Enfield Town FC

Report

Jekyll and Hyde form continues [photo courtesy of Stuart Tree]

Corinthian-Casuals 2 Enfield Town 0 – match report by John Dolan

After a sluggish start during which the visitors conceded a good deal of possession during the opening twenty minutes or so and without creating any chances of their own, Town managed to restrict the hosts to long range shots which failed to trouble Nathan McDonald unduly.

It wasn’t until the 22nd minute that home keeper Daniel Bracken was called into action. A Sam Youngs free kick found Billy Bricknell, whose flicked header went straight into the keeper’s arms. Town began to enjoy more possession at this point but, disappointingly, failed to create anything of note – an overhead volley from Bricknell following a goalmouth scramble on 42 minutes was probably the best opportunity of the half. But in an uninspiring 45 minutes, in truth neither side had troubled the respective goalkeepers, although Town did finish in the ascendancy.

Half-time: Corinthian-Casuals 0 Enfield Town 0

Town’s main weapons after the break were corners and long throws but Casuals’ back line remained firmly in control. Around the hour mark, and possibly slightly against the run of play at this point, Jerson Dos Santos opened the scoring for the home side when he found space near the edge of the penalty area after picking up a long ball. He still had plenty of work to do but impressively hit a powerful strike from an acute angle to beat McDonald.

Town were stung into action but the Casuals defence remained well drilled, disciplined and committed. On 70 minutes the hosts had a stranglehold on the game and should have increased their lead when, from a quick breakaway, the ball was played into the danger area where it eluded everyone except Hakeem Adelakun at the far post, but the full-back blazed over. Town had another let-off soon afterwards when, after conceding possession in the middle of the park, a through ball found Kieron Cadogan in a one-on-one situation with McDonald, but his chip hit the bar.

In the 79th minute, Marc Weatherstone missed a tackle for Dos Santos to run clear and bag his second of the match with another fine shot, from 15 yards this time, to effectively seal the points. Subsequent substitutions failed to make an impact as Town chased the game. Percy Kiangebeni did well with a couple of marauding runs but the clock was ticking down too quickly to change the game sufficiently.

It was difficult to identify many positive outcomes from the afternoon from an Enfield perspective, and the healthy travelling supporters’ misery was compounded when Weatherstone was shown a straight red card for an apparent stamp on Matthew O’Donoghue at the death.

Corinthian-Casuals: Daniel Bracken, Matthew O’Donoghue, Hakeem Adelakun, Jack Strange, Robert Jamison, Coskun Ekim, Jerson Dos Santos (Nathaniel Pinney 90), Kevat Serbonij (Harry Carter 84), Youssef Bamba (Andrew Mills 88), Kieron Cadogan, Benjamin Checklit. Unused: Andrew Mills, Maxwell Oldham.

Enfield Town: Nathan McDonald, Josh Urquhart, Lee Chappell (Percy Kiangebeni 79), Scott Thomas (Junior Mubiayi 79), Marc Weatherstone, Adam Pepera, Jared Small, Ryan Blackman, Billy Bricknell, Sam Youngs, Lyle Della-Verde (Larry Asare 88). Unused: Jeremiah Gyebi, Jon Muleba. Sent off: Weatherstone.

Attendance: 402.