For anyone in doubt, today’s eagerly awaited fixture against Hastings United goes ahead as planned

This Saturday we are at home to fifth-placed Hastings United for what is the biggest game of the day in our division.

We are anticipating a bumper crowd for this fixture with no Premier League distractions. Hastings are also one of the better supported teams in the league and usually travel in good numbers.

Despite issues relating to a possible move away from their current stadium Hastings are having a good season on the field. Under a new manager who is in his second spell, they have won their last three league games and have 23 points from 14 matches.

Their top scorers are Davide Rodari with nine goals and Femi Akinwande with eight.

“Hastings have an excellent side who have been riding high in recent weeks. They are in good form so it’s a tough test,” said Gavin Macpherson.

“Apart from North Greenford, the boys have responded magnificently to the challenge I set them following the Lewes result. I’ve been delighted with their application and desire to win football matches, the main focus for any team at this level, we need to keep going, if you don’t there are plenty of good teams who will take advantage”.

Last Saturday the Car Park was full before kickoff so you may want to arrive a little earlier than usual to use the car park.

Tickets for our forthcoming home games are available here:

https://enfieldtownfc.ktckts.com/brand/match-tickets

Following a pitch inspection, tonight’s Velocity Trophy third round game against Brightlingsea Regent has unfortunately had to be postponed.

A new date will be arranged as soon as possible

Tonight we entertain Brightlingsea Regent in the third round of the Velocity Trophy, our final chance of domestic cup silverware this season (kickoff 7.45) — pending a 3pm pitch inspection.

Brightlingsea are sixth in Isthmian league north, a division below us, but the management team will be taking nothing for granted especially after our Middlesex County Cup exit at north greenford last week.

“We will give them the respect they deserve,” said Gavin Macpherson. “They are better than Greenford on paper but the team we put out was easily good enough to win that game.”

“The league may be the priority but we want to go far in this competition and try and win it. We’ll look at any walking wounded and see where we are.”

Please check later for updates

Enfield Town 3 Canvey Island 0

Report By Andrew Warshaw

On a perfect day for football and front of a healthy 600-plus crowd, Enfield Town moved back up to second in the table on goal difference after sweeping aside last season’s playoff semifinalists to make it three  league wins from four.

Once again it was a terrific team performance – marked by a first clean sheet in 11 games —  against a Gulls side that was at times pleasing on the eye but lacked composure in front of goal and stability at the back.

Beaten, perhaps undeservedly, by runaway leaders Hornchurch a week ago in between two thumping wins, we were in the mood straight from the off and were ahead inside 60 seconds, Sam Youngs following up his own half-cleared header to prod the ball over the line.

Canvey had a couple of optimistic penalty shouts turned down but it needed a superb Josh Okotcha block to keep out Bradley Sach.

In truth the first half was relatively even, Canvey using diagonal balls on the counter but without really testing Rhys Forster. Having said that, skipper Conor Dubble had a great chance to equalise with a diving header he put just wide.

At the other end, James Richmond almost scored with a downward header from a corner while Joe Payne rifled a shot inches past the post.

We could well have had a spotkick of our own when Jaden Crowhurst placed a less than welcoming arm around Reece Beckles-Richards but on 33 minutes we duly doubled our lead.

Marcus Wyllie’s weakly hit pass to Beckles-Richards was cut out but Youngs, whose vision all game was exemplary, was quickly on hand to score his 13^th goal in all competitions. Not bad for a central midfielder in mid-November!

Five minutes later Sach had the ball in the net, only to be ruled narrowly offside.

Cue our fire alarm briefly going off accidentally as if to warn Town not to get complacent!

H-T 2-0

We certainly heeded that advice with a far more dominant second-half display despite the halftime score.

Canvey actually had the first decent chance of the second period as Forster was forced into a smart save  but Town quickly snuffed out any chance of a comeback with a peach of a third goal.

In a lightning raid, Ollie Knight found Wyllie charging down the left and his pinpoint cross was beautifully executed by Beckles-Richards (pictured).

Canvey now lost their way and were lucky not to further concede on numerous occasions, most notably  when a Payne long throw found Beckles-Richards in space, his shot beating Sam Jackson but falling outside of the post.

“Really pleased with the performance,” said Gavin Macpherson who, once we were three goals up, moved Mickey Parcell into central midfield for a 20-minute cameo to see how it would work. “When we get it right as a team, we’re a difficult proposition.”

In terms of budgets, Town are defying the odds and long may it continue.

“Budgets have never been part of my mindset,” said Gavin. “I’m not fazed by how much money other teams might have.”

