Enfield Town 2 Dorking Wanderers 4 

Report by Martin Bentley 

The final outcome may have been somewhat inevitable, but Enfield Town at least had the satisfaction of letting League leaders Dorking Wanderers know that they had been in a game.

Ultimately though, Dorking were able to overpower Town with their superior fitness, movement and passing ability, although Town at least succeeded in tweaking their noses more than once in the second half. With Yacou Traore replacing the injured Bayley Brown in the only change from the turgid draw with Dagenham and Redbridge three days previously, Town succeeded in competing on an equal footing in the opening, rather shapeless, 20 minutes. Neither goalkeeper was troubled however, with Town’s highlight coming from Mickey Parcell, who briefly transformed himself into Neymar with a spectacular twist and turn past two defenders out on the left wing, followed by a cross thaat unfortunately came to nothing. 

The visitors soon found their mojo though, and dominated possession for long periods, with diminutive midfielder Harry Pinchard involved in every attack. The first goal arrived on the half hour from a deflected Niall McManus shot, and the second seven minutes later from a near-post header by defender Brennan Camp. Town were forced to cling on by their fingernails for the remainder of the half, and came close to conceding a third in stoppage time when Dorking were awarded a penalty in stoppage time following a foul by Traore. Joe Wright, however, made an excellent save from Dennon Lewis’ spot kick to keep Town at least theoretically in the game… 

…well, for about two minutes of the second half at least. An innocuous looking free kick from deep on the right wing was headed in by visiting skipper Charlie Carter to give Dorking an apparently unassailable 3-goal lead.

Within a further 2 minutes though, Town suddenly found the ‘on’ switch. Sam Youngs picked up a loose ball out on the right, slalomed across the edge of the penalty area before firing the ball into the roof of the net from 20 yards. This was Sam’s 100th goal for the club, and one of the better ones. 

It got even better on 58 minutes when Town were awarded a penalty – remember those? Lamar Reynolds was wrestled to the ground by Camp ten yards from goal, and referee Blades pointed to the spot for, astoundingly, our first League spot kick of the season. Sam ignored the long, loud, and pointless protests from the visitors’ defence, and sent keeper Harrison Foulkes the wrong way from the spot. With the deficit now just a single goal, Town made three substitutions as they chased an unlikely equaliser.

On 75 minutes, however, Dorking, who still looked threatening whenever they attached, scored a fourth to make the game safe. A harmless looking long ball out of defence found substitute Alfie Rutherford, who always seems to score against us. Joe Wright rushed from his goal, but Rutherford beat him to it and slipped the ball into the net from distance.

The rest of the game slipped away amidst a flurry of substitutions with only half chances for Xav Benjamin and Henry Hawkins worthy of recording. Overall, a respectable and spirited Town showing against the probable League champions. It was, however, another defeat for a Town side hovering perilously over the trap door.  

Team: Wright, Benjamin, Appiah (Lambert 82), Hawkins, Leonard (Donaldson 80), Parcell (Bullas 77), Traore, Youngs, Adom-Malaki, Andrews (Ackason 68), Reynolds (Knight 64)

Unused sub: Connolly