Enfield Town go into a crucial four-day period tomorrow boosted by the arrival of two new signings including one familiar face.

Town’s trip to Aveley, followed by Tuesday’s home clash with Welling, represent arguably our most important double header of the season as we look to build on the win over Farnborough last time out.

Gavin  Macpherson confirmed at Thursday’s AGM that Lennon Peake’s meniscus tear will rule him out for at least another month while we are still of course without Dylan Adjei-Hersey plus the suspended Xavier Benjamin. Bailey Brown, meantime, is nursing a dislocated shoulder but trained on Thursday.

On the flipside, the dressing room has been given a lift by the return of experienced striker Hisham Kasimu from his third spell at Farnborough and the arrival on loan until the end of the season of Worthing central midfielder Jack Bates who played 19 games for the Rebels this term.

French-born Hish joined us prior to our opening league game with Torquay United, scoring once and providing one assist in six appearances for the Towners before going back to Farnborough.

“The grass is not always greener and Hish has found that out the hard way,” said Gav. “He loved his time here and was desperate to come back and I’ve joked with him I expect 25 goals!  In terms of Jack, he’s an all-action player and has fitted in already.”

 “There’s right times to bring in players. We’re a bit light in the middle of the park plus I’ve made no secret about bringing in a centre-forward for many weeks.

“I want to make it clear these weren’t just willy nilly signings just because they happened to be available. We’ve had far too much of a revolving door this season.  You have to pick your positions to strengthen and to be careful with the profile of player.”

Back in October, Aveley won the corresponding fixture 4-2 at our place and with the Millers also fighting for survival, tomorrow promises to be a highly competitive affair.

“I’ve watched the videos of two of three of Aveley’s games over the last couple of days and they have more than enough attributes to hurt you,” said Gavin. “We’re away from home on an unfamiliar artificial surface and obviously they are equally desperate for points.”

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We are pleased to welcome central midfielder Jack Bates to the club, on a loan deal from Worthing until the end of the season.

The 21-year-old has made 19 appearances for the Rebels so far this season, and is described by his parent club as “an all-action midfield dynamo”. Jack has previous experience at this level with Bath City and Hemel Hempstead Town, and also counts Hastings United and Derby County among his other former sides.

Welcome, Jack!

We are pleased to announce that striker Hisham Kasimu has re-joined the club following his departure from Farnborough

Formerly of Sutton United, Farnborough and AFC Totton, where he scored 31 times in two seasons, the 27-year-old began the league season with us, scoring once and providing an assist in six appearances before departing for a third stint with Boro.

His availability is subject to the completion of his registration. Welcome back, Hish!

We were delighted to announce at last night’s AGM that planning permission has been granted by Enfield Council for our long-awaited ground improvements.

This means that we have been granted permission for the installation of our new 400-seater grandstand, as well as for three new turnstiles (work for which is already underway on the fencing at the A10 side of the ground). The official capacity of the Dave Bryant Stadium will also increase from 2,500 to 3,000. Permission has been granted on the proviso that an additional set of cycle parking racks are also put in place to serve the ground, as well as the removal of a cabin behind the existing turnstiles.

Many thanks to every one of you who have supported our project financially and by writing letters of support, to our planning consultants, and especially to vice-chairman Paul Millington, who has been the driving force behind our efforts to ensure the new infrastructure is in place before the National League’s deadline on March 31st.

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A quick reminder to all ETFC members that the club’s agm takes place tomorrow, Thursday, in Butler’s Bar at 7.30pm

As well as an update from the chairman and an opportunity to put your questions to the board on developments on and off the pitch, there will also be a Q and A with Gavin Macpherson and, hopefully, at least one player.

Enfield Town 1 Farnborough 0

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Sam Youngs’ first-half penalty earned a depleted Town a battling win over an out-of-sorts Farnborough side and gave our survival hopes a much-needed boost.

Gavin Macpherson, already without the suspended Xavier Benjamin, had to re-organise a second time an hour before kickoff when Adam Thompson pulled out because of urgent family business.

But the makeshift line-up, including the returning John Oyenuga in an unfamiliar back three role and debutant Charlie Stallard as wingback, did their team proud.

Stallard, who has been training with the club for a number of weeks, was originally due be among the subs but was promoted to the starting eleven when Adam had to withdraw, leaving us with only four on the bench.

Not for the first time, we had to rely on Sam and not for the first time from the penalty spot.  But while we again lacked fluency up front and had to hang on at the other end in the latter stages,  we could in fact have been out of sight after just 15 minutes.

Anointed Chukwu, restored to the starting eleven with Amaru Kaunda having returned to Cambridge, caught Farnborough off guard, only to see his shot saved by the legs of Jack Turner.

The Yellows, playing all in black, are bottom of the division’s form table and Turner again came to their rescue with a brilliant stop from Billy Leonard. As the ball spun into the air, Bayley Brown’s ferocious drive was cleared off the line.

It seemed poetic justice when Brown, who gave away that penalty in the final seconds a week ago at Weymouth, atoned for his error.

On 14 minutes he forced into way into the box and was chopped down by Olly Pendlebury. Up stepped Youngs to celebrate winning his January player of the month award by sending Turner the wrong way.

Minutes later, the visitors had a mighty let-off when Henry Hawkins’ header from a corner came back off the post and somehow rebounded to safety.

Farnborough didn’t threaten until late in the half through Aaron Kuhl, who collected a freekick, found space for himself and thrashed  a shot inches wide. Reggie Young also went close but Town fully deserved their halftime lead.

H-T 1-0

After a dominant first 45 minutes, we found the going tougher but not before Youngs, with twinkle toes precision, forced a corner from which he arrived at the near post but couldn’t quite find the target.

