Enfield Town 0 Billericay Town 4

Report by Andrew Warshaw

No-one is sugar coating the fact that the build-up to Step 2 has been far from ideal with just one pre-season friendly  left before the momentous challenge of visiting Torquay United

But Tuesday’s latest heavy defeat was somewhat harsh in terms of the scoreline given that we arguably created as many chances as Billericay yet couldn’t take any whilst the back we were at times badly exposed.

Some of our play was more encouraging than last Saturday’s 3-0 reverse against Hendon yet the management team is under no illusions that we are behind schedule and how much work needs to be done before the players board the coach to Devon.

The fact is Town’s preparations have been rocked by illness and injury at the worst possible time with Gavin unable to field anywhere near a competitive starting eleven. Jack Smith, an integral part of our midfield this season, is the latest enforced absentee.

However many times the club is rebuffed by potential key signings, no stone is  being left unturned to bring in further recruits across all areas of the pitch, not least up top and at the back following the departures of Marcus Wyllie and Taylor McKenzie.

On Tuesday, we had to deal with a settled Billericay side but had the better of the early stages with a triallist wearing No. 12 particularly eye-catching with his composure and close control.

Sam Youngs sent a volley straight down the throat of Sam Donkin while Joash Nembhard had a goalbound shot blocked after a Joe Payne long throw caused confusion in the Ricay box.

Yet by halftime, we were three down.  On 25 minutes, the visitors were awarded a penalty dispatched low and hard by Decarrey Sheriff.

Ten minutes later, Rhys Forster saved brilliantly from Harrison Day but when the ball was recycled out to Cain Keller, he thumped it home.

The third goal was a catalogue of errors as the entire back line failed to clear a right-wing cross and Ibrahim Jalloh converted at the back post.

Day almost made it four before the interval before Sheriff pounced on Obi Onyeagwara’s mistake early in the second half and ran through to add to add insult to injury.

At the attacking end of the pitch, where he is most effective, Obi delved into his box of tricks and from his excellent pass, Rhys Beckles Richards rounded the keeper but saw his shot rebound off the post –the nearest we came to getting on the scoresheet.

“There were some good moments between the two ends of the pitch but that’s not going to win you football matches,” said Gavin.

“We are nowhere near where we need to be in our planning and that’s an honest assessment. The standard of football we need won’t wait for us if we are not sharp enough. You get away with it at Step 3 but not Step 2.”

On to Saturday and our final pre-season outing at Ware. “It’s a very strange place to be as a manager right now, to have so many players missing,” said Gavin. “But I’m doing everything I can to strengthen us.”

Town:

Forster; Nembhard, triallist, Parcell; Triallist, Taaffe, Youngs, Knight,; Triallist, Oyenuga

Subs: Triallist, Alves, Onyeagwara,  triallist, Tanner, Solomon, triallist, Owusu, Beckles-Richards.

A quick reminder that tonight represents the last chance to see the team in a home pre-season friendly before the season starts as Billericay Town are our visitors, kickoff 7:45.

We are delighted to announce a new commentator in Michael Lacquiere who will be covering Town home matches for those who can’t get to games.

The link for Michael’s first live commentary tonight is here: https://mjl99.mixlr.com/. The broadcast is scheduled to begin at 7:40.

Enfield Town 0 Hendon 3

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Enfield Town’s latest pre-season outing hardly went according to plan as we were undone by Step 3 Hendon who picked up the FSA Brian Lomax trophy.

Town were poor throughout but there were mitigating circumstances with a spate of absentees through unavailability or injury.

Add to that the loss of Marcus Wyllie and the sudden retirement of Taylor McKenzie and it was perhaps inevitable that the wheels would come off as the management team try desperately to apply some stability.

At times we were run ragged by Hendon’s front pair of Joe White and Niko Muir, the latter taking just four minutes to force Rhys Forster into an excellent stop.

Town debutant Josh Oyenuga knocked in an effort shortly thereafter that was narrowly deemed offside (pictured) but the visitors for the most part looked the more dangerous side. Muir put a lob-volley just wide before Rhys was called into action again to keep out a close-range hook.

