Enfield Town 0 Maidenhead United 0

Report by andrew warshaw

Enfield Town put their first point on the board Saturday in a game that was eye-catching for the first 45 minutes but thereafter failed to live up to expectations and became somewhat scrappy.

An encounter littered with offside decisions and penalty claims had its moments in both boxes but didn’t have enough quality overall.

However, having been highly unfortunate to lose at Torquay in their opening outing, Town will take heart from having already played their part against two of the big boys in the division.

Relegated Maidenhead, eager for an immediate return to Step 1, were keen to bounce back from a shock opening setback against Chesham and will probably feel they had the better of proceedings.

Town fielded a near full-strength side, Henry Hawkins being the only obvious absentee, but found Maidenhead’s physicality a constant concern. Our most promising  forays forward came whenever Billy Leonard was in possession but in the main we struggled to break Maidenhead down and had to defend for large periods.

The Magpies’ Liam Dulson and Josh Umerah both went close early doors before Lamar Reynolds pulled the trigger from four yards after Tommy Wood did brilliantly to keep the ball alive. It looked for ever like the opening goal but credit has to go to Manny Onariase for a last-ditch block.

The visitors continued to pose the greater threat, however. Manny Onarise’s header was just wide after Rhys Forster came flying out of goal but Rhys redeemed himself by clawing away a Sam Barratt effort when we failed to deal with a freekick near the halfway line.

The best chance of the half then saw Barratt beat the offside trap, only to see his sublime lob come back off the bar.

It came at a cost. Barratt was immediately  forced off injured but Town had a huge let-off when a Xavier Benjamin handball went unpunished. Right on halftime, huge shouts for a penalty at the other end when Ruaridh Donaldson appeared to be tugged were also ignored.

H-T 0-0

Maidenhead resumed with the same intensity as Town were forced to play on the counter. Another penalty claim, for the away team for a shirt pull, didn’t interest the referee who then failed to pull out either red or yellow for a crunching late challenge on Hayden Bullas, only to caution Tommo moments later for a far less dangerous foul.

After a largely eventful period of play, a flurry of substitutions from both sides upped the tempo. Harry Lodovica certainly made a nuisance of himself up front for Town but it was a brief cameo from Tosh Gallimore that caught the eye, suggesting the new man in midfield will be a more than useful asset.

 The final whistle was greeted by a melee near the touchline involving a phalanx of players on both sides which fortunately didn’t get too ugly and was thankfully broken up.

“A lot of blood and guts but not much quality,” said Gavin Macpherson. “Last week we brought a lot of quality into the game at Torquay but today we were devoid of it in terms of retaining the ball. We turned over possession far too easily but the boys all put a shift in against a very strong side who will be near the top come the end of the season.”

Enfield Town (3-5-2): Forster; Benjamin, Thompson, Donaldson; Jones, Parcell (Gallimore, 84) , Bullas, Youngs (Brown, 75), Leonard; Wood, Reynolds (Lodovica, 63)

Subs not used: Adom-Malaki, MacArthur, McCann

Attendance: 758