Sing it with us… We’re All Going On A European Tour!

We are thrilled to announce that Enfield Town have accepted an invitation to play in this season’s edition of the Fenix Trophy, a UEFA-approved European competition for non-professional clubs of exceptional social, historical, and cultural distinctiveness.

This is the third season of the tournament, with 12 teams taking part from right across the continent. Last season’s tournament was won by Copenhagen side BK Skjold, who beat Prague Raptors in the final in Milan.

We join these other sides in the competition:

– BK Skjold (Denmark)*
– Llantwit Major (Wales)
– Prague Raptors (Czechia)*
– Venus Bucuresti (Romania)
– FC United of Manchester (England)*  **
– Vinsky FC (France)
– KSK Beveren (Belgium)*
– Lewes FC (England)**
– Krakow Dragoons (Poland)
– Gilla FC (Finland)

*Seeded Teams
**Sides from the same nation are kept apart

There will be 4 groups of 3 teams, with 2 home and 2 away games. Each match will be streamed on the official Fenix Trophy YouTube channel. The draw is taking place this coming Saturday at 1pm – make sure your passports are up to date!

We will update you on when we arrange fixtures (these were after October in last year’s edition) as soon as we have news.

 Welwyn Garden City 1 Enfield Town 3

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Enfield Town ran out 3-1 winners at Step 4 Welywn Garden City on Tuesday, finally getting on the scoresheet after three pre-season outings without a goal.

Yet Gavin Macpherson was far from happy afterwards, describing  the performance as a step back  and hinting strongly that some tough decisions will have to be made.

After highly creditable displays against QPR  Development, Spurs Under-21 and Bracknell, our first-half showing at Welwyn – managed by former Town favourite Marc Weatherstone — was poor against lower-league opposition in terms of passing, composure and communication though Mickey Parcell put in another commanding eye-catching performance.

After Gavin and the management team made a series of halftime changes, ball retention improved considerably, leading to a couple of excellent strikes from Marcus Wyllie and Sami Bessadi.

Town’s opening pre-season goal came on 15 minutes from the penalty spot. Charlie Crowley made a superb save but in the ensuing melee, Zak Brown was adjudged to have handled and  Reece Beckles-Richards fired home though Crowley got a good hand to the ball.

Ten minutes before the break, the Citizens levelled, also from the spot. Louis Birch, playing out of position at central defence following the late withdrawal of Kyle Bailey, made a holding midfielder-type challenge on Bailey Stevenson who proceeded to get to his feet and fire home the equaliser.

Both sides made a number of halftime subs and ours fortunately proved decisive with the likes of Sam Youngs and Scott Thomas adding authority and stability.

On 68 minutes we regained the lead after the best move of the game ended with Marcus drilling a right-foot strike into the far corner.

Three minutes from time, not one, but two goalbound strikes were blocked by the Welwyn defence. But when the ball fell to Bessadi he made no mistake with the third attempt, thrashing the ball home with a composed finish.

In truth we should have had more but Welwyn also had their fair share of chances and Gavin was distinctly non-plussed with the overall display.

“We had a few established players missing tonight but I can’t say I was best pleased, especially at halftime,” he said.

“Even if we’d won 6-1, I didn’t see some of the things I wanted to see and I wrote a lot of things down with a view to going forward to training on Thursday.

“To be perfectly honest,  I’d been pleased with the first three games and although tonight we stuck the ball in the net, I expected more from some of the players. I’ve seen a lot of good things come out in training so far but in some respects this was a step backwards.”

With the business end of pre-season to come in the next three games, Gavin didn’t mince his words.

“A few have knocked on my door saying they should be more involved but unfortunately some of them came up short. We now have to have some conversations. A few who’ve been with us simply won’t be in training on Thursday,  that’s the grim reality. It’s hard but that’s being a manager!”

“On another level it’s the best game we could have had in terms of making some decisions. I have to go what I feel in terms of getting it down to a group.”

