By Andrew Warshaw
Enfield Town go into tomorrow’s crucial home clash with fellow strugglers Aveley with Gavin Macpherson admitting we have to stop shipping goals but citing mitigating circumstances in a refreshingly honest and insightful assessment of our current situation.
Town’s record of 28 goals conceded is the worst the division by some distance but Gavin and his staff are doing their level best to rectify the situation and pull us away from the danger zone.
“Does the situation worry me? Of course,” said Gavin. “Because while we’ve been very capable of grinding out results, as soon as we ship one goal, we tend to ship more.”
“Some people will look at Farnborough’s goals last Saturday and say they were good finishes. Not from our standpoint. I will never throw the players under a bus but a whole lot of work has gone into repairing the holes we’ve seen appear. There are themes that re-occur for us. We seem to make strides, then go back.”
Gavin admits it hasn’t been easy recruiting the right players to make a difference. While several stabs have been made to get the required quality at Step 2, frustration has become a byword.
“We are a magnificent football club but if I’m totally honest, it’s been a struggle. As a management team, myself and my staff have never before had such a revolving door. The fact is we are in a division with massively established clubs. We are built on almost unique foundations but that also means if you get into a bidding war, you more than not lose. Add to that the fact that we are punching above our weight anyway.”
Gavin has confirmed that three of the playing staff — Joash Nembhard, Carl Mensah and Khanya Leshabala – have left the club while Alex Solomon is currently on crutches following an accident at work.
“Khanya is likely to move to a National League club while Carl’s work situation has made it more difficult for him to commit to training with us on Thursdays.
“We wish all three well and thank them for their efforts. Combined with Alex’s situation whom I’m gutted for, we must now push on and look forward to some football.”
With the defence having seen numerous changes in personnel, efforts to secure the right balance remain a priority.
“It’s not only about the defence, that’s the easy thing to look at,” said Gavin. “Some of the goals we’ve conceded are from a long way out. Having said that, defending has becoming an art form, almost your first form of attack. Defenders have to be athletes as well as coping with quick centre-forwards and intelligent players who are sharp around the box. That’s the difference between Step 2 and 3. It’s a big jump. Some can make that adjustment, others can’t.”
It’s also easy to forget how hard it’s been replacing key players from last season. “We had a striker in Marcus who is now in the Football League and Taylor Mackenzie is a big miss too,” said Gavin who is not afraid to admit there may soon have to be more changes.
“I’ve stuck with some of the same players and yes some people have said to me I should have ripped the whole thing up and started again. It’s an unenviable task but maybe now I’m in the process of having to put a new team together, or at least part of a new team, because it needs reshaping. I’d love people to see the analysis and attention to detail we put in week after week. I’m very positive about getting it sorted but perhaps some people need to be realistic about the season as a whole.”
In terms of Aveley tomorrow and the equally critical tie at Welling on Tuesday, Gavin is looking further ahead than the two proverbial six-pointers.
“They’re obviously important because they’re both clubs in and around where we are and the whole place will get a lift if we can move away from them. But there’s a much bigger picture at stake. There’s no point in picking up points in our next two games and then going on a bad run. They’re all worth the same amount of points after all.”