Report

Hayes & Yeading United 1-3 Enfield Town

Trialists’ Treble Downs United

A trio of trialists were on the scoresheet as Enfield Town continued their pre-season preparations with an encouraging 3-1 victory over Hayes & Yeading United in Berkshire.

With Hayes’ SkyEx Stadium still out of action on safety grounds, the match had been hastily moved to the leafy surroundings of Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre, and after an early header from Trialist E flew over in the opening minute Town appeared to have settled comfortably on its pristine Desso pitch. At least, until falling behind shortly afterwards, though there was more than a hint of controversy about United’s opener. An apparent trip on Joash Nembhard went unpunished by the officials and, as play continued with Town defensively stretched, a well-worked move down the right flank was squared for ex-Towner Jonathan Hippolyte to sweep into the far corner.

Undeterred, the Towners quickly set about finding a response and did so four minutes later. A spell of patient build-up play had worked the ball wide to Reece Beckles-Richards, and his teasing cross it got the finish it deserved; Trialist E racing ahead of his marker to apply a deft finish for 1-1. Enfield tails were now firmly up as some superb interplay fashioned chances for Trialists B and D who both saw goalbound efforts pushed out, before Town took the lead on the half hour mark when both trialists combined. Trialist D sprang forward on the break, bearing down on goal and teeing up Trialist B, who stepped inside two defenders before crashing an unerring strike beyond the ‘keeper.

United began pushing daringly high up the pitch in search of an equaliser, but each time Town’s back line swept up effectively before launching a counter. They were fortunate to escape when Trialist E was sent through on goal and rolled his effort inches wide of the mark, but not on 43 minutes with arguably the pick of Enfield’s goals as Trialist C robbed possession in the middle of the park and executed a superb lob from 35 yards.

HT: Hayes & Yeading United 1-3 Enfield Town

While the light continued to fade, Town continued to try and extend their advantage. Substitute Alex Solomon produced a mazy run and whipped a cross towards Trialist B who forced the goalkeeper into a smart reaction stop from point-blank range. At the other end, United’s number 14 skipped around Rhys Forster but was denied by Bernie Tanner’s sliding intervention on the goal line.

A series of six Town substitutes would follow and, in truth, the game lacked the same rhythm as the first half. Hippolyte shanked narrowly wide of the target as Hayes & Yeading enjoyed a sustained spell of pressure, but neither he nor Mo Bettamer could muster up a goal, with Adi Connolly alert enough to push out a couple of goalbound efforts when called upon. 3-1 it finished; Town ultimately good value for their win with some encouraging performances across the pitch.

Town: Forster (Connolly); Trialist A, Nembhard (Parcell), Tanner (Payne); Trialist B (Owusu), Smith (Trialist F), Youngs (Alves), Trialist C, Trialist D; Beckles-Richards, Trialist E (Solomon)

Details

Date Time League Season
23/07/2024 7:15 pm Pre-Season Friendly 2024-25

Ground

SkyEx Community Stadium
The SkyEx Community Stadium, Beaconsfield Road, Hayes UB4 0SL

Results

Club1st Half2nd HalfGoals
Hayes & Yeading United101
Enfield Town303