Town starting line-up:

Connolly; Parcell, Birch, Okotcha, Payne; Wilkes, triallist, triallist; Beckles-Richards, Wyllie, triallist

Second half subs included Youngs, Thomas, Richmond and several triallists

Enfield Town 0 Bracknell Town 0

Report By Martin Bentley

Enfield Town played out their second consecutive goalless draw in pre-season against Southern League Bracknell Town on Saturday, although this game was of a different nature to Tuesday’s stalemate with Tottenham Hotspur’s Development squad.

Against opponents of equal standing to us, Town were able to attack more, and were unlucky not to get on the scoresheet, particularly in the first half.

Playing a passing game aimed at getting behind the visitors’ defence, Town succeeded in fashioning several good scoring chances, with Reece Beckles-Richards (pictured left), twice, and Sami Bessadi all having one-on-ones saved by visiting keeper Michael Eacott.

In addition, Joe Payne’s clever free-kick was well saved and Oliver Knight’s cross from the left curled on to the top of a startled Eacott’s cross bar.

Bracknell’s main attacking threat came from their wingers Zidan Akers and a triallist, with the former’s shot hitting the side netting and the triallist’s effort being well saved by Rhys Forster.

The mass second half substitution did not come until 65 minutes had passed, and the game unsurprisingly became more disjointed at this point.

Town still fashioned a few half-chances, mostly from the triallists on show, as well as Kian Wilkes’ far post header that was grabbed by Eacott.

Encouragingly, the second string Town defence succeeded in protecting Adi Connolly from any direct second half threat.

All-in-all, Town’s performances continue to be encouraging. All we need now is a few goals!

“I was pleased with the way we played. There are new concepts being added as we develop and I’m seeing pretty much what I want to see for pre-season at Step 3,” said Gavin Macpherson.

“I am however fully aware that we all like to see some goals and from the number of clear chances we created we should win the game comfortably.  So the in-possession creativity is on schedule but we need to start taking responsibility in front of goal whilst continuing to look solid.”

First half line-up: Forster, Parcell, Payne, Thomas (c), Bailey, Richmond, Bessadi, Youngs, Beckles-Richards, Triallist, Knight

Subs at 65 minutes: Connolly, Birch, Wyllie, Wilkes + 7 Triallists

Our third pre-season fixture against Bracknell Town tomorrow, Saturday, is a very special occasion.

Dubbed Community Day, we welcome our Emergency Services to the stadium who will put on demonstrations for children and adults alike, including how to carry out CPR.

With the emphasis on youth, other activities in the build-up to kick-off will be a magician and live band.

Adults will be charged only £5 between noon and 1.30, with children entering for free.

Everyone is welcome to stay on afterwards for the game against Bracknell Town, an extremely strong Step 3 side who last season reached the first round of the FA Cup and lost in the final of the playoffs in Southern League Premier Division South.

“They’re a very good Step 3 side,” said manager Gavin Macpherson. “It’s a good opportunity almost at the halfway stage of pre-season to see where we’re at against a side at our level.”

Enfield Town 0 Tottenham U21 0

By Andrew Warshaw

Just what the doctor ordered is perhaps the best way to sum up Tuesday night’s prestige friendly against a Tottenham Under-21 side.

Gavin and his management team got just what they asked for in terms of concentrating on how we performed off the ball, with players covering for each other and not leaving too many gaps for the visitors to exploit.

The crowd of 1,125 was a revelation, some 300 more than for the same fixture last season, and whilst there were no goals, there was plenty of encouragement for the rest of the pre-season campaign when the focus will switch to seeing how we take the game to opposition from the same level as us, or lower.

It was inevitable that our visitors, many of whom  had trained with the Spurs senior team and won both the under-17 and under-18 Premier League Cup, would control the game and have almost all the possession.

But in truth, they didn’t carve out too many clearcut chances, the two best both saved — by Rhys Forster’s spectacular tip-over from Dante Cassanova in the first half (pictured) and Adi Connolly pushing Lyons-Foster’s deflected effort onto the upright in the second period.

