Enfield Town FC

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Town drop more points

Enfield Town 2 Brightlingsea Regent 2

Brightlingsea Regent moved out of the Isthmian Premier drop zone with a battling display against an off-colour Town, to follow up their home point gained against league leaders Folkestone Invicta last weekend.

Shorn of the goal threat of the departed Muhammadu Faal and the suspended Billy Bricknell, Town found creating chances, let alone taking them, difficult and the visitors’ uncompromising back line held firm in relative comfort throughout.

The game was largely as grim as the leaden skies, admittedly not helped by a swirling wind, although action was promised early on when man of the match, by a distance, Lyle Della-Verde shot into a crowded Regent box before the ball was somehow hacked clear in the first attack of the game. It wasn’t long before Town’s hopes of a long overdue clean sheet were shredded when Nathan McDonald brought down George Bugg in the box after ten minutes, picking up a yellow card for his troubles, and Jake Turner converted the spot kick emphatically.

R’s keeper Charlie Turner saved low down from Joe Payne and parried a fierce Della-Verde drive. But he was beaten in the 25th minute when a long Payne throw from the left forced him to punch rather than catch under pressure from Marc Weatherstone and, following a scramble in the six-yard box during which Turner acrobatically clawed the ball away from the goalline, Sam Youngs eventually forced the ball in from close range.

Flowing moves were at a premium with both sides giving the ball away cheaply. George Forrest miscued horribly high and wide before Youngs manoeuvred his way into the box only to be denied by a timely clearance from Matt Cripps after good set-up play from Kezie Ibe. A low Della-Verde cross from the right eluded everyone while at the opposite end Jake Clowsley blazed well wide with his left foot. The final moments of the half saw Sam Hatton, having been booked earlier for a crude challenge, headed behind a dangerous cross from the Regent right from Clowsley.

Half-time: Enfield Town 1 Brightlingsea Regent 1

The second half was, if anything, even more attritional, with a liberal sprinkling of unpunished niggles.  After Della-Verde and Ken Charles had fired wide for the hosts, the game was lit up by a moment of rare quality when, following a needless foul on Ryan Blackman on the edge of the box by Matt Cripps, Della-Verde curled a left-footed free-kick beyond Turner to edge Town in front.

But it was, disappointingly from a home perspective, all square with seven minutes remaining when Romario Dunne squeezed a loose ball beyond McDonald for the equaliser. There were a couple of half-chances at either end at the death, but a point apiece was probably the correct outcome.

Enfield Town: Nathan McDonald, Sam Hatton, Joe Payne, Scott Thomas, Marc Weatherstone, Jon Muleba, Lyle Della-Verde, Ryan Blackman, Kezie Ibe (Bobson Bawling 73), Ken Charles, Sam Youngs. Unused subs: Glenn Wilson, Junior Mubiayi, Nathan Livings, Samson Esan. Booked: McDonald, Hatton.

Brightlingsea Regent: Charlie Turner, Pip Boyland, Jake Gould, Jake Turner (Jake Brice-Wiffen 82), George Forrest, Matt Cripps, Jake Clowsley, Jerry Kamanzi, Jordan Barnett (Lewis Byrne-Hewitt (63), George Bugg (Finn O’Reilly 73), Romario Dunne. Unused subs: Morisi Gelashvili.

Attendance: 344.