Enfield Town FC

Report

Enfield Town 1-4 Torquay United

Gulls Swoop to Fell Town
Report by Andrew Warshaw

A bumper 1,300-plus crowd, a dream start and arguably the best 30 minutes of football we have played all season.

But all that came to nought on Saturday against opponents who capitalised our mistakes and were far  more ruthless in the final third.

The scoreline may not reflect the effort Town collectively put into the game but a combination of avoidable errors that get punished at this level and tired legs against full-time opponents sent us crashing to a 14^th  league defeat in our final home game before Christmas.

Gavin Macpherson made a couple of changes from the midweek loss to Hornchurch with Billy Leonard and Jake Hutchinson brought into the starting line-up.

And we had the perfect start after just two minutes when Gulls skipper Sam Dreyer yanked down Sam Youngs who promptly sent James Hamon the wrong way from the spot (pictured).

That we couldn’t capitalise on that early boost was massively frustrating given how we took the game to Torquay.

Although it took Adam Thompson’s clearance to rescue Rhys Forster when he spilled Omar Moussa’s fierce drive, Town continued on the front foot.

Twice Hutchinson was in goal but couldn’t deliver the final blow while Leonard’s 25-yard curler brought a flying save from James Hamon.

Yet for all our promise we were behind at the interval as Torquay hit back with two quickfire goals inside three minutes.

First Jordan Thomas got on the end of a sublime Omar Mussa cross to stab into an empty net. Then, after a spell of pinball inside the box, William Jenkins Davies turned the ball home.

It seemed cruel that we were behind but once again, we lacked composure in both boxes and had to play catch-up.

H-T 1-2

The next goal was always going to be crucial and it fell to Torquay within two minutes of the restart. Town had come out of the blocks in determined mood but were undone by a quickly taken corner and Jordan Young drove the ball home.

Dan Cox planted a free header over as Town tried to rally, then we flung bodies at a cross from the right but to no avail.

But in general, we once again lacked the conviction and belief to create enough goalscoring  opportunities, however well we played from box to box.

And as we understandably tired against fitter opponents, Jenkins-Davies finished us off with 10 minutes left and it was an ominous sign when Alfie Tuck went off with his arm in a sling holding his elbow.

The fixtures don’t come any easier and we now we have four successive away games, starting with a tricky FA Trophy game at Sittingbourne next Saturday followed by three  league games at Tonbridge, Weston super mare and Worthing.

After keeping the players in the dressing room for a lengthy period, Gavin explained why he was so angry.

“The second goal should have been cleared out the ground, the third one killed us even though we had precisely worked on it in respect of stopping it happening. The supporters might sometimes wonder whether the management do their homework but the players were well briefed about what Torquay do and you can’t legislate for switching off.”

“We don’t live with Torquay on paper, we’re chalk and cheese. But that doesn’t mean we accept we’re going to lose. The first 25 minutes were how we like to play but if you’re going to make those sort of mistakes against a side like Torquay, you get buried.

“We put as many good balls into the box as they did but we had nobody busting a gut to score. I’m sick of mentioning it, to be honest, but I’m on the phone constantly to try and address this, often until late at night.”

Town: Forster; Parcell (Adjei-Hersey 81), Benjamin, Thompson, Cox, Payne (69 Beckles-Richards); Tuck (Scott, 85), Leonard (Smith 78), Youngs; Peake, Hutchinson (Whittaker 78)