he ran on to a slide-rule pass into the box and swept it past Adams just two minutes in, to restore the lead. Habeeb Adepoju (TJ) came off the bench to replace the influential Andy O’Brien, who had picked up a knock, and was perhaps not fully warmed up as George Mackie got away from him and dragged a shot narrowly wide of the far post. Then a fine piece of work by Deji Adeosun saw him seize a loose pass from a Sheers’ midfielder’s toes, and set Conor away down the middle. His shot was blocked - seemingly by a defender’s hand, but the referee waved away the penalty appeals; ball to hand? Probably.
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With eighteen minutes to go, Sheerwater equalised - somewhat out of the blue - when Harry Valter charged through the home defence and placed the ball past Toby, but two minutes later the hosts were back in front; Isy, who had given away the first-half penalty, atoned by winning one of his own when he was upended in the box, and Sam Williams fired home. Four minutes after that, it looked like the game had been put to bed thanks to a fine piece of opportunism by Ash Sheppard who picked the ball up just inside Sheerwater’s half, and struck a magnificent effort from forty-odd yards past a bemused Adams, who ended on his backside. I’m told it was a stunning goal, one of the most impressive seen at this stadium for many a year. I’ll have to take people’s word for that, as – having used my expert reporter’s eye to assess that Ash ‘was not in much of a threatening position’ – I had glanced down to my notes to record the previous attack. Lesson learnt, I hope!
But as Terrors fans know all too well, it is never over until it’s over, and Harry Valter poached a second in stoppage time to set home hearts fluttering again, striding unchallenged into the box and slotting the ball all too easily past Toby. Their lack of celebration suggested they knew it was too little, too late; and with the final whistle going almost immediately, Tooting had – just about – put the points in the bag.
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Corinthian 1-1 Tooting (4-5 on pens)
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The Terrors safely negotiated their first hurdle in the FA Vase, largely controlling the ninety minutes against our Southern Counties East League opponents - although ultimately, we needed penalties to see us secure a Second Qualifying Round outing at Guildford City. That in itself was a milestone - of sorts, bringing to an end a sequence of three defeats via this medium, including against this opposition two seasons ago, following a goalless draw at Imperial Fields, in the FA Trophy. Much water has passed under the Bishopsford Road bridge since then - both sides have suffered a relegation each, for example - but this was still a pleasing revenge mission of sorts. Tooting pushed their hosts back early on, and dictated the play for much of the opening half an hour, so it was something of a surprise when we fell behind - against the run of play - just before the thirty minute mark. Jack Billings took advantage of hesitancy at the back and steered the ball goalwards, over the head of the exposed Toby McKimm in the Tooting goal. The Terrors continued to have the better of things as the half wound down, but were still struggling to find a telling final ball, and Corinthian held the narrow advantage as the sides trooped off at the break.
Corinthian were looking for a hat-trick of Combined Counties League scalps, having relieved both AFC Whyteleafe and Camberley Town of further interest in the FA Cup, and must have fancied their chances of adding the Terrors to that list as the second half began - but that optimism lasted precisely five minutes; that was as much time had elapsed in the second period when Tooting won a free-kick just outside the penalty area, and Darral Wopara stepped up to drill a fine strike past Nathan Boamer in the home goal, the keeper left grasping at air as the ball thundered past him to the delight of the travelling faithful behind the goal. Despite once again having the better of the play, there were no further additions to the scoresheet, and the BogEnders must have seen Chipstead, Fisher and Corinthian themselves flash before their eyes as the boys in lavender stepped up to contest the lottery of a shootout. These affairs are designed to instil pure drama in the modern game, rendering (usually) a hero or a villain to step onto centre-stage, and it was the former this time; Toby McKimm, still finding his feet in the Tooting goal - and no doubt disappointed with some of the goals that have gone past him early in this campaign (not least the goal on this afternoon) had little chance with the first three Corinthian kicks, confidently put past him by the Billings brothers (James and Jack) and Oscar Housego. However, Toby got down brilliantly low to his left to repel spot kick number four from Malachy Turner. With Tooting also faultless in their first three attempts - Kieran Campbell, skipper Antonio Simeone and Max Oldham all on target, the scene was set for Darral Wopara to give us the advantage and - despite Mefose Esomubi netting for the hosts - it was Hussein Siklawi who confidently stroked his kick home to book us that date in Guildford
Tooting 4-0 Balham
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Tooting terrorised their tenants on Bank Holiday Monday, blowing Balham away with a four-goal scoreline that could have easily been even bigger. The ‘visitors’ were never at the races, and once Hussein Siklawi had fired us ahead, with an inch-perfect free-kick curled in from just outside the box, thirteen minutes in, it was only ever going to be a question of how many the margin of victory would be. Three minutes after that strike, the lead was almost doubled when Sam Williams outfoxed the keeper, to stab the ball goalward; however, a Balham defender was alert, and got back to clear the ball from the line. But Sam didn’t have to wait much longer for a goal, controlling a through-ball impressively, and then hooking it in with his back to goal to register a quality finish. Sam had proved a handful for the Balham defence throughout the first half, but was forced to depart early - which gave them a breather. For the second time this season - just as against Littlehampton on the opening day - Sam was forced off through injury before the first period was complete. Mind you, his replacement, Taz Mahmoud, was champing at the bit to get involved, and picked up where Sam left off, running with purpose at the Balham defence to cause them palpitations as the half ended.
