Our postponed fixture at Concord Rangers takes place tonight (koff 7.45) at the start of  gruelling period of five games in 11 days.

Having fielded a second-string side in the Fenix Trophy on Tuesday, Gavin Macpherson can once again call on his leading players for the visit to the Beach Boys but with one eye very much on Margate on Saturday as we bid to negotiate two games in 48 hours.

We are on a decent run, unbeaten in six, and tucked nicely in fourth place ready for the run-in.

But Kingstonian’s win over Dulwich Hamlet yesterday shows just how tight this league is and with Concord fighting for their lives, nothing is a given despite them having lost their last five – including two days ago when beaten by Potters Bar.

“Llantwit Major was somewhat of a no-brainer in terms of personnel but the difficult bit was always going to be how to manage today and Saturday,” said Gavin.

“When you look at this league top to bottom as a collective of teams, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you have to be on your game.”

“We’ve got four successive away games which is a hell of a schedule. It could make our season if we can come through it with the points required.”

AW

Enfield Town 3 Llantwit Major 2

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Don’t pack your bags or make your bookings quite yet. But barring an unexpected turn of events, we look almost certain to be heading to Italy in May for the Fenix Trophy Final Four.

Tuesday’s 3-2 win over a Llantwit Major side that played their part in a highly enjoyable spectacle put us on nine points from three games, with the return in Wales to come.

Only if Llanwit win their final two games and overhaul our vastly superior goal difference can they pip us to the post. So while it’s not mathematically done and dusted, no surprise that there was an air of optimism following our latest Fenix outing.

Before proceedings got under way, there was a poignantly observed minute’s applause in memory of Dave Bryant (pictured). The presentation of a bunch of flowers in David’s memory from our visitors was a extremely thoughtful touch.

With league games to come both Thursday and Saturday, the management team had some difficult calls to make and went with a mixture of first-team squad experience, triallists and academy boys.

On 16 minutes, Hernon Alves struck the underside of the bar and it was little surprise when we went in front a couple of minutes later, the highly promising Osa Otote capitalising on a mistake at the back with a gorgeous finish.

Llantwit, lacking both physicality and composure on the ball, worked hard to keep us out for the rest of the half yet so nearly levelled on the stroke of halftime when Chris Bell burst into the box unchallenged and was clearly furious with himself for firing wide.

H-T 1-0

Town lost Obi Onyeagwara shortly after the break with what looked like an ominous hamstring injury. He was replaced by Ebraima Davies before a huge roar greeted the appearance of Jake Cass for the last 35 minutes.

Cassy’s first action was to drive 30 yards upfield and set up a chance for Davies before Jonathan Hipployte missed a glorious chance to double the lead by shooting wide. Davies then got even closer when he fluffed his lines with the goal at his mercy.

 Suddenly our visitors began to threaten after making a flurry of substitutions and duly equalised on 70 minutes, Josh Morgan heading in at the far post.

Briefly, the momentum was with the Welshmen but on 83 minutes we were back in front courtesy of a somewhat harshly awarded freekick. Ryley Allen in goal could only parry and Alves was first on hand to smash the rebound into the net.

Two minutes later and what a moment as Cass, with his back to goal, made it 3-1 with a sublime scissor kick but to their credit Llantwit never gave up, reducing the arrears in stoppage time through Sean Williams.

With live music in the bar afterwards, there was a noisy celebratory atmosphere enjoyed, among others, by four young Finland fans who had flown in to watch Thursday’s Wales-Finland Euro 24 play-off but came to watch our game first because of Enfield Town’s “cult” status, as they put it.

Gavin Macpherson was delighted with both the result and performance. “We had people who had never played with each other, young academy lads and trialists. For me it’s a fantastic result and as much as I could have hoped for,” said Gav. “If we judge a possible trip to Italy on Copenhagen, it’s going to be immense.”

Gavin reserved particular warm-hearted comments for Dave Bryant.

“Without Dave, there’s an argument to suggest we wouldn’t be playing in this competition. The round of applause was so fitting. I’ve had to understand in a short space of time just what that guy has done for this football club.”