There was an element of good fortune, however, about Hendon’s opener on 31 minutes as Joash Nembhard stuck out a leg to divert a cross that was creeping wide into his own net.

Mickey Parcell’s block prevented an almost certain second from White but in the blink of eye Hendon went two up when the experienced Muir spun quickly and finished powerfully.

Ten minutes into the second half it was game over as a trialist headed home after his initial shot was parried by Forster who couldn’t get off the ground in time to keep the rebound out.

Cue a flurry of Enfield subs which failed to affect the course of the game but included a first appearance of the season for Lewis Taaffe and a final one for McKenzie who is retiring from the game due to work commitments at the age of 30.

One ray of sunshine was a debut for new recruit Oyenuga, formerly of Dover who can play in a variety of defensive and wide positions but all in all it was a troubling display.

“It’s a very frustrating time,” admitted Gavin Macpherson. “What happened out there was really no surprise to me as we had square pins in round holes and were missing almost the complete spine of the team.”

“Taylor’s decision so close to the start of the season has obviously made things harder having already lost Marcus. It’s not a position as a manager I wanted to be in as I’m now having to re-programme and restructure.

“It’s no secret to anyone how much of a problem losing Marcus has caused but I am leaving no stone unturned, almost  24/7, to try and bring in the necessary and affordable replacements. I’m constantly throwing the net out there. It’s extremely difficult two weeks before the season to have to be experimenting but I have to make this work.”

Town

Forster; Parcell, Nembhard, Tanner; Trialist, Smith, Youngs, Oyenuga; Owusu

Subs: Trialist, Solomon, McKenzie, Taaffe, Onyeagwara, Trialist, trialist, trialist

Hayes & Yeading United 1-3 Enfield Town

A trio of trialists were on the scoresheet as Enfield Town continued their pre-season preparations with an encouraging 3-1 victory over Hayes & Yeading United in Berkshire.

With Hayes’ SkyEx Stadium still out of action on safety grounds, the match had been hastily moved to the leafy surroundings of Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre, and after an early header from Trialist E flew over in the opening minute Town appeared to have settled comfortably on its pristine Desso pitch. At least, until falling behind shortly afterwards, though there was more than a hint of controversy about United’s opener. An apparent trip on Joash Nembhard went unpunished by the officials and, as play continued with Town defensively stretched, a well-worked move down the right flank was squared for ex-Towner Jonathan Hippolyte to sweep into the far corner.

Undeterred, the Towners quickly set about finding a response and did so four minutes later. A spell of patient build-up play had worked the ball wide to Reece Beckles-Richards, and his teasing cross it got the finish it deserved; Trialist E racing ahead of his marker to apply a deft finish for 1-1. Enfield tails were now firmly up as some superb interplay fashioned chances for Trialists B and D who both saw goalbound efforts pushed out, before Town took the lead on the half hour mark when both trialists combined. Trialist D sprang forward on the break, bearing down on goal and teeing up Trialist B, who stepped inside two defenders before crashing an unerring strike beyond the ‘keeper.

United began pushing daringly high up the pitch in search of an equaliser, but each time Town’s back line swept up effectively before launching a counter. They were fortunate to escape when Trialist E was sent through on goal and rolled his effort inches wide of the mark, but not on 43 minutes with arguably the pick of Enfield’s goals as Trialist C robbed possession in the middle of the park and executed a superb lob from 35 yards.

HT: Hayes & Yeading United 1-3 Enfield Town

While the light continued to fade, Town continued to try and extend their advantage. Substitute Alex Solomon produced a mazy run and whipped a cross towards Trialist B who forced the goalkeeper into a smart reaction stop from point-blank range. At the other end, United’s number 14 skipped around Rhys Forster but was denied by Bernie Tanner’s sliding intervention on the goal line.

