Bath City 1 Enfield Town 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Enfield Town made it seven points out of nine as Billy Leonard scored for the second year running at Twerton Park to give us a share of the spoils – the least we deserved on the day.

 Town had only won once in the league away while Bath have been struggling at home for large parts of the season. A draw therefore seemed a likely outcome and so it proved as we remained two places above the drop zone.

With Joe Kizzi ruled out with a groin strain along with Mickey Parcell, who celebrates his 30^th birthday on Tuesday, Ruaridh Donaldson was drafted into the back three.

Bath started the brighter and twice threatened our goal before Sam Youngs – again wearing protective headgear – struck the base of the post  following a corner.

As we gained a foothold, Xavier Benjamin went on a driving run before shooting well and Lemar Reynolds just failed to supply a strong enough finish to convert  Cian Dillon’s brilliant swivel and pass. At the other end, the Romans continued to keep us on our toes as dangerman Owen Windsor’s goalbound effort was luckily deflected wide.

Youngs should have hit the target with the final action of the half but in truth defences had been very much on top with clearcut chances few and far between.

H-T 0-0

A pot-marked pitch didn’t help either team  but desperate for a first home win since Oct 21, Bath flew out of the traps after the interval and for 15 minutes put us under severe pressure.

It was during this spell that they forged ahead.  A Joe Raynes’ 25-yard screamer had already been pushed over by George Barratt when Luke Russe’s pull-back in the area found Windsor who blasted the ball home before any Town defender could reach him.

Barratt was quickly called into action twice more, first tipping a Keiran Parcelle volley round the post, then saving from Matt Bowman after Tosh Gallimore was caught dithering.

But Town weathered the storm and just like in the first half came on strong, epitomised by Leonard’s superb equaliser as he played the ball up the line to Dillon before sprinting into the box to receive it back and sweep home.

Town, with renewed optimism and momentum, now looked the team likely to take all three points as we pegged Bath back. Reynolds would have scored had he shot either side of Charlie Binns instead of straight at him while Olle Davis, on as an impact sub, twice worked his way into dangerous positions without quite delivering the finish.

After our first league draw since the end of August, Gavin Macpherson was quietly content, all the more so with the news that Cian Dillon’s loan spell looks set to be extended after talks with QPR.

“They started better than us in each half but overall we’re slightly disappointed not to have nicked it,” said Gavin. “It’s a decent result given our reaction after they scored. The really important thing now is the week ahead of next Saturday against Hampton and Richmond because then you start to look at 10 points from 12 which is as good as most teams in the division.”

Town:

Barratt; Donaldson, Thompson, Benjamin; Adom-Malaki, Bullas, Gallimore, Youngs, Leonard; Dillon, Reynolds (Davis 70)

Can we make it three in a row? Enfield Town head to Somerset tomorrow buoyed by back to back wins as we take on a Bath City team whose five-match unbeaten run came to an end with a last-ditch midweek defeat at high-flying Weston Super Mare.

Last season’s 1-0 win in the corresponding fixture marked our first away success at Step 2 and a similar result would take us level  on points with the Romans and further away from the drop zone.

Despite our recent brace of victories, seven out of eight away defeats in all competitions tells its own story and both management team and players will be keen to put that right.

Still without Henry Hawkins and Mickey Parcell, Gavin Macpherson has injury doubts about two other key first-teamers battling to make it although he can welcome back Hayden Bullas.

“I wish I had everyone available but even now there are going to be disappointed players who don’t start games,” said Gavin. “Players want to play but they have to understand my reasons sometime. It’s a lot better than asking people to play out of position!”

“The last couple of weeks has certainly given the place a bit of a lift but I can’t express enough that even when we were losing regularly, I never saw players who were accepting their fate. From a group perspective I can’t really ask any more of them in what have been difficult circumstances.”

The league is so tough that as we see every week, anyone can beat anyone on their day.

“No disrespect to Bath but even if we were playing one of the so-called top teams, I’d be saying exactly the same thing,” said Gav. “And that is that we need to hit our levels to get anything at all from the game on Saturday because we all know what Bath can do.”

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Enfield Town 2 Maidstone United 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

First back-to-back wins of the season, first time we’ve come from behind to take all three points  – against a full-time team to boot – and out of the bottom four. Whisper it quietly but is the tide turning?

In one sense last night’s victory over Maidstone was even more impressive than Saturday’s demolition of Farnborough in terms of quality of opposition and the way the game unfolded.