Town starting line-up

Connolly; Filho, Okotcha, Adeoye, Tanner; Onyeagwara, Soulya-Osekanongo, Beckles-Richards, Otote; Hippolyte, Alves

Ahead of a frantic series of leagues games, it’s back to Fenix Trophy duties tonight when we entertain Llantwit Major (kickoff 7.45) following our recent memorable visit to Copenhagen.

Llantwit, whose supporters are known as the ‘Windmill Army’ and who play in Cymru South in Tier-2 of the Welsh pyramid,  have played one game so far in the competition, when they defeated BK Skjold 1-0 in February.

While victory tonight for Town – who so far have six points from two games — wouldn’t mathematically seal a place in the Final Four in Italy, it would take a major turnaround to prevent us from getting there.

There will be a minute’s applause before the game in tribute to Dave Bryant. Just a reminder too that we have live music courtesy of the brilliant Acoustic Fidelity after the game so do stick around and soak up the atmosphere in the bar.

Advance tickets for the game are available here

https://enfieldtownfc.ktckts.com/event/fenix2/enfield-town-vs-llantwit-major

Dave was born in 1960 in Enfield and lived there for the majority of his life. Football was always his passion. His mum was an avid West Ham fan but it was after being taken to watch Enfield beat Woking at Southbury Road in 1968 that he found his true football love. There wasn’t too much to dislike about watching one of the best non-league teams in the country during the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. Frequent league winners, countless county and league cups, plus of course visits to Wembley in the FA Amateur and FA Trophy finals, and Dave rarely missed a game home or away. A decline set in during the 1990’s that culminated in the sale of the Southbury Road ground. Dave was instrumental in setting up a supporter pressure group to try and stop the sale. He made an impassioned speech at the council planning meeting turning some of the committee to go against the recommendation of the sale. Sadly, the chair’s casting vote carried the day but the supporters had someone to take us onto the next challenge of keeping senior football in Enfield.

For his day job Dave worked at Nalgo, now Unison, the trade union that represents public sector workers. He had a deep sense of right and wrong. He hated racism and detested discrimination of all kinds. That may have evolved from his work at the union but he always had a sense that injustices should be overturned. He certainly had a stubborn streak and so when it came to righting the wrong of the borough losing its football club he had the bit between his teeth. It wasn’t just his desire to put things right that made this fight ultimately successful it was also his ability to bring people with him and reason with those who objected to the road taken. He did that through his wonderful personality. Always generous, always having a joke and an ability to turn bad situations to ones you felt could be overcome. A testimony to his personality is that those who strongly disagreed with the formation of a new club were always on the best of terms with Dave. Always approachable, it was difficult for anyone to dislike him.

At the time the new club was formed Dave managed to also look after a young family. His first wife Linda and daughters Amy and Clare shared Dave’s love of nature. He enjoyed his fishing and bird watching and really loved trips to the Wye Valley with Amy and Clare over the last year. He loved his dogs: firstly Clough named after manager Brian Clough, then Benn (named after his political hero Tony Benn), D’Arcy (who Dave insisted was named after Alf D’Arcy the Enfield England international), and currently Lucifer.

Dave tackled his illness with typical bravery and was supported by his wife Rizete, daughters Amy and Clare and Claire’s husband Ollie, who all gave him so much care. Thoughts are with them and his step daughter Barbara.

I was fortunate to visit Dave several times in the last days of his life. He asked questions as to what games we had coming up and really wanted to stress how important the fans were to the team and how supporters should encourage them when things were tough. I can think of no better way to celebrate Dave’s life than asking all fans to make that extra noise when needed. He would love that.

Rest in peace mate.

Paul Millington

The club sadly have to report the passing of our founding Chairman, Dave Bryant.

Dave had been bravely fighting cancer but passed away earlier today. Our deepest sympathy to his wife, daughters, and friends and family.

The club will always be indebted to Dave. His role in forming our club and making fan ownership a reality was recently covered in an article in the Non-League Paper. This loss will be keenly felt by all that knew him.

Rest in peace Dave.

Enfield Town 2 Horsham 1

Report From Andrew warshaw

All wins are vital but some have that special ring about them – and Saturday was surely among the latter.

