Boreham Wood 4 Enfield Town 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

If at first you don’t succeed, try again.

Enfield Town’s Step 2 survival comes down to a nail-biting, nerve-wracking  finale next weekend but after two bites at the cherry, the fact is it’s still in our hands.

It will hopefully be a case of third time lucky when title-chasing Worthing visit the Dave Bryant stadium on Saturday for arguably the biggest game in our history after our eight-match unbeaten run came to an end at the hands of in-form Boreham Wood.

Playing two games over Easter without training in between certainly took its toll against full-time opponents who understandably looked sharper and fresher.

But despite a backs-to-the-wall job for large periods of the game, our organization and resilience could not be faulted, plugging gaps wherever we could and showing commendable cohesion.

Gavin Macpherson, perhaps surprisingly, left Jack Bates  – ineligible against his parent club next Saturday – on the bench while Bailey Brown didn’t manage to shake off the knock he took against St Albans. In came Charlie Stallard and Harry Sidwell, with Lennon Peake and Sam Youngs supporting Cian Dillon.

 Wood were on the front foot from the start, Joe Wright having to time his sliding challenge on Matt Rush to perfection as he came galloping out of his area.

The hosts’ strong running and neat interplay, epitomised by the quick feet of Abdul Abdulmalik, kept Town on their toes but our defence was equal to everything Wood tried to throw at us in the first half.

One Henry Hawkins interception to thwart Rush drew appreciative support from the travelling faithful while Adam Thompson was his usual model of reliability.

H-T 0-0

Town had worked incredibly hard, especially out of possession, but 20 seconds after the restart a ball over the top was clipped forward by Rush on to the roof of the net.

It was another danger sign and the pressure finally told on 55 minutes when a Charles Clayden cross was stabbed home by Callum Reynolds

At this point St Albans were drawing with Hemel Hempstead and our National League South status was preserved. But all that was to change, extending proceedings to the final round of fixtures.

Three minutes before St Albans went in front, Wood added a second from the penalty spot in highly questionable circumstances. Tommo tustled with  Josef Yarney in what looked like nothing more than handbags but the referee deemed the Enfield man was guilty of shirt-pulling and Rush made no mistake from 12 yards.

Five minutes later, Town were awarded a penalty of their own when a Billy Leonard centre flashed across goal and Cian Dillion was upended (pictured). Having missed his previous two spotkicks, Sam Youngs made no mistake this time as he sent Nathan Ashmore the wrong way to halve Boreham Wood’s lead.

The next goal was always going to prove critical and it went the way of Wood on 79 minutes. After a superb block by Xavier Benjamin, a corner was flicked on at the near post, presenting Rush with the simplest of tap-ins.

It was a poor goal to concede by our recent standards but worse was to come.  Joe Wright had just pulled off a great saved from Rush when, in stoppage time, Charlie O’Connell rifled in an unstoppable drive from the edge of the box.

So now it goes down to the wire. One would hope St Albans’ trip to Truro would prove a step too far for the Saints who, along with Salisbury, are three points adrift of Town. But we have to try and take care of our own business and secure the point we need rather than rely on others.

“To be honest I’m not that down if we put things into perspective,” said Gavin. “The game ran away from us when we opened things up to try and get something. I was actually more disappointed with how we were on Friday.”

“You have to recognise what Boreham Wood are. They had everything stacked in their favour but the boys worked their socks off and to a game plan. With a little more luck, we may not have been as pegged back as we were. Their penalty came at a crucial time. The officials got that one wrong but you can’t argue with the result.”

“The fact is it was in our hands and still is. There’s no doom and gloom about the place. We always knew we might be in this position.”

Enfield Town: Wright; Leonard (Chukwu 92), Benjamin, Hawkins, Thompson, Stallard; Peake, Youngs (Kasimu 85), Sidwell, Parcell;
Dillon (Bates 77),