Chelmsford City 3 Enfield Town 0
Report by Andrew Warshaw
Mathematically it’s still possible but there was no doubting the air of gut-wrenching disappointment and dejection after the Good Friday defeat at Chelmsford which all but condemned Enfield Town to a return to Step 3 football next season.
With Bath City beating Chippenham, Town fell into the bottom two and now have to win their next three games — and hope Farnborough lose theirs and others slip up too — to stand any chance of taking it to the final day and a possible second successive survival act.
A more likely scenario is the depressing reality of being relegated on Easter Monday though three points would certainly sweeten the pill going into the final group of fixtures.
Despite plenty of endeavour and desire, it was all too familiar a pattern as we were beaten by the more skillful, inventive team. Having said that, Lady Luck could have smiled on us on more compassionately, only for us to leave Essex empty-handed.
Even before kickoff there were grumbles of resentment as Chelmsford rigorously employed their segregation policy, on occasion in far too heavy handed a manner.
Once the action got under way, Town – who made three changes due to injuries and unavailability including Jake Cass making his first start since coming out of retirement — began steadily and were relatively comfortable against full-time opponents who had changed manager 48 hours earlier in an attempt to squeeze into the playoffs.
Lyle Taylor, one of the highest paid players in the division, chipped narrowly over while at the other end Cassy shrugged off his defender to find Lamar Reynolds who was dispossessed far too easily.
With the strong wind at their backs, another Town half-chance came and went when Hayden Bullas won a freekick and the ball was eventually cleared.
Taylor, not surprisingly, was always a threat but it took until the 39th minute for him to score his 27th goal of the season, aided by two Town errors. Henry Hawkins miscued an attempted clearance back into the danger zone and Billy Leonard – playing in an unfamiliar rightback role – slipped at the back post to allow Taylor to poke the ball home.
Town so nearly levelled just before the interval when Ruaridh Donaldson’s thumping header was narrowly ruled offside.
H-T 0-1
Who knows what might have transpired had the equaliser stood, given that we had largely contained Chelmsford in the blustery conditions.
Having said that, Taylor almost doubled his and his team’s lead just after the break, only for Joe Wright to stick out a leg to keep it to a single goal.
On 54 minutes, we came close again to levelling as Noah Phillips saved superbly from Sam Youngs and follow-up efforts from Cass and Hayden Bullas were somehow hoicked to safety.
It just wasn’t our day and Chelmsford, who didn’t play in midweek, now made their superior fitness count, took control and dug the knife in.
With 20 minutes left and second balls increasingly picked up by to the Clarets , Town failed to clear a right-wing cross and Archie Tamplin, on the edge of the area, unleashed an unstoppable volley into the far corner.
Play was temporarily halted shortly afterwards following an incident involving a Chelmsford supporter behind the goal and Joe Wright. It wasn’t spotted by the referee or linesman but resulted in seven minutes of stoppage time.
By this time, our support play in midfield had all but dried up – at both ends. When Bailey Brown failed to clear a quick throw-in, substitute Antony Papadopoulos took advantage by rolling the ball into the net with the last action of the game.
Now we go again on Monday against Hemel Hempstead hoping for a health Easter crowd despite the situation we find ourselves in.
“We’re chalk and cheese compared with Chelmsford and thin on the ground,” said Gavin Macpherson. “We effectively had three academy players on the bench but we weren’t out of it until late on even though we lacked a bit of running power having played on Tuesday.”
“It’s been the story of our season not quite having the quality in the final third, then switching off at the other end. But the dressing room is focussed on going at Hemel on Monday. We’re running on empty but we are sticking together and have a duty to the club to try our very best in the final four games.”
Town: Wright; Adom-Malaki, Benjamin, Hawkins, Leonard (Traore 51); Knight (Brown 90), Bullas, Donaldson, Youngs; Reynolds, Cass (Andrews 65)