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 300th 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)