Just shows you what squad depth can do even though we were missing Hayden Bullas (recalled for one night by Orient to captain their academy team), Mickey Parcell and the still absent Henry Hawkins.

On a bitterly cold evening, Sam Youngs, complete with protective headgear, returned to the starting line-up after his various setbacks to skipper the side,  only to suffer a potentially broken nose when he took an accidental bang in the face and needed lengthy treatment yet stayed on.

Bailey Brown also came into the side and we started on the front foot and took the game to the Stones, our best effort coming on 38 minutes when Youngs, with back to goal, expertly hooked the ball into the path of Lemar Reynolds who had two bites of the cherry, his first shot well parried by Nathan Harness, only to put the follow-up narrowly wide.

Three minutes later, slightly against the run of play, we were made to pay as Maidstone went in front with some neat transition play. A superb through ball  by Dajon Golding was collected in the channels by Jesphite Tanga who squared for Deon Moore to finish.

A flurry of Maidstone corners ensued and it was Town who were the team that needed halftime to regroup.

H-T 0-1

Maidstone continued to threaten straight afterwards, however, and it needed a double save by George Barratt to keep us in the game.

But that was pretty much the visitors’ last worthwhile threat.

On 63 minutes Nino Adom-Malaki, making up for being dispossesed in the move that led to Maidstone’s goal, drilled in a brilliant low cross and although Harness kept out Youngs’ first effort, Sam pounced on the rebound to equalise (pictured).

Five minutes later, Olly Davis, off the bench to replace Cian Dillon, helped turn the game on its head, skipping past two defenders before releasing Billy Leonard.

Billy’s low cross fell to Youngs whose shot on the turn was superbly palmed away by Harness, only for Reynolds – against his old club of course – to fire home the rebound for the winner.

Gavin admitted later that the substitution was anything but a canny managerial move. Cian had taken a knock in training at QPR and Gavin was instructed to only play him for 60 minutes.

Ironically, the switch made all the difference and a shellshocked Maidstone offered precious little in terms of a response despite another flurry of corners, dealt with comfortably by a defence in which Joe Kizzi again showed his class.

Indeed, in the dying moments, Reynolds should have made more of a half-chance presented to him by the direct running of the hugely impactful Davis, quickly becoming a fans’ favourite.

“A really good night against a full-time team,” said Gavin. “We’re normally a first-half team but we showed we can be a second half one as well.”

“The reaction after halftime, after the first 10 minutes or so when they span it, was largely what we wanted. We got further up the pitch and gained a foothold.  We’ve got some squad depth now after all the injuries.”

Town:  Barrett; Thompson, Benjamin, Kizzi; Adom-Malaki,  Gallimore, Youngs (Knight, 87), Brown, Leonard; Reynolds (Wood 87), Dillon (Davis 60)

Remember the performance a few weeks ago when we beat Ebbsfleet comfortably? Town were superb that night but didn’t win another game until last Saturday.

No-one is under any illusions that we simply musn’t follow the same pattern after our magnificent win over Farnborough.

Gavin Macpherson knows that, so do his backroom staff (Jon Underwood said as much after our 5-1 demolition of Farnborough) and so do the players.

Which makes tonight’s visit of Maidstone to the Dave Bryant stadium (ko 7.45) that much more significant.

“The firm aim now is to find an answer on how we push forward with consistency,” said Gavin as he looked ahead. “Maidstone will be a massively tough test of where we are but push forward we must.”

One of the most dangerous teams in the division on their day with an illustrious history, the Stones may have lost 3-1 at Dorking on Saturday but some of their other recent results illustrate just how they can turn on the style– the 2-0 away win over Torquay the previous Saturday being a particular case in point.

One thing’s for sure. Maidstone, one of Lemar Reynolds’ former clubs of course, promise to be much tougher opponent that Farnborough.

But with Bath away to come on Saturday, we need to build on that confidence-boosting Farnborough result to try and climb out of the bottom four and kick on.

Enfield Town 5 Farnborough Town 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

What better time to end our five-match losing streak in the league but who’d have imagined it would be achieved in such spectacular fashion!

 On our annual Whole Club Day, Enfield Town defied the atrocious conditions to run riot with our best performance of the season and in doing so, crucially, narrow the gap at the bottom.

After so many recent setbacks and injuries, this was a day when everything came together  as Town put on a show of ruthlessness, hunger, interplay and fluidity that had the majority of the 900-plus attendance purring with admiration.

Shorn of no fewer than 13 players a week ago and in danger of falling further adrift of safety, the management team welcomed back a good number as well as adding new loan signings, goalkeeper George Barrett and defender Joe Kizzi, to the starting line-up, both having only joined at lunchtime.

