Worthing 0 Enfield Town 0

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Any point away from home is a good point but when it’s against a side who just missed out on promotion it feels that much sweeter.

Enfield Town may still be searching for that elusive first win of the season but showed commendable resilience, togetherness and concentration despite finishing the game with 10 men.

Last season, Worthing took six points off us but it shows how far we’ve come that the Rebels couldn’t break us down this time though in truth we didn’t produce enough cutting edge either.

With Monday’s Bank Holiday fixture against Totton in mind, Gavin Macpherson made no fewer than five changes, including Tosh Gallimore at the base of midfield and Noah McCann in the back three.  Both did themselves proud in a new-look line-up as Gav rotated the squad, Bailey Brown being named skipper for the day and putting in a captain’s performance while Matty Macarthur, a little terrier throughout, was pushed forward on the left.

In a fast start, both sides came close, Rebels skipper  Sam Beard volleying onto the top of Rhys Forster’s net and Lamar Reynolds expertly flicking Billy Leonard’s cross towards goal, only for Seb Stacey to produce a fabulous reflex tip-over.

Thereafter chances were few and far between as we quietened the 1,700-plus crowd though Temi Babalola was a handful up front for Worthing and almost gave them the lead when the ball ricocheted back into his path but thankfully shot over.

A flurry of  home freekicks and crosses were dealt with comfortably by Rhys while at the other end Gallimore’s volley was cleared off the line following a corner.

That was effectively that until the last 15 minutes of the half when the Rebels suddenly picked up a head of steam and smelled blood.

 Five quickfire attacks in almost as many minutes put us under the cosh but we held our positions with a series of last-ditch blocks and halftime came at the perfect time.

H-T 0-0

After the break, neither team could maintain momentum  for a sustained period though it was a far more even contest possession-wise as both sides made a succession of substitutions, Harry Lodovica putting himself about effectively.

Town’s best move of the half saw Reynolds head just over from Henry Hawkins’ chip while Worthing sub Razzaq Coleman de Graft’s speculative 25-yarder had Rhys scrambling across goal to push it away.

Just into eight minutes of stoppage time, Town appeals for a penalty went unheeded and proceedings ended on an unsavoury note when Mickey Parcell, who had not long come off the bench, was shown a straight red card for a crude challenge on fellow substitute Kwaku Frimpong just inside the Worthing half. Mickey will now be hit with a three-match ban though is available for Bank Holiday Monday.

“You have to work hard when you come here and we freshened it up,” said Gav. “Today was evidence of how we trust the whole squad.”

“The trouble at the moment is not having a decent enough ratio of chances. The goals for tally speaks for itself but the goals away against is superb apart from Torquay when we had a makeshift back three. We look very solid and now we have to work out how we take some of these chances. It’s a great point and now we have to follow it up with points on Monday against Totton who are a well-resourced club with experienced players.”

Town:

Forster; Benjamin, Hawkins, McCann; Leonard, Bullas, Gallimore (Jones 84), Brown (Youngs 73), Adom-Malaki; Macarthur (Lodovica  63), Reynolds(Parcell, 72)