The 4-0 Lewes debacle already seems a distant memory. “It’s still early-ish in the season and to be honest, Lewes was part of my learning curve at this club,” admitted Gavin insightfully.

“You never stop learning and it taught me that we were better on the front foot than we are lower in the pitch.”

“I want to acknowledge the fact that I want to make this place difficult for any visiting team. The supporters are pivotal. Fan-owned clubs invest in it more than most and I always walk away with a quiet satisfaction seeing them happy.”

Town:

Forster; Parcell, Okotcha, Richmond, Payne; Knight, Thomas (Bailey, 81), Youngs, Adjei-Hersey (Sykes, 68); Wyllie, Beckles-Richards (Keeya, 77)

After a tough last couple of results for different reasons, Enfield Town begin a run of four straight home fixtures in all competitions on Saturday by taking on last season’s playoff semifinalists, Canvey Island.

Our unfortunate defeat at Hornchurch was followed three days later by a humiliating exit to Step 5 North Greenford United in the Middlesex County Cup, albeit with an understrength team.

The side Gavin Macpherson put out was well capable of getting us through but now it’s back to the bread and butter of league action as we aim to build on what was a decent run of form before the Hornchurch setback.

 Ollie Knight is available for selection on Saturday after a three-game ban for what looks, on paper, like another tricky encounter.

The Gulls may be in mid-table and six points behind us but they have played two games fewer. Remarkably, they have not drawn a single league game, having won six and lost five.

“I’m really pleased to be back at home, it’s like having a 12^th man when the fans are singing,” said Gavin. “Enfield was never a ground I looked forward to going to as an opponent.”

“Saturday is another stern test in keeping with this league. Canvey are capable of beating anyone and have players who can hurt you if you catch them on their day. But we’re in a good position and I want to maintain that.”

Andrew Warshaw

North Greenford United 3 Enfield Town 2

 Report By Martin Bentley

Maybe it was the water. Or ley lines. Or Mercury rising in Uranus.

 No-one has managed to come up with a better explanation for Enfield Town’s inexplicable late, late capitulation to Step 5 North Greenford in the Middlesex Senior Cup on Tuesday night that saw a two-goal lead wiped out in 12 mad minutes.

This, unfortunately, has been a regular occurrence in so-called minor cup matches over the last few years, so it was particularly worrying to see a Gavin Macpherson side continue the trend in what was our first appearance in this season’s competition.

It had all started so well. Town fielded a much-changed line-up to give fringe players game time as well as a couple of experimental selections in Mickey Parcell in central midfield and Ollie Knight at left back. Academy prospect Ebraima Davies was given a start, with new signing Leo Donnellan on the bench.

We were immediately on the front foot, and rocketed into a two-goal lead in the fist 18 minutes, Lewis Taaffe finishing well from Parcell’s through ball, then adding a well-taken penalty after Josh Keeya had been tripped.

For the remainder of the half, the term “training game” was being used,  Town completely dominating possession and the visitors struggling to retain the ball for more than a few seconds.

 How that changed after halftime as slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, Town managed to lose control of the game.

One by one players started to vanish as though someone was punching buttons on a control panel though Town had a George Sykes effort disallowed and an Obi Onyeagwara shot was headed off the line.

The remarkable turnaround began on 82 minutes when  a swift breakout saw left back Rashid Springer’s cross turned in by right back Sam Brown.

By then, the ball was hardly leaving Town’s half, the hosts having started to play as if they were Cray Valley PM, and the equaliser duly followed on 92 minutes, Ryan Ewhare netting in a goalmouth scramble. Three minutes later and even deeper into stoppage time, Joe Mills won the game with a deflected effort to Adi Connolly’s left.

  Cue wild celebrations by the home side and fans, shell-shocked congratulations offered by the bewildered travelling faithful, and a general feeling of “what the **** just happened?”

A truly odd and, as I say, worrying night with only one knockout competition, the Velocity Trophy, left for Town to make a mark.

  Line-up: Connolly, Bailey, Knight, Okotcha, Coker, Keeya, Onyeagwara (Adjei-Hersey 85), Parcell (Donnellan 45), Sykes, Taaffe, Davies

Hornchurch 2 Enfield Town 0

Report by Andrew Warshaw

If ever there was an occasion to feel proud in defeat, this was surely it.

They be oft-used cliches but football is a cruel game and you sometimes don’t get what you deserve.

The faces on Town’s crestfallen players and management team following Saturday’s defeat against the unbeaten runaway league leaders said everything about how, in open play at least, we more matched our opponents’ big-name players, one of whom had played more than 100 games for Crystal Palace.