With games in hand after their FA Cup and FA Trophy exploits, Horsham arrived at the QE firmly in the playoff places and unbeaten in the league away from home in 2024.

So ending that sequence courtesy of our demon duo Marcus Wyllie and Sam Youngs, in the process leapfrogging the Hornets to move up three places in the table to third, says everything about the togetherness of Town’s come-from-behind display.

Added to last weekend’s win over Lewes, it was even more important given our ferocious upcoming fixture list, with Tuesday’s Fenix Trophy game followed by – wait for it – five league games in 11 days.

Adopting a 4-1-4-1 system, Town began on the front foot but found themselves chasing the game on 19 minutes.

Lewis Taaffe appeared to be clearly fouled by Horsham skipper Lee Harding but when nothing was given, Harding found Daniel Ajakaiye, Horsham’s most dangerous player, who got the better of Taylor Mackenzie and finished coolly.

As we responded quickly, Ollie Knight saw his looping header just clear the bar with keeper Lewis Carey wong-footed but on 31 minutes we were level.

Joe Payne opted to go short with a throw-in and when he received the ball back from Scott Thomas put in a delicious cross that was expertly glanced home by Marcus Wyllie for his 22^nd league goal of the season, putting him level at the top of the charts with David Rodari of Hastings.

The next goal proved all-important. With  virtually the last kick of the half, Carey spilled Payne’s low freekick and when Wyllie clipped the ball back in, Youngs headed into to an unguarded net.

H-T 2-1

Horsham had a great chance to level with the first move of the second half following a rare mistake by the otherwise imperious Bernie Tanner, a candidate for man of the match.

Luckily, Harding chose the wrong option, declining to go for goal and squaring to Ajakaiye who got his feet in a tangle.

Marcus so nearly made the visitors pay, first drilling a shot inches wide, then just unable to convert a glorious Youngs pass as the flag stayed down.

The game was now beautifully poised and although Horsham had a 15-minute spell late on, they didn’t pass the ball well enough and their attacks were invariably closed down.

Perhaps the biggest cheer of the afternoon was reserved for Jake Cass, who came off the bench for the last three minutes after seven and half months out with that crippling injury.

It was heart in the mouth stuff when Isaac Philpott almost cleaned him out with a horrendous challenge that saw yellow instead of red. Luckily Jake saw it coming and managed to turn away, then almost completed what would have been the perfect return by having a goalbound shot blocked in stoppage time (pictured).

“I said before if we kept standards high, we could win the game and psychogically it’s a huge boost being in front of teams like Billericay ,” said Gavin Macpherson. “We are massively achieving but  I don’t get too high with highs or too low with the lows.”

“To see Cassy back was immense.  He may not yet be fully fit and we have to treat it very carefully but his very presence on the pitch and in the dressing room gives everyone a lift.”

“Now it’s a question of how we navigate Llantwit Major on Tuesday because we don’t want to undo what we’ve been doing in the league when we’re back action again two days later.”

Town

Forster; Parcell, McKenzie, Tanner, Payne; Thomas (Alves 64); Adjei-Hersey (cass, 87), Taaffe, youngs, Knight; Wyllie

It’s one of the most eagerly awaited fixtures of the season against a side that haven’t lost a single game away in the league so far in 2024.

Saturday’s sixth versus fifth clash with playoff rivals Horsham is nothing if not a mouth-watering affair as we bid to build on last Saturday’s win over Lewes.

In the corresponding fixture earlier in the season we gained a valuable point and as the business end of the season intensifies, so does the anticipation.

Our win over Lewes, allied to the Hornets’ home defeat  to Carshalton Athletic, saw us close the gap to a single point albeit having played a game more.

 But with three league games in a week, and Llantwit Major tucked in the middle, we are going to need all the resources we can muster for a guelling schedule as we bid for a third playoff place in seven years.

Although we have beaten Horsham on their last two visits, their away form, along with their FA Cup exploits, speaks for itself.

“We had a really tough challenge last week against a good side, I’m really pleased with the win when you look at the entire picture,” said Gavin Macpherson. “There were positives, we know we can play better and will strive to do so.”

