Enfield Town 0 Dorking Wanderers 2

From Andrew Warshaw

Thirty-six down, 10 to go but plenty of points still to play for.

Against the league leaders and without our chief defensive orchestrator Adam Thompson who pulled out sick a few hours before kick-off, Town arguably deserved more  for a gutsy second-half display on Saturday in front of a bumper four-figure crowd

While celebrations to mark International Women’s Day, with all women and girls given free entry, were a huge success, the same could sadly not be said for a result that sent us into the bottom three.

A shame given the carnival atmosphere though had Sam Youngs not missed his first ever penalty in a Town shirt in regulation time, the outcome might have been different.

Yet the fact that Gavin Macpherson praised the players afterwards said everything about the levels of determination and spirit against full-time opponents who haven’t lost away in the league all year.

After the Dorking coach got stuck in traffic, kick-off was delayed by an eyebrow-raising 45 minutes which seemed, on the outside at least, to have been a somewhat unfair concession given that their players ultimately still had over an hour to prepare.

With Tommo missing, Charlie Stallard was moved into the back three where he was arguably our best outfield player.

As expected given their lofty status, Dorking dominated the ball with Town opting to resolutely sit in and try to frustrate their high-flying opponents.

The plan was nearly undone on 14 minutes, only for Rob Milsom’s penalty down the middle – awarded through Ollie Knight’s trip on Josh Brooking – being saved by the legs of Wright (pictured).

Jason Prior’s hooked volley then rattled the crossbar but for all Dorking’s possession, on the counter Anointed Chukwu’s hold-up play was again impressive while a close-range Knight effort looped over the bar.

Our defence was finally breached four minutes  before half-time when a miscued header fell to Prior who got the final touch.

Half-time: 0-1

A soft goal to concede and now our game plan had to change. So it did as we defended higher up the pitch and used the flanks to greater effect. But not before Wright pulled off two wonderful saves,  first from Jimmy Muitt, then tipping Charlie Carter’s header from a corner over the bar.

As we grew into the game, it was Dorking who were now on the back foot. Youngs released Billy Leonard whose fine cross just eluded Chukwu but on 70 minutes we had a great chance to equalise as Youngs was adjudged to have been brought down by the keeper.

He took an age to put the ball on a muddy spot, then proceeded to try an audacious but weakly hit Panenka – straight into the grateful gloves of Harrison Foulkes.

The surprise miss took the stuffing out of Town’s hard-fought-for momentum switch. Muitt smashed a volley against the woodwork before Wright pulled off another worldie, this time from substitute Jack Young.

 Still we pushed for a leveller but with two minutes remaining gifted Wanderers a second. Under pressure, Wright sent a clearance straight to the feet of Carter who fired the ball into an empty net with Joe back-pedalling.

It was his one slip of an otherwise outstanding display but only served to complete a frustrating afternoon.

“I can’t fault the players this time, the game was all about moments,” said Gavin. “We set up to stifle, then have a go if necessary and that’s what we did. I thought we were good value to get something from the game in the second half.”

“Youngy changed what he normally does and although you can’t be too hard on him, it cost us because it was potentially a game-changer.”

“I’ve never seen a team turn up late and be given an hour to get ready. I asked the ref if it was a rule change and he said no. I need to choose my words carefully but maybe we wouldn’t have got that given to us if we turned up late away from home.”

Four straight wins have been followed by four straight defeats but at least we now have a week to prepare for Salisbury which suddenly becomes the mother of all six-pointers. “It’s  obviously not the position I wanted to be in but it’s a massive game,” said Gavin.

Town Wright; Benjamin (Kasimu 76), Hawkins, Stallard; Parcell, Brown; Oyenuga, Leonard (Peake 89), Knight; Youngs (Hutchinson 93), Chukwu