Didcot Town were made to pay for not taking their first-half chances as they lost 1-0 to promotion rivals AFC Totton in British Gas Business Southern League Division 1 South & West at the npower Loop Meadow Stadium.
Totton were well-organised and won the game courtesy of an excellent strike from Mark Osman six minutes before the interval.
Playing with a deceptively strong winds at their backs in the first half, Didcot were quickly onto the offensive.
Totton keeper Gareth Barfoot made the first of a string of excellent stops when he tipped James Mortimer-Jones’s long-range effort over the bar.
Barfoot again came to the visitors rescue, blocking Andy Williams’s header from Matt Bicknell’s cross on the line.
The ball was only half-cleared and Martin Brown’s follow-up shot crashed against the crossbar and away to safety.
Bicknell then volleyed well-wide from a good position, before Elliott Osborne-Ricketts missed by inches with an excellent low shot from just outside the box.
Mortimer-Jones then became the first of six Didcot players to be booked for a late challenge on Ryan Hill.
Barfoot pulled off another decent save at his near-post to keep out Jack King’s free-kick.
Didcot’s best chance came in the 27th minute when Neville Roach was presented with a one-on-one situation following a slip by Anthony Lloyd, but Barfoot saved with his legs.
Williams then denied Osman with a brave block.
Totton broke the deadlock when a centre from Josh Dutton-Black, who hails from Botley and was with Oxford United as a youngster, found Osman and he acrobatically volleyed the ball home off the underside of the bar.
Osborne-Ricketts fired a low shot just wide early in the second half, but Totton always had the upper hand.
Dutton-Black brought a fine save out of a diving Michael Watkins, and then Didcot were fortunate to scramble away the ball from a Dutton-Black cross.
Roach had a chance to equalise, but his volley was easily collected by Barfoot.
Didcot Tn: Watkins, Heapy, Bicknell (Witt 64), Williams, Brown, Mortimer-Jones, Osborne-Ricketts, King, Bartley, Roach (Hepburn 64), Powell.
Attendance: 239.
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