Enfield Town FC

Report

Carshalton Athletic 1-1 Enfield Town  

Late Marcus Strike Earns Point
Report by Charlie Baker

Town snatched a point at fellow play-off hopefuls Carshalton Athletic in a game of few chances.

We were looking for revenge after the Robins took the points in a 3-0 win earlier in the season but went into the game without Taylor McKenzie and Manny Harvest, both injured, as well as Ollie Knight who was still suspended.

It left us with only four on the bench but changing our usual formation to 3-5-2 with the impressive Bernie Tanner making his debut in defence (pictured) and Mickey Parcell on the right of a three, we began on the front foot.

Reece Beckles-Richards blazed over after being set up by Marcus Wyllie, then Sam Youngs dragged a shot wide but it was promising play from Town.

Joe Payne’s hopeful punt was the only other chance of note for Town in the first half and as the home side grew into the game, a header over the bar was the Robins’ first attempt on goal.

As if our injury problems weren’t enough, Josh Okotcha had to replace James Richmond who suffered a freak injury on 37 minutes.

To make matters worse, in added time, the deadlock was broken with the first shot on target of the match.

From a Carshalton free kick, the ball bounced around in the box before Oluwabunmi Babajide swept it into the bottom right corner when our defence switched off.

It was perhaps harsh on Town but in truth we hadn’t created enough.

HT 0-1

Carshalton started the second half how they ended the first, on front foot, with Kwaku Frimpong shooting just wide.

Babajide continued to cause problems for Town, forcing Rhys Forster into a low save from the edge of the box.

Town now started to apply more pressure, but still hadn’t sufficiently tested Aaron Jones in the Robins goal.

Then out of nowhere, Wyllie delivered as he has done so many times this season, losing his marker to head home at the back post from a rare Town corner for his 19th goal of the season.

Obi Onyeagwara’s introduction injected life into a pretty flat game, giving the home defence more to think about.

And just as it looked destined for a draw, Town substitute Jonathan Hippolyte’s cross fell to Beckles-Richards in the six-yard box, but he couldn’t sort his feet out at the vital moment.

With the Hastings game called off, we moved back into playoff places on goal difference ahead of a rearranged home game against Kingstonian on Tuesday night.

“We were without three of our very important players so overall you have to pleased with a point though in a way I was slightly disappointed it wasn’t all three because they hardly caused us any problems,” said Gavin Macpherson.

“The system change was planned a week ago to deal with the way Carshalton exploit certain areas of the pitch. It was very a tight game but on clear cut chances – and there weren’t many — we might have won it.”

Town: Forster, Parcell, Richmond (Okotcha, 37), Tanner, Payne, Alves (Hippolyte, 74), Thomas, Adjei-Hersey (Obi Onyeagwara, 63), Youngs, Beckles-Richards, Wyllie