Rio Kyerematen and Nile John missed further chances but although Tottenham’s pace and dribbling skills were there for all to see, we kept our shape throughout and closed off the spaces as best we could.

Just as against QPR on Saturday, Gavin fielded two separate elevens in each half, with five of our summer recruits playing the first 45 minutes and Reece Beckles-Richards making a promising Town debut when introduced after halftime.

Louis Birch’s lung-busting industry and Ollie Knight’s crossing ability will surely be huge assets and although he was still nursing an injury, it was encouraging to see Jake Cass do some light running on the touchline as he attempts to regain fitness.

“Very pleased with our night’s work,” said Gavin afterwards. “How often have we been broken down by two professional clubs, on Saturday and tonight? Not that often. Your out of possession work is worth a lot points.”

 “What we saw in the last two games is what we’ve been working on in training. We can now tick that box to an extent and move on to what we want to build with the ball.”

“That’ll take some time. I’m still seeing things I don’t particularly like such as going long too quickly. We’ve got different ideas and the players are having to adapt. Having said that, they are not going to meet teams at Step 3 as sharp as Spurs in terms of closing down your passing options.”

Next up Bracknell on Saturday. “They’re a very good Step 3 side,” said Gavin. “It’s a good opportunity almost at the halfway stage of pre-season to see where we’re at against a side at our level.”

Town

first half: Forster, Parcell (c), Payne, Birch, Trailist, Richmond, Bessadi, Youngs, Trialist, Wyllie, Knight.

Second half Connolly, Bailey, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist, Thomas (c), Taaffe, Trialist, Beckles-Richards, Trialist, Wilkes. Substitute: Trialist.

After Saturday’s promising opener against Queens Park Rangers, pre-season continues on Tuesday with our eagerly awaited traditional home fixture against a Tottenham Hotspur under-21 selection

This game always generates huge local interest and a bumper crowd is expected for the 7.30 kickoff with tickets available via the website or on the door.

Get there as soon as possible is the message for supporters ahead of what should be a cracking atmosphere against our prestigious near-neighbours.

By Andrew Warshaw

You can’t get much more local than Reece Beckles-Richards.

So when our exciting new forward, who has played for three of our local rivals, got a chance to join us from Cheshunt and move a few miles down the A10, he made up his mind pretty fast.

“There’s not a more local club I can play for and it didn’t take long for the gaffer to sell it to me,” said Reece who should be available for the Tottenham friendly on Tuesday.

“I’ve lived in the borough my whole life and now live literally five minutes from the ground. I could even walk there in 20 minutes.”

Still only 27, Reece brings bags of experience to the club not only from his three years at Cheshunt (his brief loan spell at Potters Bar last season consisted of one game – the Velocity final) but also at the likes of Farnborough, Hornchurch and, of course, Wingate and Finchley.

“I guess it does seem odd that I never played for Enfield before given where I was born and brought up. It nearly happened at one point but didn’t quite work out. A lot of my friends have played there, including Joe Payne, Mickey Parcell and Mo Faal and it’ll be great to meet up again with two of them.”

The stats might say Reece scored 23 goals in 83 goals for Cheshunt but he reckons it was more like 47 in all competitions. A natural marksman, he can’t wait to put on a blue and white shirt.

“Games against Enfield, whether when I was at Cheshunt or Wingate, were always tough,” says Reece who has the distinction of an international cap for Antigua and Barbuda back in 2015. “But now the boot is on the other foot, so to speak.”

Expanding on what it was about Gavin Macpherson that drew him to Town, Reece continued: “A lot of it was down to his honesty. I’m at an age now when I know instinctively  if a manager is telling me the truth rather than trying to spin things.”

“I had a few other Step 3 clubs interested in me but when it came about, it just made sense. I’m hoping to bring lots of goals as well as entertainment. I like to have fun. Obviously I want to win and the aim is to finish as high as possible. Promotion is obviously the ultimate goal but I understand that’s not always realistic.”

“What I will say is that whenever I’ve played against Enfield, I’ve always seen how amazing the fans are and this just seems the right fit at this stage of my career.”

