Enfield Town FC

Report

Nine-Man Town Battle In Vain

Enfield Town 1-2 St Albans City

Report by Andrew Warshaw
Image by Mark Walling

Self-inflicted, impetuous indiscipline or a card-happy, over-zealous referee? Everyone who was there will have an opinion one way or the other.

On a dramatic and ultimately hugely frustrating evening in front of a bumper 1,000-plus crowd, Town suffered last-gasp heartbreak in the fourth minute of stoppage time after playing the whole of the second half with nine men following the dismissals of Sonny Hart and Ayo Tanimowo, coupled with a string of other cautions.

Despite the result, there were plenty of positives to take away. While Saturday’s rout of Lewes illustrated Town’s creativity and movement, this showed another side of the team: taking one of the division’s heavily resourced promotion hopefuls right down to the wire with a backs-to-the-wall display that spoke volumes about the battling spirit and collective mentality that management team are trying to instill.

You can’t legislate for the sendings-off and we will now be without two massively important defenders for the visit to Brentwood on Saturday week – along with the highly influential Amrit Bansal-McNulty who appears to have tweaked an old injury and will likely miss a few games.

But the fact we were in control of the game when 11-v-11 suggested that with a fair wind we will be able to more than hold our own against supposedly superior teams during the long campaign ahead. And in 18-year-old Tottenham Hotspur loanee Dylan Thompson we have a goalkeeper whose handling for one so young was nothing short of impeccable.

Much has been made of St. Albans’ spending power this season but apart from a bright opening salvo, their main threat came from long throws and the first half largely belonged to Town.

A wonderful cross-field ball from Tom Avgoustides picked out Luke Deslandes who brought a sharp save from Sam Donkin. Even before that, St Albans had to defend four successive Town short corners , one of which was headed narrowly over by Adam Thompson. And from another one-touch move, Billy Leonard outpaced the St Albans defence with a surging 25 -yard run, only to blast the ball over.

Town were missing chances, Avgoustides the latest to see his goalbound shot blocked. But on 26 minutes, we got our reward. The referee spotted a clear handball and Sam Youngs, after being ordered to replace the ball on the spot,  didn’t let it worry him and sent Donkin the wrong way.

Bansal-McNulty sadly only lasted another 15 minutes but what happened just before and just after the halftime whistle defied belief.

Shortly before the interval, Sonny Hart was booked for the softest of fouls but reacted by kicking the ball away right in front of the St. Albans dugout.

Another yellow ensued and if that wasn’t damaging enough, 10 men quickly became nine. When Tanimowo – man of the match at Lewes and again imperious for 45 minutes – made his feelings known about Sonny’s dismissal, he was immediately cautioned. Instead of walking away, he sarcastically applauded the referee which meant a second yellow for him too and a second dismissal.

H-T 1-0

As game plans go, everything was suddenly thrown out of the window as Town scrapped for their lives in a 4-4-0 formation aided by an inspired rookie keeper (pictured).

Even he could do little about St. Albans’ equaliser on the hour as Alex Dyer almost burst the net with a wonder strike. And yet, and yet….Almost straight from the kickoff,  the nine men were a coat of paint away from restoring their lead, Billy Leonard plucking the ball out of the air and unleashing a sensational strike which somehow came back off the inside of the post, the rebound saved by the legs of Donkin.

How on earth it stayed out is anyone’s guess but now it was attack versus defence, with every Town clearance from every Saints raid roared to the rafters as the minutes ticked by.

But just as it appeared we would pick up the most unlikeliest of points, Saints substitute Inih Effiong’s outstretched leg at the back post won the game for the visitors to break Town hearts.

 Victims of our downfall? In part yes. But a cruel finale just the same. Now we go again on Saturday.

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Town: Thompson D; Tanimowo, Thompson A, Hart, Domi; Rydings, Leonard, Bansal-McNulty (Remi 41); Avgoustidis (Parcell 60), Youngs, Deslandes (Mensah 46).

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