“Horsham will be every bit as tough but we have the opportunity to build on last week. We will need another positive response from the players and a Copenhagen spirit from the supporters. We’ve had a really good working week in training but Horsham will certainly be tricky opponents.”

AW

Tonight’s away game at Concord Rangers has been postponed following a pitch inspection because of a waterlogged pitch.

We can already confirm that the match will now take place on Thursday, March 21.

Enfield Town 1 Lewes 0

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Sometimes you have to grind out results to get what you want and that’s exactly what Enfield Town did as we maintained our push for a play-off place on Saturday.

Marcus Wyllie’s 21^st league goal of the season after just seven minutes settled a game in which Lewes had bags of possession and fair few chances but ultimately couldn’t break us down.

While the Rooks had a week to prepare, Town travelled to Copenhagen in midweek to play in the Fenix trophy, most of the team not returning home until 48 hours before yesterday’s game.

For non-league players, that kind of arduous trip was bound to take its toll but Town, employing an unusual but effective system of 3-2-4-1 partly to give the defensive midfielders protection, stuck to their game plan, in the process gaining sweet revenge for that 4-0 drubbing in Sussex in the reverse fixture.

Former England manager Peter Taylor, who also as it happens managed Enfield over 30 years ago, was among the crowd in a scouting role.

He could have been watching any number of players but saw only one goal, Wyllie quickest to react (pictured) after Joe Payne’s curling effort was parried but not held by Nathan Harvey.

As Lewes responded Keiran Murtagh was a toe poke away from levelling, then fluffed his lines with an even better chance. Ryan Gondoh’s miscued close-range volley could only find thin air but the Rooks’ possession-based game wasn’t quick enough as we closed off the spaces.

 Indeed Marcus might well have doubled our lead as he sneaked in to dispossess Elliott, only to come off second best in a one-on-one with Harvey.

H-T 1-0

The visitors re-emerged looking far more penetrative and proceeded to push us back. Marcus Sablier’s header struck the post while Luke Dreyer saw two goal-bound efforts somehow kept out, first by a fantastic Lewis Taaffe block, then by Rhys Forster’s smart stop.

Town, with only two fit players on the bench, were now playing on the counter but still had good chances of their own as  Wyllie netted again, only to be ruled offside, and Sam Youngs drilled a shot agonisingly wide.

Taking everything into account, this could be considered among our best wins of the season in the circumstances, a fact Gavin Macpherson acknowledged after setting the team up to try and nullify Lewes’ strengths, especially off the ball.

“After the massively difficult week we’ve had with all the travelling, it’s an incredible result,” said Gavin.

“We weren’t blessed with options and are on our knees so all in all, I’m absolutely delighted. Yes we looked leggy and it wasn’t vintage but  the boys worked unbelievably hard and there’s only one stat that matters.”

Town:

Forster; Parcell, McKenzie, Tanner; Thomas (Gucchi  Soulya-Osekanongo, 80) Taaffe; Adjei-Hersey, Youngs, Knight, Payne; Wyllie

Following our incredible exploits in Copenhagen, it’s back to the bread and butter of league action tomorrow when we take on one our bogey teams, Lewes, as we simultanously celebrate International Women’s Day.

A reminder that all women and girls are admitted for free to see us attempt to seek revenge and redemption for the 4-0 defeat we suffered in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.

Everyone knows how unpredictable Lewes can be on their day. Although they drew 2-2 with Canvey Island last time out, their 3-1 win at high-flying Horsham – their most recent away outing — spoke for itself.

In their two previous league outings to that, they lost 3-0 at home to Chatham yet that came after an impressive 3-1 win at Hastings, again proving how strong they can be on the road. With just three points between the Rooks and us, Saturday promises to be a highly competitive affair.

Whilst our superb win at Skjold may have taken something out of the players’ legs, it also created a fantastic bond that will hopefully augur well for the rest of the season as we continue to push for a playoff place.

With the focus on energy levels, everyone is raring to go again, pending a few niggles.

“On the back of Copenhagen, everyone’s in good spirits,” said Gavin Macpherson. “We’ve had a great week and everyone is upbeat. If we don’t reach certain levels, we could lose the game but I’m expecting a much better performance than we produced down there.”

AW