The club is proud to support Philanthropy London, a Community Interest Company that gives a minimum of 65% of profits back to the local community.

They support adults with learning disabilities and adults suffering with their mental health in the borough of Enfield to work in their shop in Palmers Green and also help fund local projects.

They are looking for donations of adult clothing, shoes and accessories, especially men’s sportswear and trainers and would really appreciate your support.

The club will have a collection point at the stadium for clothing at tomorrow’s home game v Cray Wanderers . Please bring your donations to help support this local organisation.

By Andrew Warshaw

 Enfield Town attempt to maintain their 100 percent start to the season on Saturday against a side Gavin Macpherson rates as far better than their results to date might suggest.

Despite three straight wins, the last of which at  Folkestone last Saturday was perhaps the most pleasing, Town have an awkward 48 hours ahead of them starting with the visit of Cray Wanderers who finished fifth last term.

Just 48 hours later, we go to  Haringey Borough on Bank Holiday Monday for a local derby that will pose its own problems for a squad that is beginning to  look somewhat thin because of injuries.

“Cray were right up in the promotion race last season and although they have lost all three games, we will have to be near-perfect,” said Gavin.

With Jake Cass now ruled out for the season and at least three other regulars extremely doubtful, Gavin is having to box clever with his selections.

“It’s a real balancing act in terms of mixing it up over the next two games – if I have the chance to,” Gav explained.

“Most of those injured should be back fairly soon so I’ve stood back from trying to bring anyone else in. Let’s just hope we don’t take another hit against Cray. I have huge trust in the squad. It’s just concerning we are so short of numbers so soon.”

 The exception to holding back is trying to acquire a like-for-like replacement for Jake. Easier said than done.

“We are trying to bolster our options in that position but it means bringing in a very, very good player. And that kind of player is very unlikely not to be playing at another club,” Gav explained.

He has nothing but praise for the squad who have so far risen to every challenge.

“They are running through brick walls at the moment,” said Gavin on the eve of the game against Cray who by all accounts were unlucky to come up short against three of the division’s heavyweights in  Lewes, Horsham and Billericay.

“Now we are asking the boys to do it yet again. I take my hat off to them.”

Folkestone Invicta 1-2 Enfield Town
Report by Glyn Smith

Enfield Town maintained their position at the top of the Isthmian League on Saturday with a 2-1 win at Folkestone Invicta.

The starting eleven showed two changes from Tuesday’s team at Potters Bar, with Mickey Parcell coming in for Carlos Garcia-Velasco and Ollie Knight replacing the sadly injured Jake Cass; Parcell coming straight off a flight from Florida. Folkestone included former Towners Ade Cole and Andre Coker in their line up.

After an even start it was Town who created the first meaningful attack as a run by Adjei-Hersey ended with his cross just failing to reach Wyllie. Folkestone then made an enforced change in the 11th minute as centre back Moses came off suffering from an early injury. A flighted Ollie Knight free kick in the 14th minute caused chaos in the Folkestone area as home keeper Coleman mistimed his punch and James Richmond’s effort looped up onto the top of the crossbar and away for a goal kick. A booking for Joe Payne in the 18th minute confused all, but it transpired that the caution was for marking the touchline prior to taking a throw on.

A Folkestone break from the throw in saw their first chance as Andre Coker set up Jordan Ababio, whose shot beat Forster but was cleared off the line by the covering Okotcha. Folkestone then started ramping up the pressure and a 25 yard drive by Ira Jackson saw the ball cannon off the crossbar past the diving Forster. Richmond picked up a caution for clipping the heels of the dangerous Jackson midway in Town’s half. Town broke the deadlock in the 38th minute when a defence splitting pass by Scott Thomas allowed Marcus Wyllie to run on and confidently stroke the ball into the onion bag past the onrushing home custodian.

