We are delighted to announce that striker Cian Dillon has rejoined the club on a 28-day loan from Queens Park Rangers.

The 19-year-old Republic of Ireland U19 and U21 international had an important spell with us late last season, helping us preserve our Step 2 status by scoring twice in six appearances.

Now he is ready to make his mark again in a Towners shirt.

“Happy to have Cian back with us,” said Gavin Macpherson. “Although we tried desperately to get him over the line for Dorking last night he will add some much-needed resilience to a squad already lacking through injury.”

Dorking Wanderers 2 Enfield Town 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Amid a worrying injury crisis, Enfield Town suffered a fourth league defeat in five games on Tuesday as a battling performance once again yielded no reward.

Town remain just above the relegation on goal difference courtesy of other results going in our favour but arresting the slump is not lost on the management team and has become a crucial priority.

No-one, least all Gavin Macpherson is making any excuses for the current malaise but it doesn’t help when a small-ish squad compared with most other sides in the division is shorn of a stack of players.

Already without the likes of Sam Youngs, Jack Bates and Ruaridh Donaldson, Town were able to name only six subs when Nino Adom-Malaki pulled out shortly before the game with a knee issue.

The fact that neither Bailey Brown nor Mickey Parcell were fit enough to play a part because of individual knocks despite being named on the bench and you get some idea of how stretched we were – and may still be for a few games yet with Tosh Gallimore ruled out of the FA Trophy at Harborough because of international duty.

Yet no-one can fault us for energy and application even if we were again lacking in the final third. Despite a disastrous start, Town were certainly not overawed (only once in truth have we been all season) and had we shown the same attacking intent over the 90 minutes as we did in the last 10 after pulling a goal back with Ollie Davis’ sumptuous freekick, we might well have come away with a point.

Tommy Wood found the going tough after being given a rare start in the absence of Sam but at the other end the hosts were in front inside a minute when two of Town’s back three inexplicably stepped out, allowing on-loan Forest Green Rovers forward Jose Marquez to give Dorking a quickfire start. Rhys Forster produced a strong hand but only proceeded to push the ball further into the net and will perhaps be disappointed he couldn’t keep it out.

Despite the setback we settled down but you have to take whatever chances you get, especially away from home and what a glorious one we had to equalise. Hayden Bullas – arguably Town’s best player on the night – went on a surging run before finding Ollie Knight whose shot stung the hands of the Dorking keeper. The rebound only needed a tap-in but Evan Jones blasted over.

For the rest of the half,  with 38-year-old Luke Moore pulling the strings in front of the Dorking defence and Dennon Lewis a constant threat, we couldn’t create much else going forward but at least managed to keep Dorking away from our own goal, including one superb tackle from Adam Thompson on Alfie Rutherford who was injured in the process and had to be subbed.

H-T 0-1

Dorking continued to press, however, producing a flurry of threatening inswinging corners and crosses. Jimmy Muitt flashed a header wide and Rhys pulled off a fine tip-over save.

Eventually one of the crosses seemed likely to pay off  and so it proved.  On 71 minutes, Muitt got the better of two Town players and when no defender got a foot in to clear the cross, Lewis rifled home at the back post.

Cue the introduction of both Davis and Eli Ackason, both of whom made an immediate impact which augurs well for the future.

Eli showed commendable quick feet but it was Davis who stole the show from a Town standpoint, showing exactly why he’s such a potentially exciting asset by wrapping a sublime freekick round the wall with 10 remaining on the clock.

Now we pinned Dorking back but  for all our endeavour, it was too little, too late.  Jones, leaning back, thrashed the ball over but as we poured men forward, Dorking came within a whisker of adding a third through a Lewis breakaway.

“I think we were playing against the best team in the league,” Gavin declared. “We were literally trying to throw a team together and the boys worked desperately hard. We didn’t create too many clearcut chances if I’m honest but we went toe to toe with a very good side even if at times we had to hang in. But at the end of the day we’ve no points, again, and it has to stop.”

Hopefully starting at Dover on Saturday.

Town

Forster; Benjamin, Thompson, Hawkins; Leonard (Ackeson 81), Gallimore, Bullas, Knight, Jones; Wood, Reynolds (Davis 73).

Dorking Wanderers is a tough enough away fixture with a full squad to choose from let alone having to deal with a number of walking wounded.

Having lost three of our last four league games, though there is an argument to suggest we  deserved better in two of those losses, Town go into Tuesday night’s fixture without Sam Youngs, who has been skippering the side of late, as well as potentially a few other forced absentees.

In all likelihood, Sam will be out for a minimum 10 days having had a number of staples inserted in a 3-cm gash to the head suffered during  Saturday’s defeat to Eastbourne.  

With Jack Bates and Ruaridh Donaldson again likely to be on the sidelines and Gavin facing the prospect of at least two other first-team absentees, the squad could be stretched to its limit for what is bound to be a massively  awkward tie against one of the strongest sides in the division that have put together three straight league wins and are especially formidable at home.

