AFC TOTTON boss Steve Riley is optimistic of having Nathaniel Sherborne and Stuart Mott fit for selection at home to Clevedon Town tomorrow.

The pair both started last Saturday’s pleasing 2-1 victory at basement boys Bishops Cleeve, but failed to get through the whole 90 minutes.

Wideman/forward Sherborne limped off shortly before half-time with a turned ankle and Mott, a recent defensive signing from Sholing, sustained a similar injury having landed awkwardly after heading home what transpired to be the 67th-minute winner “Stuart turned his ankle as he landed and couldn’t celebrate the goal,” said Riley.

“We lost a little bit of composure at the back when he went off, but we defended with our lives and were very professional in the way we went about it.

“Both he and Sherbs should be fit for tomorrow, but we’ll know more after training.”

Having lost their previous five league and cup games, last Saturday’s victory was a vital morale-booster for 14th-placed Totton and will hopefully set the tone for a busy week ahead against teams from the middle/lower-half of the Southern One South & West table. Following tomorrow’s visit of 18th-placed Clevedon, the Stags visit Mangotsfield (16th) on Tuesday before opening their Testwood Stadium doors to 11th-placed Cinderford next Saturday.

Their festive programme takes them to rapidly improving neighbours Sholing (17th) on December 27 before entertaining Craig Davis’s Fleet Town (19th) on New Year’s Day.

“After last week’s win I patted the boys on the back and said ‘let’s start picking up points,’” said Riley.

“Our starting point had to be making ourselves hard to beat and our defending in and around the goal at Bishops Cleeve was brilliant.

“I said before the game that I wanted us to get a one-goal win somewhere and it didn’t matter how we did it.

“That’s what we did and I can’t fault our boys for the performance. In the second half Bishops Cleeve came at us, but we stood firm, got our blocks in and killed the game.

“We’ve got a lot matches coming up now over Christmas. We’ll see where we are come New Year’s Day.”