HT: Invicta 0-1 Town

At half time towering centre back Ekow Coker came on for his Town debut, replacing Okotcha. Town were again quickest out of the blocks until David Smith’s low yard drive was turned round the post by Forster in the 58th minute. Town’s lead was increased 8 minutes later. Not for the first time the hugely impressive Wyllie forced a mistake out of a defender and ran on with the ball before squaring it to Knight, who finished from 15 yards.

As the game became more stretched a run and low shot by Sam Youngs forced a save by Coleman, but in the 76th minute Folkestone got their goal. Town failed to clear a corner, a shot hit the post and rebounded to Callum Davies, who volleyed home. Gucci Soulya Osekanongo replaced Reece Beckles-Richards before the restart. Town comfortably saw out the final ten minutes, despite Folkestone having the better of the exchanges, and in injury time a two on two break ended with man of the match Wyllie firing over the bar. An impressive confident team performance saw Town come away with the 3 points, and you have to go back to 2002 to find the last time we won our opening three league games.

Enfield Town – Rhys Forster; Mickey Parcell, Josh Okotcha (sub Ekow Coker 46 min), James Richmond, Joe Payne; Scott Thomas, Sam Youngs, Ollie Knight, Dylan Adjei-Hersey; Reece Beckles-Richards (sub Gucci Soulya-Osekanongo 76 min), Marcus Wyllie

Unused subs – Adi Connolly, Sami Bessadi, Louis Birch

Att: 818

Potters Bar Town 0 Enfield Town 2

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Two games, two wins, five goals scored, none conceded, top of the table on goal difference.

An “almost perfect” away performance was how Gavin Macpherson summed up Tuesday’s thoroughly deserved derby win at Potters Bar whilst admitting it was a bitter-sweet occasion due to a nasty-looking injury to Jake Cass.

With kickoff delayed by almost 10 minutes due to the sheer number of Towners fans among the 450-plus crowd trying to get through the one turnstile, we could hardly have got off to a better start.

On four minutes, Cass picked up a loose ball halfway inside the Bar half and, unchallenged, burst forward to finish superbly with his weaker left foot before wheeling away in delight (pictured).

Sadly, it was the last meaningful contribution for Jake who was taken out by a Potters Bar defender with what looked like a bad Achilles injury, needed lengthy treatment and ended up hobbling on crutches — or rather the one crutch available.

To make matters worse, the injury is on the other leg to the persistent knee issue that has given Jake such grief in recent weeks and hampered his progress. We can only wish him luck and hope it’s not as serious as it first looked.

Winger Ollie Knight replaced Jake for his Town debut and soon produced the kind of delivery that Gavin believes will make him such an important player for us.

If Jake’s goal was well taken, our second on 23 minutes was even better.  Sam Youngs fed Marcus Wyllie down the right and just like on Saturday Marcus did the rest, cutting inside before delivering a sumptuous finish into the far corner.

Marcus was again involved when he stole the ball off a defender to set up  Reece Beckles-Richards who couldn’t quite climb high enough to meet the cross.

At the other end Rhys Forster was well positioned to parry a fierce drive from Leigh Rose.

H-T 0-2

Potters bar came out with more purpose and possession but still we created chances, Joe Payne’s goalbound effort cannoning off a defender.

Wyllie almost made it 3-1 when again using his pace before shooting narrowly wide but the hosts should have halved the deficit when substitute Cyrus Babaie  — who had replaced former Town favourite Liam Hope — lashed wide after we were caught out in a dangerous position.

Whilst there were no more goals, the three points were never in doubt with a defensively solid display and Youngs and evergreen skipper Scott Thomas pulling the strings in midfield.

While Gavin was delighted with the performance, he was none too pleased with the new stricter guidelines referees have been given this season.

Town had six players booked, some for time-wasting, most distinctly soft. “The new rules are killing the game,” said Gavin. “Referees are being put under unnecessary added pressure. We didn’t put one bad tackle in but if this is where we are going to go, football will become less enjoyable.”