 In truth, we would have taken any kind of victory to arrest our worrying slump. Instead we put Farnborough to the sword, the first time since we gained Step 2 status that we have scored more than three goals.

The first came after just six minutes. So often this season we have been caught cold but for once the boot was on the other foot – literally. A quick ball forward by Mickey Parcell – playing his 300^th game for Town – was met by Cian Dillon who squared for Lemar Reynolds to finish.

Farnborough had hardly got out of their half but they have dangerous players in forward positions. And with their first serious threat, a darting run by Amir Hadi found Dominic Poleon who finished cooly to restore parity.

Not for long. Five minutes later and we were back in front. After great work by T-Sharne Gallimore, who had arguably his best display in a Town shirt, Lemar seemed to have missed his kick as the rain lashed down but quickly regained his footing to fire into the corner.

Cian and Lemar had never played together but you would never have known it. With two up top, Town were a constant threat, boosted by another tweak in formation that saw Hayden Bullas pushed into a virtual number 10 position with Gallimore and Parcell behind.

It worked a treat and soon we were on the scoresheet again. An outrageous piece of skill by Lemar took out two Farnborough players, his assist finding Cian who looked at first like he had made too much of an angle before shooting into the far corner.

H-T 3-1

A two-goal halftime lead was no less than we deserved. Farnborough responded by making four halftime subs but before any of them could influence the game, we put matters to bed – albeit with a stroke of good fortune.

Billy Leonard’s cross-shot to the back post looked all the world like a slightly miscued effort but left goalkeeper Jack Turner floundering as it nestled in the top corner.

Dillon nearly made five with a beautiful turn of pace that saw him clip the top of the bar but it wasn’t long before Lemar – at times unplayable on the day – completed his hat-trick after cutting in from the left, the linesman flagging his shot had crossed the line despite desperate efforts to keep it out.

With our collective feet understandably taken off the gas, our visitors had their best period of the game without reducing the deficit, in part due to Barratt making three smart saves, the best of them in stoppage time with an excellent one-handed tip-over.

“A fantastic performance from start to finish all over the pitch and the lads deserve a lot of credit after the run we’ve been on,” said Jon Underwood, stepping in for Gavin. “We’ve come a long way in a week – I’ve never known anything like the injury crisis. We’ve had to patch a few up and it wasn’t perfect preparation but it was good to see some depth in quality on the bench at last.”

Now, of course, we to make sure we keep the momentum going, starting with Maidstone on Tuesday.

“We had a great win against Ebbsfleet here, then went on a terrible run so we can’t get carried away and have to back it up,” said Unders. “We’re in a battle, we know that, but the table has bunched up a bit near the bottom and that’s what we needed so as not to get cast adrift.”

Town (3-5-2)

Barrett; Benjamin; Thompson, Kizzi; Adom-Malaki, Bullas, Parcell (Donaldson, 62), Gallimore (Davis 81), Leonard; Dillon (Ackason 68), Reynolds (Youngs 68)

We are pleased to announce two loan signings  ahead of today’s fixture against Farnborough Town.

With Tom Norcott out for several weeks, a deal has been struck for Ipswich Town under-21 keeper George Barrett (pictured) to join on a month’s loan.

 George, 19, was most recently on loan at Canvey Island and will be with us until Dec 20.

Experienced defender Joe Kizzi, 32, joins on a short-term loan from Barnet where he made 13 appearances early on during their National League title-winning season.

For Joe, who can play either as a central defender or rightback, the move marks a return to Town where he began his career over a decade ago and who still lives in the area.

Welcome to them both!

Gavin Macpherson has never liked the phrase six-pointer but there’s no getting away from the fact that tomorrow’s clash with Farnborough is arguably our biggest league game of the season.

Slough’s victory over Farnborough in midweek heaped even more pressure on Town who now find themselves second to bottom of the table — three points behind the Rebels and four behind our visitors from Hampshire in the quest for safety.

That gives you some idea of the urgency of trying to narrow the gap on what is an eagerly anticipated day for Town off the field as well as on it, being Whole Club Day with all manner of special pre-match activities and entertainment. ETFC bracelets will once again be on sale, the Ladies section will have a stall and Krispy Kreme, one of our new sponsors, will be selling their doughnuts at a discounted rate.