Town fans will be hoping we can at least repeat last season’s hard-fought draw as we bid to move clear of the drop zone.

“The task is not lost on any of us,” said Gavin. “I have huge belief in our squad but it’s got to the point where we would all take a poor performance but sneak a scrappy 1-0 win in the last minute. I’m working dreadfully hard to get this team to where it should be. We all know how strong Dorking are but we have to get something either tomorrow or at Dover on Saturday, preferably both.”

AW

Enfield Town 1 Eastbourne Borough 2

Report By Andrew warshaw

It all started so positively. A player of the month award for Hayden Bullas and a guard of honour for Sam Youngs for having broken the club’s appearance record (pictured)

But by the end, Enfield Town were ruing yet another league defeat and have now ominously collected just three points out of a possible 12 to remain just above the relegation zone.

Town were a shadow of the side that comfortably beat Ebbsfleet in their last home encounter and, as Gavin Macpherson had predicted, faced an Eastbourne side who belied their bottom-four position.

Unlike previous recent defeats, we couldn’t really argue that we created enough to take something from the game, at least in the second half when we failed to hurt The Sports going forward.

Conversely, Eastbourne’s leading scorer Pemi Aderoju was always a threat and he was his double that earned the visitors only their second league win of the season.

After Eastbourne had shaded the opening exchanges, Town put together a sustained period of pressure and made it count on 29 minutes when Henry Hawkins, up from the back, stole in the back post to convert a crisp set-piece.

Ryan Sandford had already come to his side’s  rescue by brilliantly clawing away a Sam Youngs header.  

Sam had earlier been forced to leave the field and change his shirt — for the first of no fewer than four times during the afternoon — having been the victim of an over-zealous challenge by Camron Gbadebo which led to a blood-splattered head wound.

But no sooner had Enfield got on the scoresheet than the visitors responded in style two minutes later with a magnificent bullet header from Aderoju from the edge of the box.

Minutes later, Town were forced into a change when Bailey Brown  limped off with a groin issue to be replaced by Ollie Knight

H-T 1-1

If the parity was just about right at halftime, one might have expected Town to push on after the break.

Instead, six minutes into the second half, it was the visitors who came from behind to lead. Nino Adom-Malaki looked to have been fouled near the byline but nothing was given and the resultant cross was by swept home by Aderohu.

Lamar Reynolds was next to leave the field because of a hamstring tweak, paving the way for Olly Davis to make his Town debut off the bench.

 But if anything, it was Eastbourne who came closest to adding to the scoreline. Aderoju, who had already showed how vital a proven goalscorer can be, slipped just as he was about to complete his hattrick whilst a flicked header from a teammate came back off the woodwork.

As Town rallied in the latter stages, Davis miscued an effort while Sandford clawed away a corner from just under his crossbar.

To complete Sam Youngs’ misery, he was hospitalised after the game to have a nasty 3-cm gash, which is likely to take several days to heal, stitched up.

“We felt confident coming into the game and we had a really good 30 minutes when we scored,” said Gavin afterwards. “Credit to the lad for the equaliser but then we make a mistake for their second. They kept spinning it behind us and in truth we never got into our rhythm and didn’t create much in the second half. Eastbourne won’t stay in that position but this is a really poor result and I’m bitterly disappointed cos we’ve thrown points away and let ourselves down which I haven’t said many times. The reality is that it’s a results business and now we have to try to get something at Dorking and Dover.”

Forster; Benjamin, Thompson, Hawkins; Adom-Malaki (Jones 88), Brown (Knight 37), Bullas, Gallimore Parcell 88), Leonard; Youngs, Reynolds (Davis 60)

Some exciting news ahead of our crucial fixture with Eastbourne Borough this afternoon.

We are delighted to announce the signing of two new players:  Olly Davis, a 19-year-old forward/winger from Braintree, and Eli Ackason from our academy.

Olly, who was originally with Ipswich’s academy where he progressed through the  youth ranks from the age of seven, was on loan last season at St Albans before moving to Step 1 Braintree.

Eli, meanwhile,  was the standout performer in our Middlesex senior cup defeat to Uxbridge in midweek.  Both are available for selection today.

“Olly Davis is a versatile player who will add pace, creativity and hopefully goals to the team,” said Gavin Macpherson. “I’ve known and liked Ollie for a while and feel now is the time to add to the squad. My intention is not to stop there but as we know recruitment often takes time, I’m sure we’ll all fully welcome Olly to the club and hope he enjoys his time with us.”

“In terms of Eli, I think after his performance against Uxbridge we can see the benefit of the academy players training regularly with the first team and being given the opportunity to play first-team football. I think the time now is right for Eli to be on senior forms and we will look at all options as we look closely at his development.”

Welcome Olly and Eli