On the plus side, Gavin had no hesitation naming an unchanged side from Saturday. “At my previous club I invariably changed up three or four if we had a Tuesday game after a Saturday, especially after pre-season. I just felt this time I had the right people on the pitch. It was a near-perfect away display but it may be too much to ask of all of them to go again at Folkestone on Saturday which will be a very tough game.”

Cass, of course, looks like being one of those missing out.  “It doesn’t look good and could be a massive blow for our planning,” Gavin admitted. “I feel for Jake. We’ll just have to assess how we move forward.”

Town

Forster; Garcia-Velasco, Richmond, Okotcha, Payne; Beckles-Richards, Youngs, Thomas (oulya-Osekanongo. 80), Adjei-Hersey (Birch, 70); Cass (Knight 22), Wyllie

By Andrew Warshaw

Enfield Town will attempt to build on their fine opening day win when they visit Potters Bar on Tuesday for the first derby of the season (kickoff 7.45)

While we were winning 3-0 on Saturday, Bar were crushed 5-0 at Carshalton but Gavin Macpherson expects a reaction and has warned his players against complacency.

No fewer than nine players have departed the Scholars in recent days  but Max Mitchell has also recruited a fair few and games between us are invariably tasty affairs.

Gavin said he wanted a decent return of points from the first few games to put us in a good place for when crucial players who have been unavailable are back.

One of those, Ollie Knight, is expected to return to the squad as Town attempt to maintain the form showed against Concord Rangers when Gavin’s front-foot philosophy was richly rewarded.

“If we can get a foundation going in the first week in respect of points, then it gives you a platform,” he said.

That means continuing to try and take the game to the opposition, whenever possible of course. “If there is chance to go forward, it’s one of the markers we have put down for this team,” added Gavin.

Even if it doesn’t always come off?

“We use the terminology in training that we give them permission to make mistakes as long as they are sticking to what we ask them to do. Players worry about things like that.”

What they specifically need to heed against Potters Bar, says Gavin, is not to think the job is already done.

 “We give every side we play the respect they deserve. The last thing I said to the players in the dressing room after Concord was that complacency will be their biggest enemy.”

Enfield Town 3 Concord Rangers 0

Report By Andrew Warshaw

As new eras go, they don’t start much better than this.

Missing several key players including Ollie Knight and Mickey Parcell, Gavin and the management team saw much of the pre-season work bear fruit as Town cruised to victory against opponents who were in Step 2 last season.

One swallow doesn’t make a summer and Town will have far greater challenges in the weeks and months ahead but you can only play what’s in front of you and the performance augurs well for the new style of play Gavin, Jon and the rest of the coaching staff are trying to implement.

For the first 15 minutes, however, it looked as if we might have a tough opening day baptism.

With just seconds on the clock, Town got lucky when they totally switched off at a freekick and Harrison Day saw his shot come back off the post.

Concord continued to press ominously and be first to the ball but once we settled down, we really looked the part and had wrested the ascendancy away from our visitors by the time we opened the score on 33 minutes with a textbook goal which apparently had been perfected in training.

 A throw along the line was collected by Marcus Wyllie whose fabulous cross-field pass was expertly converted at the far post by the on-rushing Reece Beckles-Richards.

Marcus had already seen his overhead kick from a Sam Youngs cross fly inches over and three minutes after the goal, Town doubled their lead. Sam did what he does best, finding space on the edge of the box and latching on to a weak defensive header before lashing the ball home.

Concord were putting in some tasty challenges, none more than Fanion Sims on Scott Thomas which earned the Concord man a yellow card. Jake Cass, who otherwise had a powerful game as he continues to improve his fitness, also saw yellow for retaliation.

H-T 2-0

If the first 45 minutes were a half of two halves, so to speak, Concord hardly threatened thereafter.

Town might easily have had a penalty when keeper Lamat Johnson clattered into Wyllie while Cass saw a deflected effort bounce off the post.