A series of six Town substitutes would follow and, in truth, the game lacked the same rhythm as the first half. Hippolyte shanked narrowly wide of the target as Hayes & Yeading enjoyed a sustained spell of pressure, but neither he nor Mo Bettamer could muster up a goal, with Adi Connolly alert enough to push out a couple of goalbound efforts when called upon. 3-1 it finished; Town ultimately good value for their win with some encouraging performances across the pitch.

Town: Forster (Connolly); Trialist A, Nembhard (Parcell), Tanner (Payne); Trialist B (Owusu), Smith (Trialist F), Youngs (Alves), Trialist C, Trialist D; Beckles-Richards, Trialist E (Solomon)

We have reached an agreement with League Two side Gillingham for the transfer of Marcus Wyllie for an undisclosed fee.

Marcus joined us in the summer of 2022 from ninth-tier Risborough Rangers, where he had scored 36 goals as part of an astonishing 52-game unbeaten run.

During his time with Enfield Town, the forward made 85 competitive appearances, scoring 40 goals and providing 20 assists. Voted our Players’ Player and Supporters’ Player of the Year for the 23-24 season, his 30 league goals last term also earned him the Isthmian Premier’s Golden Boot.

As a club we are thrilled for Marcus to be able to fulfil his ambition to become a professional footballer. It is credit to both his hard work and to the coaching, support, development and man management he has received at the Town that have all contributed to him making the step up. We’ve all thoroughly enjoyed his performances and goals over the past two seasons and have no doubt he will go on to be successful in the full-time ranks.

The joy we feel for Marcus is obviously balanced by the fact that we now have a big void to fill in our squad just weeks before the season starts. We have known throughout the summer that there was interest in Marcus and we rejected a couple of bids for him earlier in pre-season, therefore we have had targets to bring in to bolster our striking ranks and are currently working on these. We also know that this move makes Gavin’s job significantly harder and will ensure the funds received from the transfer are reinvested in to the playing squad. This move, though, will further demonstrate that Enfield Town is a great place to come to as a footballer; a positive environment that gets the best out of a player.    

It has definitely been a balancing act to juggle the best interests of the club and Marcus in this process and we accept that there will be mixed feelings of wishing Marcus all the best in his new venture whilst understandably being disappointed that he wont be starting the season in a Town shirt.

Thank you for the memories Marcus and good luck!

Welwyn Garden City 1 Enfield Town 2

Report by Andrew Warshaw

With six first-teamers missing through injury or unavailability, including Scott Thomas who failed a last-minute fitness test, it was difficult to gauge how useful a run-out this was as we continued our build-up to National League South.

After assessing how we coped out of possession in those fixtures against the Spurs and Arsenal development squads, this was the first of several pre-season games against teams below us to see how we performed with the ball.

The answer, after one outing, was that the jury’s out though missing a number of key regulars didn’t help

There were friendly handshakes all round before and after the game with Step 4 WGC managed, of course, by former Towner Marc Weatherstone assisted by another ex Town favourite Josh Urquhart.

Gavin changed things round from the Arsenal game, starting with a recognised eleven for an hour before replacing all but two of them with a second-string line-up mainly of trialists.

With Scott ruled out just before kickoff, Mickey Parcell was moved into midfield but things didn’t start according to plan.

On 12 minutes, Bailey Stevenson, who troubled us with his strong running while he was on the pitch (WGC also changed virtually their entire lineup after halftime) put his team ahead in their first foray forward.

Town were guilty of two poor clearances and Stevenson took advantage by cutting in and beating Adi Connolly off the far post.

Only a last-ditch tackle by Joash Nembard prevented Stevenson from adding a second and when Billy Leonard – so promising in those first two fixtures — had to be replaced with a knee problem, we had to re-organise yet again.

Just before halftime, Donnabhan Green made a double save  from Nana Owusu but it took a howler from WGC’s substitute trialist keeper to allow us back into the game straight after the break, Parcell’s shot (pictured) slipping through his hands. Town continued to have most of the ball but without much end product until, with seven minutes left, Obi Onyeagwara’s defence-splitting pass found Reece Beckles-Richards who produced a classy finish.