The club will also have a stall from where raffle tickets will be sold with a range of prizes including signed Spurs and ETFC shirts, 2 free entry tickets to Hertfordshire zoo, two hours free work on your garden donated by GP Garden Services, a 15% discount voucher off of a meal at Judges restaurant and a case of Blind Poet beer. Raffle tickets will be £2.00 per strip or 6 strips for £10.00 and your support will be greatly appreciated.

On the pitch, such is the precarious position the club find themselves in – five straight league defeats — that Gavin gathered his management team together for a brainstorming session at a hotel near Heathrow on Tuesday.

“We had a long chat about where we need to be, something of a reprogramming discussion if you like,” Gav disclosed. “I wouldn’t call it a crisis meeting. A few good words were expressed across the table because we all felt a bit of fine-tuning was needed.”

“We were well adrift at New Year last season and eventually just got out of it but it’s vital we pick up enough points in November and December not to be in that situation again. It’s ridiculous using words like six-pointers in November but I can understand why this game tomorrow is being built up, it’s massively important.”

“The fact is, however, it wouldn’t matter who we were playing, we need a win. Farnborough signed some massive players in the summer and certainly have the ability, particularly the forward end of the pitch. They are in a false position in my opinion. Remember, they beat Chelmsford away the other week.”

In terms of the injury list, Gav revealed good news and not so good. The four players suspended or away on international duty have all returned while Lemar Reynolds should also be available for selection and Mickey Parcell could make his 300^th appearance for the club. Sam Youngs, who didn’t train Thursday having been abroad for some warm weather rehab, will be assessed late on.

Definitely out still are Henry Hawkins and goalkeeper Tom Norcott who is likely to be absent for longer than anticipated. They are joined on the sidelines by Avan Jones and Tommy Wood.

“As far as Tom is concerned, we could be looking at the best part of a month rather than 10 days which is hardly ideal having just released Rhys,” said Gavin. “It’s terrible timing. Put it like this: we are reviewing our options on that one. Normally having four or five out would be considered a crisis but compared to how we were a week ago at Harborough when we had 13 out, it feels in a way like Christmas has come early.”

Now we have to make sure we don’t give Farnborough any presents.

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Harborough Town 3 Enfield Town 0

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Ignore, if you can, the scoreline. On another day, with a stronger lineup, we would in all likelihood now be looking forward to another crack at the FA Trophy.

Despite almost everything that could go against us having gone against us, the feeling, as we waved goodbye to knockout football for another season, was one of frustration.

Frustration at what might have been had we had a full-strength side – or even a half-strength one — rather than a skeleton line-up and too many square pins in round holes.

For any cynics or dissenters out there – and there appear to be a small but vocal minority –  this  was nowhere a 3-0 scoreline in terms of ball possession, effort, application, desire and purpose.

To put that into perspective, we were able to field  only three – repeat THREE – substitutes. And one of those was our 38-year-old goalkeeping coach! Any team at any level would have struggled with such depleted resources.

Yes we were well beaten in the end. Yes there was a lack of communication at times on the pitch. And yes Harborough made the most of capitalising on individual errors, a feature of our season generally.

But it would be unfair and misleading, given the fact we had TWELVE players missing, to compare this result with previous setbacks.

With so many disruptions – including two new injury setbacks after training Thursday and our new  goalkeeper Tom Norcott being ruled out 24 hours before kick-off – all planning went out of the window.

Nevertheless, we started very much on the front foot against an unbeaten team who are top of their Step 3 league.

But as so often, after an encouraging opening spell, we  fell behind courtesy of a self-inflicted blow. A dithering Nino Adam-Malaki was needlessly dispossessed and quick as a flash the ball was fed to Brady Hicky who fired low beyond Adi Connolly.

Adi, who it must be said could do nothing about any of the goals we conceded, had already made a reflex stop from Riley O’Sullivan but strange as it may seem, we were playing the ball far more on the ground than of late. Olly Davis almost pulled us level, curling a shot just outside of the post after a great touch from Eli Ackeson, only recently promoted from the academy but arguably our most effective player on the day.

H-T 0-1

For all the pre-match concerns about what Harborough might do to us, we were well in the game at this point, Davis and Ackeson showing skill and technique and the whole side running their hearts out.

But that, perhaps understandably in the circumstances, was not going to be enough against a side who have conceded just 18 goals in all competitions. When Town half-chances were created, there was no-one to complete them. When a succession of crosses did go into the box, there was no-one on hand to convert them.

The next goal, without extra time or a replay, was always going to be crucial and it went Harborough’s way. In another cheap giveaway, Mickey Parcell, returning to the side in an unfamiliar central defensive role, tried to find Ollie Knight, only for Harborough to intercept quickly with debutant David Kamara eventually converting at the back post.