It won’t be much consolation to Gavin and the boys but the Hornchurch fans and staff conceded it was by far their biggest test of the season, Rhys Forster hardly having a shot of note to save.

None of that, however, can disguise the fact that title-winning sides find a way to win even when below-par and two almost identical set-piece goals ultimately did for Town.

Hornchurch are that kind of team, they grind you down. Keep their forwards quiet and someone else will invariably come up with the goods, in this case skipper Ryan Scott.

Yet for long periods on Saturday, it was Town who looked like the side in pole position, especially in the first half.

Josh Okotcha and Sam Youngs had early half-chances and even when Josh slipped on the rain-soaked surface at the other end, he recovered well to avert the danger.

Hornchurch had to wait for 20 minutes for their first major foray when Nathan Green powered his way through but screwed wide.

Though this was a day when Joe Payne’s long throws got little change out of a mean defence, we still looked the more dangerous team in open play.  Marcus Wyllie played in Reece Beckles-Richards whose goalbound shot took a deflection. Then the roles were then reversed as Reece’s ball into the middle proved just too high for Marcus.

As halftime approached, we so near nearly grabbed the lead, only for Ollie Muldoon, in his 100^th appearance for Hornchurch, to make a terrific goal-line clearance.

Former Towner Joe Wright was then called into action to tip a Sam Youngs header over the bar in the final action of the half.

H-T 0-0

Town again began on the front foot, Marcus narrowly missing the target on the volley when Payne, for once, went short with his throw.

We needed to bed and in and stay focussed but on 53  minutes, all our hard work was undone as Scott rose highest to convert Tom Wraight’s corner.

As we pressed for an equaliser, a rare error at the back allowed Marcus to round the keeper but he couldn’t quite force the ball home from the narrowest of angles.  Moments later he saw another effort cleared off the line (pictured).

As we pushed forward, so Hornchurch’s fitness began to tell as they threatened a second goal on the counter. So it proved yet it took an identical set piece to double their lead.

 When Ade Youssef cut inside and saw his shot deflected, Tom Wraight swung over the corner and Scott was on hand once again to power home a header with seven minutes remaining.

“We were the better side overall, no question about that,” said Gavin Macpherson after we slipped to third and saw Hornchurch extend their lead to 11 points. “But the two goals were a carbon copy, we didn’t attack the ball.”

“We knew what Scott did at set-pieces and we worked on it before so it was a massive disappointment. I don’t want to dress it up. There’s a reason why they are at the top, it’s because they do things like that.”

“They might argue they weren’t at their best but the fact is we were better. Having said that, you don’t get anything for being better unless you defend your own box and be more potent in the opposition box.”

“The boys are absolutely gutted and in a way I look at it as an opportunity missed. But in terms of desire, attitude and application, I cannot ask for any more. It tells me we are heading massively in the right direction.”

Town:  Forster; Parcell, Richmond, Okotcha, Payne;  Adjel-Hersey Onyeahwara, (63) , Youngs, Thomas (Taaffe, 84), Beckles-Richards; Sykes (Keeya 71), Wyllie

The Enfield branch of the Macmillan Cancer Charity are organising an community fundraising quiz at St Stephens Church Hall, Village Road, from 7pm on Saturday 18th November.

We are delighted that they have included ETFC Community Sports Development as one of the beneficiaries.

The quiz is in tables of six and proceeds will go to a variety of local good causes, including our own. If interested in participating or organising a team, please contact: hazyfundraiser@gmail.com

If you wish to be part of an ETFC team please contact Christine Hamilton on 07949 071587.

No guessing which game in our division has captured the imagination this weekend.

After whopping back-to-back wins against  Hashtag and Wingate and Finchley, we visit runaway leaders Hornchurch on Saturday (k-o 3pm) – the pre-season favourites for automatic promotion with a big-name squad and a manager whose previous job was in the EFL Championship.

Weather permitting, it’s first v second and while it may not quite be a free hit, we go there with plenty of renewed self-belief having hit our stride following those two agonising cup exits.

“I think we all realise this fixture is now looking like the toughest league game of the season,” said Gavin Macpherson for whom Ollie Knight serves the final game of three-match suspension. 

“Hornchurch have clearly made a massive statement this season and will be extremely difficult opposition.”

The Urchins finished second last season, only to lose to Aveley in the playoff final, and have spent big to try and improve on that.

They are unbeaten in the league both home and away and lead the table by eight points. But Gavin said from day one that he would relish pitting his wits against the best.

“They have made some excellent signings but we’re in a good place and the boys are working hard,” he said. “It’s a big test but one that we’re really looking forward to, every game is a challenge in this league.”

Andrew Warshaw