Average was how Gavin summed up a disjoined display. “We just lacked  that final cutting edge, with the final ball either overhit or underhit.”

“We had so much of the ball but didn’t do much with it. WGC sort of played how we did against Spurs and Arsenal.  I know it was only our third pre-season game but I expected a bit better if I’m honest.”

Next up is Hayes and yeading away on Tuesday  — provided agreement is made to play the game. H and Y had to cancel their game against Hampton and Richmond Borough yesterday because  of ground development issues. A decision will be made shortly so watch this space.

Tickets are now on sale for our opening National League South fixture away to Torquay United on Saturday 10th August.

Enfield Town fans have been allocated Block A of Bristow’s Bench, with Block B also opening if capacity requires. Away fans will enter through Turnstile 9, and there will also be a pay on the turnstile option for card payments.

Fans can book tickets from Torquay’s online box office:
https://torquayunited.ktckts.com/brand/match-tickets

Please ensure that you select tickets from Bristow’s Bench A when booking. NOT the “Away Terrace”

Prices at Plainmoor are as follows:

Adults – £20
Concessions* – £18
Under 18 – £11
Under 8 – £8

*(Concessions include Over 65s, Students & Armed Forces personnel)

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Travel

The club will be running coaches to Torquay, and to the following away fixture at Truro City. Details of coach travel will be publicised very shortly.

If travelling by rail, the nearest station to the ground is Torre Station, with the stadium around a 25 minute walk away. Torquay Station is around 40 minutes to the ground on foot, though local taxi services are available if need be.

If travelling by car, please be aware that Plainmoor does not have dedicated parking spaces, and you may have to find on-street parking.

Enfield Town 2 Arsenal u21 1

Report By Andrew Warshaw

In front of magnificent gate of over 1,500, our second pre-season outing could not have gone much better as we overcame an Arsenal development squad that was a mixture of under-21 and under-18 players though all of them full time.

Gavin Macpherson switched the teams round from Saturday’s narrow 3-2 defeat against Spurs, starting with a familiar line-up of regulars and using the second half to further assess a number of triallists, supplemented by the likes of Sam Youngs, Taylor McKenzie and Joe Payne.

It was good to see Sam back as well as Ollie  Knight, who appears to have shaken off his injury though Lewis Taaffe is still recovering.

Not surprisingly, our visitors had more of the ball in each half, their wingers particularly eye-catching, but this was another opportunity to see how we performed out of possession given the Step 2 tests ahead and it was all the more pleasing that we ended up winning the game.

After a series of corners and half-chances from the Gunners – either off target or blocked – we took the lead on the half hour through Marcus Wyllie.

Marcus had got little change out of Maldini Kacurri until then but pounced on a sloppy piece of play in the Arsenal defensive third and ran through to superbly bury the ball in the corner in trademark style (pictured).

Arsenal almost responded straight away as a corner found Khayon Edwards unmarked at the back post but he shot over. Rhys Forster then produced an excellent save to thwart Osman Kamara.

Five triallists were introduced for the second period as was Adi Connolly who got lucky once or twice with his handling but more than redeemed himself with a couple of terrific stops.

Town had a let-off when Josh Robinson’s 25-yarder cannoned off the post but on 65 minutes we doubled our lead. A Joe Payne long throw was only half cleared and a triallist wearing 11 smashed the ball home.

Within a minute Arsenal had reduced the arrears through a Dan Casey wonder strike but we still posed a threat on the counter as Reece Beckles Richards wriggled past two defenders.

The last 15 minutes saw Arsenal really step it up  as they drove into the danger zone but a series of chances came and went and we hung on for a highly creditable win that may mean little in the scheme of things but, once again given the quality of the opposition, augured extremely well in terms of our preparations.

All our five new signings were again given a run-out and this time it was the returning Alex Solomon who looked especially assured.

Now it’s all about how we perform with the ball in our remaining pre-season fixtures, all against either Step 3 or 4 opposition.

