AFC TOTTON found themselves in a spot of bother after missing their fifth penalty of the season at North Leigh.

Fortunately, all ended well with Craig Feeney’s 89th-minute winner clinching the Stags a well-deserved 1-0 midweek victory that lifted them to seventh in the Evo-Stik South West.

But after watching veteran striker Nathaniel Sherborne send a first-half spot kick wide, manager Louis Langdown admitted nerves were jangling.

“It’s the fifth penalty we’ve missed and, with the Stoneham result (a 3-1 Russell Cotes Cup semi-final defeat) still ringing in our ears, everyone - from the chairman down - was getting anxious,” he said.

“For a while now there have been games that we could and should have won, but haven’t, and you find yourself thinking ‘not again.’

“Thankfully we were able to make the most of our substitutions and Tony Lee has come on and set Feens up for the goal.

“It was no more than the lads deserved.

“We’d peppered the North Leigh half and, lo and behold, we got a last-minute winner.”

Taking penalties, though, remains a problem going into Saturday's trip to Bideford.

The north Devon outfit triumphed 3-2 at Totton in January – a night when Stags midfielder Charlie Gunson smashed the crossbar with a potential penalty equaliser.

“Charlie strikes the ball better than anyone, but he’s hit the bar with the keeper stranded,” Langdown recalled.

“It’s not as if it’s one person missing penalties, we’ve shared it around. 

"We’ve practised in training – and even I’m scoring! - but it's different in a match situation.

"We all have to share responsibility.”

New dad Ian Oliver should rejoin the squad tomorrow.

Skipper Dave Allen is finally available again after what Langdown described as “the longest two-match suspension in history” due to weather-related postponements.