Dorking Wanderers 2 Enfield Town 1
Report by Andrew Warshaw
Amid a worrying injury crisis, Enfield Town suffered a fourth league defeat in five games on Tuesday as a battling performance once again yielded no reward.
Town remain just above the relegation on goal difference courtesy of other results going in our favour but arresting the slump is not lost on the management team and has become a crucial priority.
No-one, least all Gavin Macpherson is making any excuses for the current malaise but it doesn’t help when a small-ish squad compared with most other sides in the division is shorn of a stack of players.
Already without the likes of Sam Youngs, Jack Bates and Ruaridh Donaldson, Town were able to name only six subs when Nino Adom-Malaki pulled out shortly before the game with a knee issue.
The fact that neither Bailey Brown nor Mickey Parcell were fit enough to play a part because of individual knocks despite being named on the bench and you get some idea of how stretched we were – and may still be for a few games yet with Tosh Gallimore ruled out of the FA Trophy at Harborough because of international duty.
Yet no-one can fault us for energy and application even if we were again lacking in the final third. Despite a disastrous start, Town were certainly not overawed (only once in truth have we been all season) and had we shown the same attacking intent over the 90 minutes as we did in the last 10 after pulling a goal back with Ollie Davis’ sumptuous freekick, we might well have come away with a point.
Tommy Wood found the going tough after being given a rare start in the absence of Sam but at the other end the hosts were in front inside a minute when two of Town’s back three inexplicably stepped out, allowing on-loan Forest Green Rovers forward Jose Marquez to give Dorking a quickfire start. Rhys Forster produced a strong hand but only proceeded to push the ball further into the net and will perhaps be disappointed he couldn’t keep it out.
Despite the setback we settled down but you have to take whatever chances you get, especially away from home and what a glorious one we had to equalise. Hayden Bullas – arguably Town’s best player on the night – went on a surging run before finding Ollie Knight whose shot stung the hands of the Dorking keeper. The rebound only needed a tap-in but Evan Jones blasted over.
For the rest of the half, with 38-year-old Luke Moore pulling the strings in front of the Dorking defence and Dennon Lewis a constant threat, we couldn’t create much else going forward but at least managed to keep Dorking away from our own goal, including one superb tackle from Adam Thompson on Alfie Rutherford who was injured in the process and had to be subbed.
H-T 0-1
Dorking continued to press, however, producing a flurry of threatening inswinging corners and crosses. Jimmy Muitt flashed a header wide and Rhys pulled off a fine tip-over save.
Eventually one of the crosses seemed likely to pay off and so it proved. On 71 minutes, Muitt got the better of two Town players and when no defender got a foot in to clear the cross, Lewis rifled home at the back post.
Cue the introduction of both Davis and Eli Ackason, both of whom made an immediate impact which augurs well for the future.
Eli showed commendable quick feet but it was Davis who stole the show from a Town standpoint, showing exactly why he’s such a potentially exciting asset by wrapping a sublime freekick round the wall with 10 remaining on the clock.
Now we pinned Dorking back but for all our endeavour, it was too little, too late. Jones, leaning back, thrashed the ball over but as we poured men forward, Dorking came within a whisker of adding a third through a Lewis breakaway.
“I think we were playing against the best team in the league,” Gavin declared. “We were literally trying to throw a team together and the boys worked desperately hard. We didn’t create too many clearcut chances if I’m honest but we went toe to toe with a very good side even if at times we had to hang in. But at the end of the day we’ve no points, again, and it has to stop.”
Hopefully starting at Dover on Saturday.
Town
Forster; Benjamin, Thompson, Hawkins; Leonard (Ackeson 81), Gallimore, Bullas, Knight, Jones; Wood, Reynolds (Davis 73).