Enfield Town FC

Report

Town blown away in 20-minute blitz    

Hornchurch 4 Enfield Town 0

From the joy of a Tuesday at Margate to the despair of a Saturday at Hornchurch…

A strong, swirling wind and a hideously bumpy surface – the same for both sides of course – greeted the teams and Town forced an early free kick, taken by Lyle Della-Verde, which former Towner Joe Wright punched clear. Nathan McDonald managed to grab the ball ahead of the onrushing Lewwis Spence and then a fine home move ended with Chris Dickson’s effort being blocked.  But Town’s early discipline began to unravel alarmingly when a series of headers were won by the hosts in a dangerous area and the ball fell for Dickson to convert with ease in the 15^th minute.

Wright caught a flighted Sam Youngs free kick and kept out Weatherstone’s header from another Della-Verde set piece as Town attempted to muster some kind of reply, and Youngs – returning to the side in place of the suspended Ryan Blackman – wasn’t far away shortly afterwards when his shot cleared the angle of post and crossbar by just a few feet.  But on 25 minutes a Matt Johnson long throw from the left was met by the head of Adam Cunnington, with far too much time and space, to give the visitors a mountain to climb.

And it was Cunnington who again found himself free of any markers as he placed another effort just over the top shortly afterwards.  Bad became worse when Mickey Parcell picked the ball up in the inside-right channel and drove towards the Town goal, playing a one-two with George Saunders and unleashing a fine finish to give McDonald no chance.  Jordan Clark was the next to benefit from Town’s lack of closing down to net with ease following Saunders’ through ball to give the away following a hugely disappointing sinking feeling.

New signing Shaun Okojie replaced Junior Mubiayi at this point and showed some useful touches. After Nathan Cooper had headed over for the hosts, Youngs was played through but Cooper, back to his defensive duties, held strong to shepherd the ball back to Wright.  Wright then came off his line to collect ahead of Okojie, but Town had few answers to Hornchurch’s strength and efficiency.

Half-time: Hornchurch 4 Enfield Town 0

The second half produced no further goals, and little in the way of incident or excitement, as the Urchins took their foot off the gas and Town raised their game somewhat, albeit playing solely for pride.

Another Della-Verde free kick in a promising position flew wide to Wright’s left and Josh Urquhart was similarly off target with a header from Youngs’ free kick. A Saunders free-kick and follow up were both blocked by the Town wall, and then some good interplay between Dickson and Spence fashioned an opportunity but Joe Payne was on hand to clear.

Okojie couldn’t get a positive touch on the end of Bricknell’s ball into the box from the left around the hour mark and, after McDonald had denied Cunnington, Town had a huge let off when Clark took the ball round the Enfield keeper but contrived to miss the target with the goal at his mercy.

Bricknell fired a free kick into the Urchins’ defensive wall and Okojie headed a Youngs corner wide of the mark. Della-Verde shot wide before Wright made the save of the match to keep out a firm drive from Okojie ten minutes from time. As the clock ran down substitute Charlie Stimson was high and wide following McDonald’s punch clear from a corner before Okojie headed wide once more towards the end.

Hornchurch: Joe Wright, Mickey Parcell, Remi Sutton (George Winn 68), Arthur Lee, Nathan Cooper, Matt Johnson, George Saunders (Sonny Dutton 82), Lewwis Spence, Chris Dickson, Jordan Clark, Adam Cunnington (Charlie Stimson 72).  Unused: Daniel Uchechi, George Winn, Sakaraiya Hassan. Booked: Spence.

Enfield Town: Nathan McDonald, Jon Muleba, Joe Payne, Scott Thomas, Marc Weatherstone, Josh Urquhart, Lyle Della-Verde, Sam Youngs, Billy Bricknell, Nathan Livings (Bobson Bawling 75), Junior Mubiayi (Shaun Okojie 35). Unused: Glenn Wilson, Samson Esan, Lewis Taaffe. Booked: Urquhart.

Attendance: 365.