Maidenhead United 3 Enfield Town 0
Report by Andrew Warshaw
Appalling, atrocious, astounding. Not a description of Enfield Town’s latest setback at Maidenhead United on Saturday but of the standard of refereeing that helped bring it about.
Rarely have so many hugely contentious decisions in a single match gone against us and who knows whether, had the officials shown a modicum of common sense and consistency, we might now be talking about a different outcome in Berkshire.
Because the fact is, until we went down to 10 men late in the first half, for all their possession the hosts had served up precious few clearcut chances on a pot-marked pitch that hardly made for a free-flowing encounter.
Even the local paper, in its match report, conceded we made life difficult for our opponents and were arguably the better team until the second of Ruaridh Donaldson’s yellow cards in the 38th minute.
Sure you could argue that after receiving his first yellow, Ruaridh should have stood off Asher Yearwood instead of tripping him up near the centre circle when the Magpies man was about to dribble past him.
But that doesn’t take into account the fact that his first yellow, shown after an innocent tangle with Jaiden Celestine-Charles, was extremely harsh.
The red card completely changed the game in which Town started with a back four, Ollie Knight coming into the side and Donaldson in a defensive midfield role.
Town have gone four months without an away win but up against a full-time side who had only lost one in seven there was little to choose between the teams in the opening half.
After Maidenhead bossed the opening 15 minutes, Town settled down with some eye-catching combination play down the left between Knight and Nino Adom-Malaki, playing as an orthodox leftback on the day.
It almost produced a goal, only for Billy Leonard to fire a volley just over. Lamar Reynolds scooped another one over while a Donaldson shot from a Nino throw was blocked six yards out.
Then came the game changer and almost immediately, Celestine-Charles shot wide with the goal at his mercy after Sam Youngs had his pocket picked.
H-T 0-0
Having been forced to re-organise, it was always going to be a tall order but Town survived for another 15 minutes before the Magpies went in front with a goal that enraged the management team and Towners players and fans alike.
Reynolds was on the ground at one end having clearly received a high boot while at the other end Adam Thompson was lying prostrate having also taken a knock.
At that point we had eight players but instead of blowing up, the referee decided to let play continue. Cue the Mapgies taking fully advantage, Liam Dulson sweeping the ball into the bottom corner, a cruel blow after so much effort and commitment and made even more painful by the fact play was halted for a Maidenhead player to be allowed treatment under similar circumstances.
For all that, we could have equalised when Evan Jones, on as a sub for Tommo, took a return pass from Henry Hawkins, only to strike the ball straight at Jordi van Stappershoef when anything either side of the Dutch keeper would have paid off.
But on 71 minutes it was game over, again under highly controversial circumstances as the referee pointed to the spot when Yearwood made a meal of a relatively innocuous challenge and sub Sam Barratt slammed the ball home.
By now the 10 men were out on their feet and it was no surprise when Barratt rolled the ball into an empty net for number three. Josh Popoola twice saw further efforts flash past the post but the result was harsh on Town who remain four points from safety and will now be missing Donaldson – and possibly Tommo too – for the visit of Torquay next Saturday.
Despite our fourth loss in five outings, Gavin had nothing but praise for his battle-weary troops but had to choose his words carefully when it came to the officiating.
“If I say what I want to say, I could get into trouble,” said Gavin. “I felt my team gave a really honest, hardworking performance with a lot going against them while the supporters were again fantastic.”
“The boys carried out what they were asked to do but it became an easy football match for Maidenhead in the second half and we ended up on the back of a difficult result when we deserved better.”
Town:
Wright; Benjamin, Thompson (Jones 64), Hawkins, Adom-Malaki; Leonard, Donaldson, Gallimore (Brown 79), Knight, Youngs (Bullas 73); Reynolds (Bartkett-Antwi, 68)