Enfield Town 0 Hendon 3
Report by Andrew Warshaw
Enfield Town’s latest pre-season outing hardly went according to plan as we were undone by Step 3 Hendon who picked up the FSA Brian Lomax trophy.
Town were poor throughout but there were mitigating circumstances with a spate of absentees through unavailability or injury.
Add to that the loss of Marcus Wyllie and the sudden retirement of Taylor McKenzie and it was perhaps inevitable that the wheels would come off as the management team try desperately to apply some stability.
At times we were run ragged by Hendon’s front pair of Joe White and Niko Muir, the latter taking just four minutes to force Rhys Forster into an excellent stop.
Town debutant Josh Oyenuga knocked in an effort shortly thereafter that was narrowly deemed offside (pictured) but the visitors for the most part looked the more dangerous side. Muir put a lob-volley just wide before Rhys was called into action again to keep out a close-range hook.
There was an element of good fortune, however, about Hendon’s opener on 31 minutes as Joash Nembhard stuck out a leg to divert a cross that was creeping wide into his own net.
Mickey Parcell’s block prevented an almost certain second from White but in the blink of eye Hendon went two up when the experienced Muir spun quickly and finished powerfully.
Ten minutes into the second half it was game over as a trialist headed home after his initial shot was parried by Forster who couldn’t get off the ground in time to keep the rebound out.
Cue a flurry of Enfield subs which failed to affect the course of the game but included a first appearance of the season for Lewis Taaffe and a final one for McKenzie who is retiring from the game due to work commitments at the age of 30.
One ray of sunshine was a debut for new recruit Oyenuga, formerly of Dover who can play in a variety of defensive and wide positions but all in all it was a troubling display.
“It’s a very frustrating time,” admitted Gavin Macpherson. “What happened out there was really no surprise to me as we had square pins in round holes and were missing almost the complete spine of the team.”
“Taylor’s decision so close to the start of the season has obviously made things harder having already lost Marcus. It’s not a position as a manager I wanted to be in as I’m now having to re-programme and restructure.
“It’s no secret to anyone how much of a problem losing Marcus has caused but I am leaving no stone unturned, almost 24/7, to try and bring in the necessary and affordable replacements. I’m constantly throwing the net out there. It’s extremely difficult two weeks before the season to have to be experimenting but I have to make this work.”
Town
Forster; Parcell, Nembhard, Tanner; Trialist, Smith, Youngs, Oyenuga; Owusu
Subs: Trialist, Solomon, McKenzie, Taaffe, Onyeagwara, Trialist, trialist, trialist