Eastbourne Borough 1 Enfield Town 1
Report by Andrew Warshaw
A result that was hardly ideal for either team but as Gavin Macpherson said afterwards, a decent point as long as Town follow it up with victory against Hampton and Richmond on Tuesday – weather permitting.
With Hampton’s fixture called off, this effectively ended up as our game in hand and we were indebted to Henry Hawkins rifling home an equaliser with 16 minutes remaining though both teams will feel they could have won it in what was at times a nervy, tension-filled affair.
Gavin made two changes from our last outing, Corie Andrews and Yacou Traore both given their first full starts as Town reverted to a familiar back three. And we began very much on the front foot, taking the game to the hosts who had lost their previous five.
Only a world-class reaction save by Woody Williamson denied Sam Youngs’ close-range header after just two minutes. Then Nino Adom-Malaki (pictured) picked up a loose ball, sped down the wing and found Hayden Bullas who couldn’t quite get the ball under control.
After controlling the early exchanges, however, Town allowed The Sports to gain a foothold. Kai Corbett had two shots blocked, one of them winding Xav Benjamin in the process, while Joe Wright’s poor distribution almost gifted Eastbourne an opener, Adam May’s audacious lob having to be tipped over by the back-pedalling Joe.
On 32 minutes, however, Eastbourne’s pressure finally told when a short corner wasn’t cleared and May bent a beauty into the net at the second attempt.
Too often, Town lost possession in promising positions while a string of set-piece plays were needlessly wasted.
And on the stroke of halftime they had a huge let-off when Gold Omotayo seized on Benjamin being dispossessed, only to see his effort come off the underside of the bar, with Maxwell Mullins unable to force home the rebound.
H-T 0-1
The halftime introduction of Lamar Reynolds, who was forced to miss training on Thursday, for Corie Andrews had an immediate effect, using his pace to try and get behind the home defence. But as we upped the tempo, Traore’s tenacious tackling, while highly effective in central midfield, brought him a yellow card when he went through the back of an Eastbourne player. Gavin took the wise option to substitute him 13 minutes later and prevent a possible second caution.
Mullins almost doubled the hosts’ advantage when he cut inside an already booked Adam Thompson , only to clip the post. But on 74 minutes Town were level. For once, a set-piece paid dividends as Hawkins lashed home Adom-Malaki’s freekick, worthy of a striker’s finish.
Almost immediately, a soft free-kick was awarded at the other end and caused mayhem in the Town box, Eastbourne coming within a whisker of restoring their lead before thankfully the ball was cleared at the umpteenth attempt.
There on in, having chased the game, Town were the team in the ascendancy with both Tommo and Sam going desperately close to grabbing the spoils and ending a run that now stretches to two points from seven games.
Town are still six points from safety but who knows how important this one will ultimately prove. “I’m slightly disappointed if I’m honest as I thought we were the team that showed greater intent in the second half,” Gavin said afterwards.
“We started well but didn’t score – a trademark of ours this season. Then they had a spell and did score. After that I felt we the ballsier side if I can put it that way. Yes there was a lack of quality and set-piece delivery was poor but I can’t fault the endeavour which the players show week-in, week-out for this club. They are running through brick walls.”
“Essentially it’s only a good point if we follow it up on Tuesday and then in another home game against Horsham on Saturday.”
Town
Wright; Benjamin, Thompson, Hawkins; Adom-Malaki, Bullas (Jones 88), Traore (Bartlett-Antwi), Brown, Leonard (Knight 83); Youngs, Andrews (Reynolds 45)