Enfield Town FC

Report

Potters Bar Town 0-2 Enfield Town 

Town Hand Scholars A Lesson
Report by Andrew Warshaw

Two games, two wins, five goals scored, none conceded, top of the table on goal difference.

An “almost perfect” away performance was how Gavin Macpherson summed up Tuesday’s thoroughly deserved derby win at Potters Bar whilst admitting it was a bitter-sweet occasion due to a nasty-looking injury to Jake Cass.

With kickoff delayed by almost 10 minutes due to the sheer number of Towners fans among the 450-plus crowd trying to get through the one turnstile, we could hardly have got off to a better start. On four minutes, Cass picked up a loose ball halfway inside the Bar half and, unchallenged, burst forward to finish superbly with his weaker left foot before wheeling away in delight (pictured). Sadly, it was the last meaningful contribution for Jake who was taken out by a Potters Bar defender with what looked like a bad Achilles injury, needed lengthy treatment and ended up hobbling on crutches — or rather the one crutch available. To make matters worse, the injury is on the other leg to the persistent knee issue that has given Jake such grief in recent weeks and hampered his progress. We can only wish him luck and hope it’s not as serious as it first looked.

Winger Ollie Knight replaced Jake for his Town debut and soon produced the kind of delivery that Gavin believes will make him such an important player for us. If Jake’s goal was well taken, our second on 23 minutes was even better.  Sam Youngs fed Marcus Wyllie down the right and just like on Saturday Marcus did the rest, cutting inside before delivering a sumptuous finish into the far corner. Marcus was again involved when he stole the ball off a defender to set up  Reece Beckles-Richards who couldn’t quite climb high enough to meet the cross.

At the other end Rhys Forster was well positioned to parry a fierce drive from Leigh Rose.

H-T 0-2

Potters bar came out with more purpose and possession but still we created chances, Joe Payne’s goalbound effort cannoning off a defender. Wyllie almost made it 3-1 when again using his pace before shooting narrowly wide but the hosts should have halved the deficit when substitute Cyrus Babaie  — who had replaced former Town favourite Liam Hope — lashed wide after we were caught out in a dangerous position. Whilst there were no more goals, the three points were never in doubt with a defensively solid display and Youngs and evergreen skipper Scott Thomas pulling the strings in midfield. While Gavin was delighted with the performance, he was none too pleased with the new stricter guidelines referees have been given this season. Town had six players booked, some for time-wasting, most distinctly soft.

“The new rules are killing the game,” said Gavin. “Referees are being put under unnecessary added pressure. We didn’t put one bad tackle in but if this is where we are going to go, football will become less enjoyable.” On the plus side, Gavin had no hesitation naming an unchanged side from Saturday. “At my previous club I invariably changed up three or four if we had a Tuesday game after a Saturday, especially after pre-season. I just felt this time I had the right people on the pitch. It was a near-perfect away display but it may be too much to ask of all of them to go again at Folkestone on Saturday which will be a very tough game.” Cass, of course, looks like being one of those missing out.  “It doesn’t look good and could be a massive blow for our planning,” Gavin admitted. “I feel for Jake. We’ll just have to assess how we move forward.”

Town: Forster; Garcia-Velasco, Richmond, Okotcha, Payne; Beckles-Richards, Youngs, Thomas (Soulya-Osekanongo. 80), Adjei-Hersey (Birch, 70); Cass (Knight 22), Wyllie