Enfield Town go into the first of three games in six games over a challenging holiday period with a mouth-watering derby at Cheshunt on Boxing Day, given extra spice by our signing of former Ambers’ skipper Taylor McKenzie.

Taylor joined Saturday’s training session just minutes after becoming a Town player for the second time following five years at Cheshunt — and will be available for selection for the so-called A10 Classico which kicks off at 1pm.

Relegated from Step 2 last season after one season in National league south, Cheshunt have had to adapt back to life in the Isthmian League from which they earned promotion in 2021/22 with a late burst and playoff victory – the same season we agonisingly missed out.

A recent defeat at Lewes saw them slip into the bottom four but they were in decent form up to that point, winning two and drawing two of their previous four league games, scoring 11 goals in the process. In fact they have lost only one of their last eight in the league.

Derbies are notoriously unpredictable and the Boxing Day clash against one of our fiercest rivals is bound to be a highly competitive affair. The fact that all three of our holiday fixtures are against sides fighting for their lives is not lost on the management team.

“I realise geographically there’s not a lot between the clubs but points against Cheshunt are worth the same as every other team so we should be focused on the job in hand,” said Gavin Macpherson as he looked ahead to the fixture at Theobalds Lane.

“It’s a tough game because Craig’s teams always are difficult opponents. We’ve planned and prepared, it represents the start of a difficult run of games in a short space of time when often performances become secondary to points on the board. We’ll need everyone to be at their maximum over the next week or so.”

Andrew warshaw