Things did not get any easier for a harassed Balham defence in the second half either, which was just seven minutes old when the lead was extended to three; a corner was only half cleared, and fell to skipper Antonio Simeone just inside the box. The Balham defence stopped, thinking they’d heard a whistle, but it hadn’t been blown (there was nothing going on on the front-pitch which can occasionally cause confusion) and Simmo’s cultured finish seemed to float past stranded keeper, John Ross. Balham’s protests fell on deaf ears - rightly so, but even if they had been indulged, they were well beyond saving this match. Tooting poured forward, with every player wanting to get on the scoresheet. Darrall Wopara was next to go close, as his mazy run into the box culminated in a firmly struck effort that flashed across the face of Ross’s goal, settling just wide. Max Oldham, scorer of a brace in midweek, tried his luck from long-range, but the ball was deflected out for a corner. Elliott McKimm tried his luck from distance; a cross/shot floated goalwards caught on the wind, and forced Ross to backpedal frantically before touching the ball over the bar. Balham hadn’t really threatened all afternoon, their closest effort coming just before goal number four, when an attacker finally managed to make headway into the box and slipped the ball past Toby McKimm, but Darral was back to clear from just in front of the goal-line. That spurred Tooting on again - now inside the last ten minutes - as Taz went on a powerful run down the right, shrugged his marker off, and squared for Kieran Campbell powering into the area, who controlled the ball calmly, and then slotted home to round off a thoroughly pleasing afternoon’s work, as the Terrors lived up to their name in every sense.
Tooting 1-2 Corinthian Casuals
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The Terrors came into this one with three consecutive positive results under their belts, but were undone by a sterling display form the visitors, whose two first-half strikes ultimately proved enough to take the points. A much better second-half showing, driven on by the two half-time substitutes - Conor Melody and Taz Mahmoud - left Casuals hanging on grimly at the end , but we had given ourselves too much to do to save the game. In an earlier programme this season, when compiling a match report for the Fleet away game, I said that the sort of goal we had disallowed for offside that day will always be chalked off at this level, becuase officials tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the defending side - for whatever reason. I also stated that, though I thought that sort of goal should always be given, I would be the first to shout “well done, Lino” the next time a similar decision was given in our favour. Well, I had that opportunity on this afternoon, as a through ball from a Casuals midfielder found Reyon Dillon seemingly a few inches in front of the Terrors back line, just six minutes into the game. Well, I was wrong, as the Assistant Referee on this occasion seemed reluctant to make any kind of call on his own, without checking first what his senior official wanted signalled. Thus, the flag stayed down, and Dillon’s subsequent goal stood. We put that behind us, and started to mount some attacks of our own. The best of these saw Kieran Campbell receive the ball inside the box, sidestep a defender, and aim an effort goalwards with the outside of his foot. He just got a little bit too much height on it, unfortunately, and the ball went over the bar. Ash Sheppard and Hussein Siklawi were combining well on the right-hand side of the pitch, and forced a couple of corners in quick succession. From the second of these, keeper Murillo Bernardes dropped on the ball under pressure from the home attack, and the arrival of the physio led to the strange sight of both keepers receiving treatment at once, as Toby McKimm needed the attention of Harry Vesey at the other end. I’m not sure what his issue was, but after a bit of leg-stretching from Harry, Toby recovered sufficiently well to play out the rest of the game without any issues. He was, however, beaten again just before the break, and there were no complaints over the legitimacy of this goal - although the cruel deflection that saw Dillon’s speculative effort from the edge of the box loop up and over Toby would have been enough to defeat most keepers at this level.
The Manager’s response to the half-time deficit was to bring on two attack-minded subs for the second period, and Conor Melody and Taz Mahmoud made an immediate impact as the pair combined nicely when Taz set Conor away down the right and hared forward into the box to meet his return pass. Conor’s inch-perfect ball into the box was coolly despatched for Taz’s first goal in a Terrors shirt, and it was game on. Not long after, we could have scored a near-identical equaliser, as Conor again got away from his marker down the right, and Kieran Campbell had made a superb run into the box in anticipation of the pass, but a defender had also read the move and just managed to toe the ball away before Kieran could set himself for a shot. Toby was forced into a good save with his legs, to deny Reyon Dillon a hat-trick, then play swung to the other end as Darral Wopara played a cross-field pass into Taz who killed it beautifully before curling an effort goalward. He couldn’t get sufficient power into the shot, though, and Murillo was able to gather it (semi) comfortably. Both sides were looking dangerous as time ticked away, but the best chance Tooting could muster fell to Taz again, who got past two defenders, drove towards Murillo and tried to poke it past him as the keeper advanced, but the ball spun up and just over the bar.