CHAIRMAN Andy Straker has made it crystal clear that AFC Totton’s youth and reserve team set-up will play a big part in the club’s future.

So while Monday’s 2-1 Southern One South & West defeat at Fleet Town was disappointing, spirits were raised again by Tuesday’s 4-2 win over Winchester City in the semi-final of the Wyvern League’s John Stimpson Memorial Shield.

Young Jake Rawkins, who skippered the reserves to victory, had played the second half at Fleet and will be back in the squad for tomorrow’s trip to Bridgwater Town.

Another young prospect, Jake Burgess, will also be on the coach to Somerset as caretaker boss Steve Hollick looks to the use the final few games to give young talent the chance to shine at Southern League level.

Hollick said: “The reserves put in a really good performance on Tuesday to beat Winchester with Matty Brewer from the under-16s scoring a hat-trick.

“Our reserve team manager Richie Hayter has promoted a lot of young talent into the side and we’ll be trying to give the younger lads a bit of game time to see how they adapt to the Southern League.

“It’s a good time to do it. We’re not playing for anything now, so it’s an ideal opportunity to see if they’re capable.

“We had no Jack Hoey or James Jennings at Fleet, so the two Jakes were on the bench and Jake Rawkins went on for 45 minutes and did well.

“I’m looking forward to seeing Jake Burgess playing in the middle of the park. He’s quite dynamic and it will be interesting to see how he links up with Liam Gilbert and Nathan Hurst.

“He and Jake Rawkins travelled with us when Steve (Riley) was in charge and have had a few minutes. It would be nice now to give them a good run if we can.”

Totton lost to a stoppage-time penalty at Fleet after Craig Feeney had pulled them back on terms. “It was disappointing to concede the penalty but, in truth, we probably didn’t deserve anything from the game,” Hollick confessed.

“Fleet were fighting for the lives and we gave the lads the information, but it took us half an hour to get into the game. We started the second half a lot better, but Fleet hit a bit of a purple patch and hit the bar a couple of times. I was impressed with their lad up front, Pat Cox. He caused our centre-halves problems all game.”

Liam Hibberd (jaw) and Ben Beccles (ankle) are doubts for the Bridgwater trip.

The final of the John Stimpson Memorial Shield between AFC Totton and Sholing reserves will be at Romsey Town FC on May 11. Sholing beat Verwood Town 5-2 in their semi-final.