Enfield Town 0 Chelmsford City 4

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Few, if any, saw this result coming. After all, a resurgent  Town had put together a four-game unbeaten run while Chelmsford had only scored three goals in their six previous league outings.

But the Clarets did what they always do the day after Christmas, making it seven Boxing Day wins on the spin, this time emphatically giving Town a right pasting, hugely disappointing for a bumper 1,200-plus crowd and leading Gavin Macpherson to apologise for a far from festive display.

Ahead of kick-off, Chelmsford re-signed Kane Crichlow and acquired Charlie Adams, both quality players who contributed to bullying us all over the pitch with the visitors quicker and stronger.

Their afternoon got off to a perfect start straight from the kick-off when the dangerous Lyle Taylor was left unmarked from a flicked-on corner and hooked the ball home.

Caught cold, Town, who made one change with the returning Xav Benjamin replacing Avan Jones, rallied with a Sam Youngs volley that missed by a whisker. Youngs then went close again with a freekick but the visitors always looked the more composed and clinical side.

Chelmsford  had already given Town two huge let-offs — Hayden Bullas clearing one effort off the line and Taylor lashing over from close range — before doubling their lead just before halftime through Archie Tamplin’s superb curler from the edge of the box.

Town were uncharacteristically shaky at the back and second best in midfield. As a result, the front two didn’t create enough while at the other end Graczyk had to fling himself to his right to prevent a third Clarets goal.

H-T 0-2

Sadly it didn’t take long for that to change. With superior fluency and transition play, the visitors always seemed to have one extra man and five minutes after the break, Crichlow was given time and space to mark his return by rolling the ball into the net.

It was now all over as a contest and it was no surprise when Taylor completed the rout with a simple follow-up.

If there was a shred of positivity, it was the cameo performances of subs Olly Davis and Eli Ackeson but that would be clutching at straws as we fell into the bottom three though with half the season still to play.

Only at Dover when we were down to nine and Chesham to 10 have Town been so comprehensively dismantled this season but there is plenty of time to put things right.

“We were bullied out the game in some respects which is strange for a team of mine,” said Gavin. “Their full-time training really came into play compared with our boys but that’s not an excuse. Today was as bad as it’s been this season and I have to apologise to the fans after a good run of form.”

“We were way, way below where I expect us to be. Whether it’s just a blip, I’ll be able to answer that better after Hemel on Tuesday.”

Town (3-5-2): Graczyk; Benjamin, Thompson (Hawkins 70), Donaldson; Leonard, Adom-Malaki, Gallimore, Bullas (Brown 58), Youngs (Knight 86) Dillon (Ackason 71), Reynolds (Davis 58)