Enfield Town FC

Report

Enfield Town 0-1 Hemel Hempstead Town 

Town Suffer Last-Gasp Heartbreak
Report by Andrew Warshaw

Football is a cruel game, never better illustrated than seeing a crucial point snatched away in the 95^th minute on Monday.

When you’re near the bottom, things tend not to go your way and so it was as Hemel delivered a devastating sucker punch in front of a 975-strong Bank Holiday crowd.

No-one can gloss over the fact that four straight defeats, in the process sending Town into the bottom four, doesn’t make for encouraging reading.

On the positive front, we have got our two furthest away trips out of the way already and the games we’ve lost have been to the top four sides in the division.

That, of course, will do little to alleviate the gut-wrenching disappointment of this latest setback, our endeavour and spirit having deserved to yield a different outcome especially after having to travel further than any other side in the division over the Bank Holiday weekend.

With Mickey Parcell and John  Oyenuga both nursing injuries, Alex Solomon was drafted in as an emegency rightback and looked impressive until having to come off with breathing problems while Dylan Adjei-Hersey was also given a starting role as Gavin rotated a stretched squad, making four changes from the defeat at Truro and giving one or two a much-needed rest.

Unbeaten Hemel were without leading marksman Ricardo German, who scored 33 goals for Chesham last term, but still posed a considerable threat with the likes of Alfie Cerulli up front and midfield ace George Williams, a full Welsh senior international who was in their 2016 Euro squad.

But it was at the back where they had the player of the match in skipper Kyle Ajayi, their reigning player of the year who gobbled up the vast majority of Town’s forward forays.

After a strong start from the visitors, who missed a couple of decent chances, just like at Truro we began to grow into the game and Nana Owusu, brought back from Walton & Hersham where he is on a dual registration, almost gave us the lead after great work from Khanya Leshabela.

Whilst we could have done with more clear-cut openings in our attacking third, Michael Folivi getting little change out of his previous club’s backline and visiting keeper Craig King having little to do, at the other end we defended far better than in the two previous games. Joash Nembhard was deservedly named our man of the match.

Having said that, we got lucky when Akei Woolard-Innocent rattled the woodwork with a Hemel freekick while the 6-foot-6 Sydney Ibie planted a free header over.

H-T 0-0

The second half followed a similar pattern with Hemel fast out of the blocks.

Rhys Forster scrambled the ball clear from halftime substitute Kyran Wiltshire (pictured) while we somehow managed to keep out a flurry of quick-fire goalbound efforts. But again we responded well after absorbing pressure, Joe Payne firing a freekick into the side netting.

In general this season the officials have been of a far higher standard than at Step 3 but we were on the wrong end of some highly questionable decisions against Hemel including a booking for Gavin for nothing more than throwing his arms in the air when a clear push in the back on Owusu wasn’t given.

As both teams tired, it seemed for the world as if the match would remain scoreless, only for Ollie Knight to miss the target on 80 minutes as he headed a right-sided cross agonisingly past the post.

It may well have won the game for Town. Instead, five minutes into six added on, Hemel caught us out down their left and when the ball was pulled back across the area, sub Trae Cook-Appiah applied a shanked finish.

“The boys worked their socks today and I can’t fault them for that,” said a crestfallen Gavin. “We definitely deserved more but it’s a results business and I can’t accept this run of form if we want to stay in this league.”

Gavin reserved particular praise for the fans.

“Not only am I accountable to the board, I’m accountable to the supporters. I understand how this club is set up and the way they are still supporting me and the boys is truly humbling. I’m going to work as hard as I can to turn this round.”

Town: Forster; Solomon (Knight, 58), Nembhard, Tanner, Payne; Thomas (Krasniqi, 95); Adjei-Hersey, Leonard (Youngs, 73), Leshabela, Owusu (Peake, 78); Folivi (Beckles-Richards, 66)