PROUD chairman Richie Maton saluted his management team as triumphant Totton lifted the Wessex League Cup for the second time in four years at Thatcham Town yesterday.

A Floyd Hamodu lob four minutes into extra-time was enough to see off an Andover side who, stripped of their injured top gun Justin Bennett and his suspended sidekick Phil Andrews, were unrecognisable as the side who have banged in a league best 120 goals in Division 1 this season.

Hamodu's winner and a man-of-the-match performance from silky-skilled forward Mark Osman amply justified Totton's decision to rest the pair for Saturday's final league game against Fareham when a 1-1 draw allowed promotion-seeking Andover to leapfrog them into third place.

It was a price well worth paying for the merry Maton who smiled: "If anyone had said at the start of the season that we'd finish fourth in the league and win the cup against a quality side like Andover, I'd have been over the moon.

"It's down to the efforts of our management team Stuart Ritchie and Sean New and I can't explain how much it means to the club.

"AFC Totton can only go on from here."

If ever a player deserved reward for his unselfishness, it was 24-year-old Hamodu. The former Fareham Town targetman may not be the most prolific of scorers, but it's his donkey work that creates the platform for flair players like Osman, Gareth Byers and Mike Gosney to express themselves.

"Floyd has his critics because he does miss a few chances, but he works tirelessly up front," acknowledged Maton.

"He's not an out-and-out goalscorer but, as we saw today, he gets the hard ones and misses the easy ones."

On an afternoon when Andover's experienced keeper Colin Hopkins repelled almost everything Totton could throw at him, the 32-year-old was finally out-witted when Hamodu seized on a misplaced Ashley Vine header and beat him with a brilliantly executed lob.

Ironically it was Vine's midfield threat that had most concerened Ritchie beforehand, but the ex-Pompey youngster was excellently tamed by Stuart Salter, who soldiered on with a bandaged head after suffering a deep cut above his eye.

The only mystery was why Totton needed extra time to win a match that had looked theirs for the taking ever since the 11th minute when Dave Goss' towering header from Gosney's free-kick crashed off the underside of the bar.

Hopkins - making only his fourth start after a long-term foot injury - got well behind James Roden's header after Hamodu had nodded on another Gosney free-kick on 34 minutes and then he smartly tipped over Osman's header from Gosney's corner as Totton cranked up the pressure at the start of the second half.

Barring a testing Lee Chudy cross and a bending Sam Rea free-kick, Andover posed little threat to Iain Brunnschweiler until the 67th-minute when the underworked Totton keeper got a firm punch on another Chudy centre and then cut out Wayne Sale's long-range blast.

Soon it was Hopkins under the cosh again, somehow clawing away Goss' diving header and then breathing a sigh of relief when Osman breezed past Rea on the right but could only drive the ball across the goal face.

Totton could have had more in extra time, but Roden's low blast was well held by the diving Hopkins and sub Scott Bundy got his shot all wrong from Matt Troon's inviting pass.

"We did well to take it to extra time, but we were a bit light up front," reflected defeated Andover boss Ady Burford. "Had Phil and Justin been playing it would have been a different story. Losing two quality players makes a big difference.

"But at the start of the season I told the players that all we wanted to do was to finish top three and have a good cup run and we've achieved that.

"We're back at Thatcham next Wednesday for the Basingstoke Cup final against Fleet Town, so all in all, we've had a good season."