AFC Totton miss out on promotion to the National League South on penalties

AFC Totton missed out on promotion to the Vanarama National League South after losing to Salisbury on penalties in the Southern League Premier South playoff final.

Ryan Gosney saved two spot kicks, including one from Totton keeper Josh Gould, to secure their passage to the sixth tier of English football in dramatic fashion on Monday afternoon.

Josh Hedges thought he had won the final in extra time until Ethan Taylor smashed into the bottom corner with four minutes left.

Noah Coppin's late penalty levelled things in regular time just minutes after Tony Lee opened the scoring with the first real moment of quality in a scrappy affair at Snows Stadium.

Totton made two changes from the side that won the semi-final against Bracknell Town 2-1 as Joan Luque and Joe Oastler came into the starting lineup.

Ahead of kick-off, Totton's players wore black shirts which carried the message ‘Rest In Peace Mally Thomas, forever a Stag.' A minute's silence was also held in honour of the supporter, who sadly passed away.

Adam Tomasso was forced to slide in at the last moment to prevent a good cross from the right finding Coppin, who was in a prime position to give the away side an early lead.

The hosts' first effort on goal came on the half-hour mark when Jordan Ragguette pinched the ball and drove forward, his following effort stinging the palms of Ryan Gosney.

That was the start of a slew of chances for Totton, who started to tick as veteran forward Scott Rendell dropped deep to pull the string.

Tomasso got the better of the left-back with a sharp change of pace and saw a dangerous low cross blocked by a sliding Jombati.

The resulting corner bounced around the box before finding the foot of Oastler, who fired just over the crossbar from the edge of the box.

Ball was forced into an early change when Tomasso couldn't continue and had to be replaced by Benny Read.

The visitors then had a golden chance when Coppin raced through on goal, but Gould did well to stand his ground and thwart the attacker.

The chances kept coming as another goalmouth scramble failed to yield a Totton goal and the game progressed at deadlock.

With around 10 minutes of regular time remaining, the hosts finally found the opening goal when Lee crashed in a back-post header, which looked as though it would win the tie.

However, Salisbury refused to give in and won a penalty five minutes later for handball. Coppin stepped forward and smashed home as the game ticked into additional time.

The away side came close to winning it in regular time when Jombati headed just wide on 92 minutes before Dan Fitchett did the same on 95.

Salisbury eventually completed their comeback in extra time when Hedges raced onto a flick-on and fired past Gould in the first half of extra time.

Brian Dutton's side were saved in second-half extra time by Ball, who stuck his head in the way to block on the line.

Just as Salisbury did in the regular time, Totton drew themselves level with minutes to go when Taylor crashed in from close range.

The high-paced drama refused to let up, Hedges burst towards goal but could only drag his effort wide 60 seconds later.

Gosney turned out to be the hero for the Whites as he saved two penalties, prompting the away fans to swarm the pitch in ecstatic celebration.