With running out, Town made the game safe.  Wyllie nicked the ball off fullback luke Ige and as the visiting defence stood off expecting a foul to be awarded, Marcus ran on before supplying the sweetest of finishes (pictured).

Under the new stoppage time rules, 10 minutes were added which Town played out comfortably with excellent game management.

“I want to start by thanking our amazing support,” said Gavin afterwards. “You literally make the difference, we all acknowledge the level of passion you have for the club which massively helped drive us on.”

“I was very happy with the performance. Was it perfect? No of course not but I didn’t expect that. Probably the most pleasing thing apart from the result and the three goals is that Rhys hasn’t been troubled apart from that mad first minute when it was a total switch-off.”

“I think the wind helped them at first and kept us deep in the pitch but once we got a few messages out there, we gradually gained a foothold and never lost it.”

Town

Forster; Garcia-Velasco, Okotcha, Richmond Payne; Beccles-Richards (oulya-Osekanongo 74), Thomas (Bessadi, 89), Youngs, Adjei-Hersey; Wyllie, Cass

Interview By Andrew Warshaw

Behind every successful and ambitious manager, there is invariably a highly regarded and trusted No. 2.

None more so than at Enfield Town this season with Jon Nurse providing a crucial extra pair of eyes and ears for Gavin Macpherson.

It’s a partnership that goes back to their days together at Met Police and one built on trust, mutual respect and an almost intuitive chemistry.

Do they always agree? Absolutely not but Jon, who played professionally for Stevenage, Dagenham and Redbridge and Barnet (we’ll forgive him for the last of those!), says the key is all about complementing each other’s skills.

Having played under a series of managers including Graham Westley, Martin Allen and Edgar Davids, Jon picked up an enormous amount of knowledge about different ways of winning games of football.

“I was always intrigued by the whole aspect of coaching,” said Jon who recently passed his A license.  “Of course you can never get the same buzz as crossing that white line as a player on a match day but even before I was a pro, as a youngster I had this feeling coaching was inside of me.”

“I can’t affect the game on the pitch but I can do the work during the week and then trust the players to do what we ask of them.”

Notice use of the word “we”, meaning the entire management team but specifically the relationship between manager and coach.

“Gav and I are very different. I want things done at 100 miles an hour and am quite headstrong whereas Gav is calm, reserved and thoughtful. That’s why he’s a manager and I’m a coach. The fact that we’re opposites, I can get him to think about things in a different way. He always makes the final decision but he allows me to have an opinion.”

“At Step 3 you can’t expect the players to be professional footballers. What we ask them has to be realistic, we build a system around the players that we’ve got.”

The fact that Gavin also coaches, unlike many managers, helps rather than hinders their relationship.

“It means we can divide up training and get more contact time with the players which is difficult if you don’t coach,” Jon explained.

But they do have their differences. “I was a forward whereas Gavin was defender but we try to find a balance. If we always agreed, I’d be a yes man which is not what Gav wants. We are open and honest with each other.”

One thing they agree on with a passion is trying to play the ball on the ground.  Jon fervantly believes that just because he is coaching non-league footballers, that doesn’t mean they lack the ability to play in a certain way.

“If you keep the football, you control the game. I hear people saying ‘oh they’re only non-league players’ but what does that mean? You turn up to play football, not to crash the ball 100 metres simply because it’s the easiest way to get rid of it.”

But keeping possession can also mean sometimes accidentally giving the ball away at our level, surely. “Yes but we don’t jump on people for making mistakes, otherwise they’d never want the football,” Jon told me. “ We’re trying to get the group to feel comfortable.”

Not a lot of people know this but Jon has six international caps for Barbados, the country of his birthplace even though his dad is from Guyana and his mum from Jamaica.

“I had a choice when I was younger but I always wanted to play for my place of birth. Having said that I was shocked when the call came through.”

One highlight was playing against his brother Chris who chose to play for Guyana. “It was a great moment for the family but the other special moment was playing against the USA in Los Angeles. It was a World Cup qualifier and they had a host of Premier League players.  Unforgettable.”