Enfield Town 0 QPR Development 1

From Andrew Warshaw

Gavin Macpherson said from the moment he arrived that pre-season was all about preparation rather than winning every game. In other words, it’s no good results masking what you need to work on.

Yet anyone who witnessed our first pre-season outing on Saturday cannot fail to have been impressed by the methods and tactics Gavin and his backroom team are trying to get across.

Forget the scoreline. The fact that we more than held our own in blustery conditions against a team of professional players, albeit all of them under-21, spoke volumes about Gavin’s philosophy of trying to play the ball on the ground and take the game to the opposition.

It was certainly appreciated by a healthy 300-plus crowd who clapped the squad off at the end.

With a handful of key players unavailable, we played a mixture of first-teamers – including many of our new signings — and triallists, changing the entire eleven for the second half.

New keeper Rhys Forster showed a commanding presence while Mickey Parcell proved what an asset he will be on his return to the club with an eye-catching 45-minute shift, setting up one chance with a glorious assist and then, at the other end, clearing a QPR effort off the line.

In fact we had arguably the two best chances of the first-half. Marcus Wyllie, seemingly relishing playing down the middle, latched on to a ball out of defence before seeing his finish come back off the post. Then Parcell’s gorgeous ball found a triallist who forced a double save from Rangers keeper Joseph Adoje.

The match was won on 68 minutes when Noah McCann burst forward to crash an unstoppable header beyond Adi Connolly from a corner.

But our collective performance was more important than the result, with five more friendlies to come for Gavin and his staff to get a feel for what works best and make any necessary tweaks.

“To have 310 at a pre-season friendly is absolutely immense,” Gavin told me afterwards. “It’s everything I thought this club would be.”

“We were always going to use the first two games to look at our work out of possession. It’s clear that some of the lads are more atuned to going longer than we would like but that’s what we’re here for.”

“We didn’t really have a cutting edge but you have to put that in context given we had no out and out center-forward. To lose the game to a set-piece like that we’ll have work on, but there was a lot to be pleased about. Will we get better in certain aspects? Yes. Will the team show more of an identity during pre-season? Of course because that’s how it works.”

Next up the annual pre-season fixture on Tuesday against a Tottenham Hotspur under-21 side and, in all likelihood, a far stiffer challenge.

“We’ll use it again to see how we are out of possession,” explained Gavin.  “There’s an awful lot of work still to be done but we’re only week two so it’s normal we wouldn’t yet be functioning as a complete unit.”

We have added a sixth fixture to our pre-season programme by agreeing to visit Rayners Lane FC on Tuesday, Aug 1, kickoff 7.45

Rayners Lane play in the Combined Counties League Premier Division North, having gained promotion in May to Step 5 of the non-league pyramid for the first time since 1994.

By Andrew Warshaw

It seems only yesterday that we were saying farewell to the last league campaign. Yet after a three-month break, pre-season is already upon us with our first game on Saturday at home to a QPR development squad.

Gavin and his team are painstakingly putting together an exciting and balanced-looking squad, with some familiar faces and some new recruits expected to be on show at QEII for the 3pm kick-off.

Pre-season campaigns are notoriously unpredictable and as Gavin said when he met the fans in June, winning every game is not the ideal preparation for the league campaign that starts in mid-August. It’s all about peaking at the right moment.

Training is going well, pre-season opposition has been carefully selected and Gavin is looking forward to meeting as many Towners fans as possible as we build towards the start of the season proper.

“I am especially looking forward to working with and hopefully getting to know the club’s supporters who I believe make a difference and set us apart from so many other clubs at our level,” he said.

“Our message to the players during pre-season so far has been simple and clear. I like to be calm and stick with my beliefs and above all have confidence in the squad.”

“The Isthmian Premier League looks to be at its toughest in many years. Who might have what doesn’t interest me, we need to focus on ourselves and embrace the significant challenges that will lie ahead. I believe everyone connected with this club pulling together will be our greatest strength.”