Far from heads going down, Davis and Ackeson continued to probe while Avan Jones’ header  from a superb Ollie Knight centre should have found the target from four yards out instead of ballooning over.

Halving the deficit then would have given Harborough plenty to think about. Instead, on 70 minutes, the Bees put the game to bed. Substitute Ben Stephens was unceremoniously hauled down by a tiring Bailey Brown and when the referee played the advantage instead of awarding a penalty and possibly sending Brown off, O’Sullivan chased the ball down to blast home.

It looked well offside but to no avail and it might have got even worse had Harborough not fluffed two more golden opportunities in quick succession.

To make matters worse, Jones became our 13^th casualty with what looked like a groin strain but in the dying  moments Ackeson thought he’d scored a deserved consolation, only for Elliott Taylor to pull off a blinding save when a Hayden Bullas drive came back off the post and rebounded to the teenager.

 It summed up Town’s day and now comes the mother of all six-pointers against Farnborough next Saturday when thankfully at least four players should be returning.

“I think Harborough were a really good side and it was always going to be a tall order with a very young side. I’m immensely proud of the boys but losing matches through individual mistakes is happening too often,” said Gavin.

“Certainly we’d have given ourselves a better chance with players back. With the blows we keep being given, this is without a doubt the hardest time in my managerial career but I have to try pick them up and regroup.”

Town:

Connolly; Jones (Cann 76), Benjamin, Parcell, Adom-Malaki; Leonard, Bullas, Brown, Knight; Ackeson, Davis.

The club can confirm that after initial agreements to dual register, it is with great sadness that we can announce the permanent departure of goalkeeper Rhys Forster.

After signing in the summer of 2023, Rhys appeared 107 times for the club and played a pivotal role in securing promotion to National League South. We will be eternally grateful for Rhys’ efforts and commitment to the club, and wish him the best for the future.

“The initial conversations was for him to stay with us,” explained Gavin Macpherson. “But his view was that it was probably the right time for a fresh break. I have to respect that.”

“Rhys has been with me for a long time as many people know and it was very difficult to have the conversation. I want to place on record what Rhys has done for the club, he was a big part of getting us promoted and seeing us through last season. We have to wish him all the very best for whatever he does in the future.”

It never rains…unless it pours. Enfield Town face the nightmare scenario of being without new fewer than ELEVEN players for our FA Trophy tie at high-flying Harborough tomorrow – described by both manager and assistant manager as the worst crisis either of them has ever seen in all their years in football.

Two more senior players have now joined the list of casualties which, added to suspensions and international call-ups, stretches us to the barest of bones with a number of academy kids potentially having to be drafted in.

A free midweek next Tuesday cannot come soon enough in order to try and recover some of the walking wounded. Four of the current absentees – those suspended and on international duty – will thankfully be available again for our Whole Club Day next weekend against Farnborough when we try and arrest a slump that has seen us lose five league games on the spin. But that  will still leave a crippling injury list which has now lengthened to include two more crucial and hugely experienced players ruled out after Thursday’s training session.

Before training, Gavin Macpherson was talking of nine absentees rather than 11 but bullish about at least putting a competitive team on the pitch against unbeaten Harborough, top of Southern League Premier Central with games in hand.

The fixture would have been tough enough anyway even with one or two sidelined. But when a non-league side is  shorn of a whole first team of experienced individuals for an important cup tie on a plastic pitch with not enough time to draft in emergency loanees, you could be forgiven for concluding the footballing gods have got it in for us.

“There’s a bit of bad luck going our way but we have to take it on the chin,” Gavin conceded. “It’s very rare for all this to happen at the same time but there’s no doom and gloom about the place.”

“The FA Trophy is a really important competition that clubs at our level  have done well in,” said Gavin. “Harborough need no introduction in terms of where they are. You don’t stay unbeaten into November without being a very solid outfit. I acknowledge they are geared up to be at our level and it’s probably like playing another Step 2 side. But we’ll go there with a plan despite all the absentees.”

If the match is drawn over 90 minutes there will be a penalty shootout with no extra time. Let’s hope, given our record, it doesn’t come down to pens!

For  fans still wishing to travel, there are match tickets and places on the coach available on the following link:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/market-harborough/harborough-town-football-club/harborough-town-fc-vs-enfield-town-fa-trophy-second-round-away-fans/2025-11-15/15:00/t-qmvezpq

Coach: £30 – text 07493 425359 to reserve your seat. Leaving at 10:30am

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