Enfield Town FC

Report

On the road woes continue as Town run out of gas

Carshalton Athletic 2 Enfield Town 0

Without the unavalaible Billy Bricknell and the suspended Marc Weatherstone, Town went into this game with a back five and youngster Neville Nzembela making his competitive debut up front.

The wet, blustery conditions were as gloomy as the outcome of this game, with a fairly even first half giving way to an exceptionally disappointing second half performance during which the Robins were allowed to wrestle the initiative as the visitors fell away badly.

A covid-capacity all-ticket 600 onlookers, with additional people apparently turned away on the day, enjoyed an opening 45 minutes of end to end play, and Town put in a spirited shift. Former favourite Harry Ottaway set up the ever-impresive Nyren Clunis to draw Nathan McDonald’s first save of the afternoon, before the Town stopper required treatment after making a subsequent save from David Fisher.

Lee Chappell fizzed a right footed effort narrowly over before Jeremiah Gyebi made a vital tackle to stop the rampagin Clunis. In the 14th minute Lyle Della-Verde’s free-kick was straight at home keeper Patrick Ohman before the same player was unlucky with a powerful low shot which was arrowing towards the corner before the ball was tipped acrobatically around the post by Ohman – Town’s best chance of the match.

Bobby Price’s cross just eluded the head of Fisher and, shortly afterwards, Town suffered a blow when Scott Thomas limped off after an innocuous-looking challenge. Substitute Sam Youngs was soon in the wars himself, but recovered to play on. Ryan Blackman was in the right place at the right time to head behind a shot from Price before Jordan Cheadle wasted a free kick opportunity for the hosts.

Gyebi blocked another Clunis effort and, as the ball ballooned skywards, McDonald needed to back-pedal to tip the ball behind as it dropped dangerously close to his crossbar. Although McDonald was forced into making another low save from Fisher after Josh Urquhart had been dispossessed, Town were giving as good as they got at this point as Nzembela was inches away from getting onto the end of a low cross from the left by Chappell.

Half-time: Carshalton Athletic 0 Enfield Town 0

The second 45 minutes was pretty much one-way traffic in favour of the Robins. The ball was in the back of the Town net on 48 minutes, but the assistant referee had spotted that the ball had gone out of play.

And there was an air of inevitability when Ottaway fed Fisher down the left to shoot towards goal, McDonald could only parry the ball and Tommy Bradford was on hand to convert from close range at the far post.

Fisher then cut in from the left to fire narrowly over and Ottaway was then guilty of missing a guilt edged chance just beyond the hour mark as the signs were looking ominous. A Della-Verde free-kick – the most promising of all Town’s options – was headed wide by Gyebi before a Bradford/Ottaway one-two move ended with the ball in McDonald’s arms.

Athletic substitute Dan Hector fired way over the top with his first touch of the match after some ping-pong in the visitors’ area, while another Della-Verde effort was pushed behind by Ohman without too much discomfort at the opposite end.

The game was well and truly up with five minutes to play when Bradford bagged his second of the afternoon when he flicked the ball into the air and skilfully volleyed it into the net giving McDonald no chance. McDonald then saved well from Cheadle as the game meandered towards its final, predictable, stages as the Robins managed the remainder of the game with very few concerns.

Carshalton Athletic: Patrick Ohman, Bobby Price, Paris Hamilton-Downes, Luke Read, Archie Proctor, Jordan Cheadle, Kershaney Samuels (Ernold Haxhiu 84), Nyren Clunis (Dan Hector 75), Harry Ottaway (Kelvin Manuel 90), Tommy Bradford, David Fisher. Unused: Eddie Allan, Peter Adeniyi. Booked: Samuels, Bradford.

Enfield Town: Nathan McDonald, Jon Muleba (Jared Small 64), Lee Chappell, Scott Thomas (Sam Youngs 27), Jeremiah Gyebi, Adam Pepera, Josh Urquhart, Ryan Blackman, Neville Nzembela, Percy Kiangebeni (Junior Muviayi 81), Lyle Della-Verde. Unused: Lewis Taaffe, Larry Asare. Booked: Gyebi, Blackman.

Attendance: 600.