AFC TOTTON have covered for Craig Feeney’s imminent move Down Under by dual-signing striker Tony Lee from Eastleigh.

Lee has recently been on loan at Dorchester Town along with another Spitfires player, midfielder Jack Alexander, who has also penned Southern League forms for the Stags, writes Wendy Gee.

Alexander made his debut at Slimbridge on Saturday, which ended in a bitterly disappointing 3-0 Totton defeat.

But Lee was needed by Eastleigh and, with Australia-bound Feeney also missing and forward Nathaniel Sherborne out injured, the Stags were well beaten by the Swans of Slimbridge who glided to victory through two-goal Paul Fahy and Adam Mace.

“It wasn’t good enough, we made too many individual errors,” lamented Totton boss Steve Hollick.

“It was a squidgy, little pitch and we didn’t play to the conditions. Our decision-making was poor.

“We conceded two sloppy first-half goals and our defensive frailties reared up again.

“They had two lively, little lads up front and we didn’t deal with them first half.”

Slimbridge took the lead with a route one goal on 25 minutes. The Stags failed to deal with goalkeeper Adam Thomas’s long clearance, leaving Fahey to beat Steve Mowthorpe one-on-one.

Totton had their moments, but the Swans struck again just before the break when Mace turned in Sam Blackie’s low cross.

It got worse for the visitors when, with seven second-half minutes gone, Marc Diaper brought down Fahy inside the box and the Slimbridge man got up to convert the penalty.

The Stags came close to replying when Thomas miscued an attempted punch and Taylor Edwards nodded the ball wide of the unguarded net.

An even better chance eluded Totton in the final 15 minutes. Thomas parried Mike Gosney’s shot and, from the rebound, the ball cannoned off Neil Williams’ foot and over the bar to the disbelief of everyone in the ground.

Despite the result, Hollick was encouraged by 18-year-old Alexander’s debut, saying of the former Bristol City youngster: “He did well and grew into the game.

“We’ve got Tony Lee coming in too and he was our number one target to replace Craig.

“I’d known for a couple of weeks that Craig was going to Australia, so I spoke to Chris Todd (Eastleigh manager) about Tony and he’s ours unless Eastleigh need him. Eastleigh are his parent club but it’s as close to a season-long loan as you can get.”

The Stags are in Red Insure Cup action on Tuesday (7.45) at home to their former boss Steve Riley’s Bashley.

Bash are still searching for their first league point but recently knocked Cinderford out of the FA Trophy – their first win for over a year.

The Foresters lost 1-0 at home to Shortwood in the league on Saturday with ex-Stag Ryan Hill cracking a potential penalty equaliser against the bar.