“We wanted once again to see how we spend time out of possession and work on our shape,” said Gavin. “It was hard for the ones we were trying to look at in terms of trying to showcase themselves but I’m trying to prepare for the season.”

“All in all we’ve beaten a full-time team with a Premiership side so overall we’ve got to be really pleased with the progression so far. The two games against Spurs and Arsenal more than served their purpose. Now I need to see a different side of us at Welwyn Garden City on Saturday in terms of posing a threat. The aim ultimately is to be potent with the football and difficult to break down.”

Town: Forster (Connolly), Parcell (Trialist A), Nembhard (Solomon), Tanner (McKenzie), Thomas (Payne), Smith (Trialist B), Alves (Beckles Richards), Leonard (Youngs), Knight (Owusu), Adjei-Hersey (Trialist C), Wyllie (Trialist D).

Job Advert – ETFC Safety Officer 24-25

The club are recruiting a new Safety Officer for the 2024-25 season.

The job of Safety Officer is to ensure the safety of all visitors and spectators attending events at the QEII Stadium through the operation and management of suitable systems and controls.

The Safety Officer will ensure the club complies with the provisions of its safety certificates and legislation, including the Safety at Sports Grounds guide [The Green Guide], while also consulting and liaising with stewards, club representatives, emergency services, and other necessary parties.

This post is ideally voluntary, though the club may consider a paid role for the right individual.

To apply, please provide your CV and ideally a covering letter detailing your suitability for the role and prior experience to chairman@etfc.london

All interviews will be at the earliest available opportunity.

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Enfield Town 2 Tottenham Hotspur under-21 3

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Considering the quality of opposition, this was an extremely encouraging start to Enfield Town’s pre-season schedule as we build towards our first ever Step 2 campaign.

Before kickoff, both teams gave our trophy-winning disability squads a guard of honour (pictured) and we are grateful to Spurs for agreeing to join in.

The visitors arrived as under-21 Premier League 2 champions but despite the gulf in status were given a real run for their money in the second half after racing into a three-goal lead.

In front of a crowd over 1,000, Gavin Macpherson fielded two separate elevens in each half,  a mixture of first-teamers and trialists followed by a more familiar line-up.

Sam Youngs, Ollie Knight and Lewis Taaffe were the only absentees, with all five of Town’s summer signings given some game time and midfielder Billy Leonard, Hendon’s player of the 2023-24 season , the pick of the bunch, stroking the ball around with eye-catching technique.

Several of the Spurs team had played some part in their under-21 title triumph and they were in front after 15 minutes when Calum Olusesi netted from close range.

We almost levelled after when Alex Solomon, on his return to the club, narrowly missed converting fellow newcomer Nana Owusu’s assist before Will Lankshear, last season’s Premier League 2 top scorer, converted Damola Ajayi’s cross on the stroke of halftime

Lankshear neatly tucked away his second four minutes after the break and almost completed a hattrick before Town, with a far stronger second-half line-up, staged a brave recovery.

Spurs keeper Josh Keeley saved superbly from Herson Alves at close range before  Marcus Wyllie raced through to reduce the deficit on 73 minutes.

Marcus was inches away from a second and Town proceeded to miss a couple more excellent chances, notably from yet another newcomer, Joash Nembard who somehow missed the target from a couple of yards out.

With nine minutes to go, however, Leonard took advantage of a rare mix-up in the Spurs defence and shot home sweetly.

“Overall very pleased with a lot of what I saw today against full-time professional players who are going to finish if you give them space,” said Gav.

 “But after a deliberate first-half screening exercise, we gave the second-half team a bit more purchase to go after the ball and caused them a lot of problems.”

“We conceded three typical early pre-season goals and really should have taken the Herson and Joash chances, pre-season or not. But as I say really pleased in general.”

Town: First half

Connolly, Solomon, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist, Trialist, Adjei-Hersey, Owusu, Trialist, Beckles-Richards, Trialist.

Second half: Forster, Nembhard, McKenzie, Tanner, Parcell, Thomas, Smith, Payne, Leonard, Alves, Wyllie.