CURTIS Young conjured up an early contender for AFC Totton’s goal-of-the-season at the Total Branding Community Stadium on Saturday.

But if it hadn’t been for assistant boss Adam Wilde, the former AFC Bournemouth youngster would not have been on the pitch to score it.

At 3-0 up against Yate Town and with options on the bench, manager Louis Langdown was minded to withdraw the gifted 18-year-old right winger and shut up shop.

Thankfully, Wilde talked him out of it and the 222 crowd were treated to one of those magic moments that will linger long in the memory banks.

It was Young who had scored Totton’s third on 68 minutes, bending in a superb shot from distance.

That was a decent effort by anybody’s reckoning, but what followed was truly exceptional.

With 84 minutes on the clock, Young embarked on a jinking run through the Yate defence, throwing in a nutmeg en route, and still had the presence of mind to drill a precision shot into the bottom corner.

“I nearly took him off – so thanks to Adam for not letting me do it,” smiled Langdown.

“3-0 is still a vulnerable scoreline and I was just looking to freshen things up in terms of keeping the ball a bit more.

“We’re a small side and the only way we’re going to beat teams is to get the ball down and move it quickly.

“We had good strength on the bench today, and if we’ve got those options we’ll use them.

“But Curtis has been exceptional for us. I’ve got a lot of time for the kid, so have our supporters and the players.

“He’s scoring goals, he’s creating goals and his two strikes today were excellent.

“He’s an out-and-out goal threat and he works so hard for us. I’m really pleased for him.”

Despite the landslide 5-0 scoreline, Langdown was not totally convinced by Totton’s performance.

In fact he considered them lucky to be leading 2-0 at half-time against a Yate side still awaiting their first Evo-Stik South West victory.

Alfy Whittingham had opened the scoring eight minutes in with a shot that crashed down off the bar and, after surviving the odd uncomfortable moment in defence, the Stags struck again on 41 minutes when Toby Adekunle bundled home Craig Feeney’s cross.

“We weren’t at our most fluid first half and going in 2-0 really did flatter us,” Langdown admitted.

“Yate put us under considerable pressure, but we took our two goals well.

“It was an awkward half-time team talk, happy we were winning, but knowing we weren’t passing the ball very well.

“But we went out second half, turned it round and played some good football.”

Young’s two superlative strikes added gloss to proceedings before fellow wideman Adekunle had the last word, showing neat footwork before thrashing the ball into the far bottom corner.

Next up for the Stags is Saturday's trip to unbeaten pacesetters Taunton Town.

AFC Totton: Shane Murphy, Connor York (Sam Roberts, 74), Ian Oliver, Charlie Gunson, Stuart Mott, Jack Barker, Curtis Young, Alfy Whittingham (Jack Masterton, 65), Craig Feeney (Nimes Pina, 77), Nathaniel Sherborne, Toby Adekunkle. Subs (not used) Oliver Davis, Adam Wilde.

Referee: Brian Channing.

Attendance: 222.