Like many No.2s, John is the antithesis of a publicity seeker but is loving every minute of his partnership with Gavin and working with the rest of the Towners management team. Despite having to travel from south London for training and match days, he is relishing the role.

“I like to go about my business quietly but I can tell instantly whether I can work with someone or whether I can’t. As soon as Gavin got on the phone to me and told me about Enfield Town and how this club suited who we were as human beings, I immediately trusted his judgement.

“It’s down to morals, values and ethics. Gav’s and mine are very aligned. That’s 100 percent why the chemistry works.”

We are delighted to announce the signing of 22-year-old Ekow Coker as our latest arrival on the eve of the new season.

In a way it’s welcome back because Ekow represented a range of youth sides in the capital before signing for Enfield Town under 18’s, then moving on to Hanwell Town.

The 6ft-5 in defender, who played in the second half of our final pre-season outing against Grays, has enjoyed spells at Workington and Macclesfield Town where he gained invaluable experience.

Welcome Back, Ekow

Enfield Town are thrilled to announce an exciting partnership with our friends from Powerday for the season ahead.

The deal will see the waste management company support both the first team and the club’s wider community partnerships. Powerday will have their name on the first team home shirts for the forthcoming campaign as well as supporting the club’s soccer school, walking football and disability sections.

Tara Crossan, Head of Marketing and Communications at Powerday, commented:  “We are delighted to announce our sponsorship of Enfield Town FC as the official community and First Team Sponsor for the upcoming season.

“As part of our commitment to support the communities in which we operate, we are proud to continue our partnership with Enfield Town FC, a club that has a wide impact in the local community,

Supporting not only the first team but also the Community Soccer School, Disability Team and Walking Football Team, this partnership represents our dedication to promote sports and foster community development in the Enfield area and we look forward to the season ahead.”

Paul Reed, Chairman of Enfield Town, said:  “It’s fantastic that Powerday are once again our main sponsors for the forthcoming season. They are a brilliant company who are a big part of our local community and have supported us superbly for a number of seasons.

“It’s been great to extend the partnership in to our community activities and this will allow us to continue to grow and develop the opportunities for local people to get involved in sport at all levels and abilities. We’re truly grateful for the sponsorship and look forward to working closely together throughout the season.”

By Andrew Warshaw

Pre-season is over, the players have been put through their paces by manager Gavin Macpherson and his backroom team and all eyes are now firmly on this Saturday and the visit of Concord Rangers (3pm kickoff) as a new era gets under way.

Concord were relegated from Step 2 at the end of last season and are likely to provide strong opposition at the start of arguably the toughest ever Isthmian League Premier division campaign.

“Pre-season was all about putting down markers and being ready for that first game of the season and where you are trying to be,” said Gavin after a build-up that culminated last weekend with an encouraging win over Grays followed by two training sessions this week.

Renowned for his front-foot philosophy, the first two pre-season outings were about concentrating on how the players worked out of possession, then in later matches switching to how they performed with the ball.

Most of the new signings have been prominent in pre-season but frustratingly we will be without the likes of Mickey Parcell and Ollie Knight for the first couple of games, as well as one or two other key players unavailable through injury, suspension or for personal reasons.

Despite winning our last four warm-up matches, Gavin says the fans need to be realistic about where we’re at on the pitch.

“We are in transition which I know is a difficult word for some supporters. It can translate as this is going to be an indifferent period. I don’t necessarily see it like that but what you’ve got is a different style of playing and there are wide contrasts with the past.  

“I’ve been given the task of coming in and building something that is a little bit different. It doesn’t necessarily come naturally for some of the players to learn a different style of football.”

Dealing with the forced absence of several important members of the squad has not been easy but Gavin and his team are raring to go.

“I’ve been planning on two fronts to be honest. One for the season, the other to get through the first week. If we can come through the latter with a decent return of points, that will be a good start because we will only get better in respect of who will be coming back.”