From then on we had to dig in to maintain our advantage as Farnborough played through the lines. Richard Chin shot over after a rash attempted challenge by the otherwise impeccable Hawkins, then Chin stung the hands of Forster.

Yet for all their forward forays and umpteen long throws by skipper Ollie Robinson into our box, Farnborough didn’t test Rhys enough.

In fact, we had the chance to wrap things up twice through Chukwu. First the goal opened up for him, only for the ball to be smuggled clear. Then he chased down a clearance but didn’t have the pace to go on and finish and ran out of legs (pictured).

We almost paid the price right at the death. In a hearts in mouth moment, man of the match Oyenuga – who excelled on his return – dived full length with a goal-saving header four yards out to make sure that this time we held on to the points, Town fans breathing a collective sigh of relief.

The sight of Bailey Brown clutching his shoulder at the finish didn’t augur well given our absentees but Gav was understandably proud of his troops while, conversely, a section of the Farnborough fans called for their manager’s head after eight winless games.

“We had to show battling qualities with a completely makeshift back three,” Gav said. “We had to shuffle the pack twice and the boys were brilliant to be as resilient as they were. I’ve got to take my hat off to John Oyenuga coming in and playing out of position.”

“Having said that, we should have been out of sight at halftime on chances and in the second half, they spun the ball better than us. Overall we should have got nine points from the last three games and haven’t but it’s shown me we’re not far off.”

Town

Forster; Oyenuga, Hawkins, Payne; Stallard, Parcell, Youngs, Brown (Smith, 90), Leonard; Chukwu, Hutchinson (Whittaker, 90)

They may be winless in seven league games and have failed to triumph away since mid-October but Gavin Macpherson remembers only well the danger Farnborough Town, our opponents on Saturday, posed in the corresponding game earlier in the season.

Farnborough beat us comfortably 4-1 and while they have tailed off somewhat in recent weeks, Gavin is under no illusions about what could lie in store – especially given our absentees.

Town go into the game still without Dylan Adjei-Hersey while Lennon Peake remains on the sidelines, Xavier Benjamin starts the first of a three-game ban and Amaru Kaunda has returned to Cambridge United. Not ideal but as ever, that gives an opportunity to others to stake a claim.

For their part Farnborough have just brought in 19-year-old AFC Bournemouth youth striker Jonny Stuttle, who played at Aldershot for the last eight weeks, while Hisham Kasimu, a familiar face to Town fans, has left the Yellows despite the club wanting him to stay. The visitors also have Fionn Mooney who at one stage in November seemed about to play for us, only to choose Farnborough instead.

The postponement of the Eastbourne game in midweek allowed us to have an extra training session to, as Gav put it, “implement some more strategy” for the visit of Farnborough.

“For me, when we played them before, even now they remain one of the best teams we have played all season,” said Gav. “Lots of clubs lose form but it will be a temporary blip for them. For us, no game is easy. Losing Xav tomorrow means losing a player who goes into the trenches for you but there are others in the same bracket.”

 Following back-to-back draws — both games we should have won — it’s getting to the point where we cannot afford to be cast further adrift.

 “Failing to win when you should do definitely hurts. Sure as time goes on the credibility factor (of getting out of this) comes into play,” said Gav.  “But I’m not one to give up and the supporters last Saturday at Weymouth were yet again superb, clapping us off even though they must have been gutted.”

To such an extent that Gavin had to pull a crestfallen Bailey Brown out of the dressing room to join the rest of the team in the usual end-of-match show of thanks.

“Bailey was upset over his mistake and to his credit his mood showed how much he cares. But at the same time there were people on the terraces who had paid good money.”

“Let’s not detract from the difficulty we find ourselves in. We are going to have to put together an incredible run of form but there is no element of throwing in the towel, not on my watch.

“We spoke about the fans in training on Thursday. I realise this hasn’t been the season they would have wanted but the majority have a balanced view about how tough this was going to be for a club of our structure. However difficult this has been, we need them to find that extra piece of resilience in the remaining games especially at home. It gives us all a lift and we’ll do our best on the pitch to fuel their enthusiasm.”

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We have agreed a new date with the National League and Eastbourne Borough for our home game against the Sports, which was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch earlier this week.

Eastbourne will now visit us on Tuesday 18th February (kick-off 7:45pm).

Weymouth 1 Enfield Town 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

The sickening frustration continues, this time with literally seconds to spare courtesy of another needless error which cost us dearly.

Having lost Lennon Peake to a worrying first-half knee injury and Xavier Benjamin to a straight red card – both potentially pivotal blows — Town were nevertheless on the verge of three crucial points, only to throw two away with virtually the last kick of stoppage time to remain stranded in the drop zone with Step 2 survival becoming ever more precarious.

Just like Bath City a week ago, Weymouth – who like us desperately needed the points —  were there for the taking. In truth they hardly laid a glove on us. In fact their manager said it was the worst performance since he took over yet still we couldn’t get over the line in a low-quality encounter.

Town were unchanged from the Bath game and dominated possession for most of the match as well enjoying the better cearcut chances, few of them though there were.

From the off we curled crosses and corners into the Terras box but without being able to apply the finishing touch. Jake Hutchinson should have put us ahead early doors while Weymouth’s Jordon Thompson cleared off the line.

Much of our good work was down to Peake so it certainly didn’t help our cause when Rio Davidson-Phipps left him writhing in pain, ending his day and most likely ruling him out for several more to leave  him thoroughly distraught as he left the pitch being consoled by teammates.

Lennon’s replacement Joe Payne was quickly into the action by rifling a long-range effort narrowly wide while Mickey Parcell did likewise.

H-T 0-0

The same pattern continued after the break with Town forcing three quick corners, the second of which was tipped over the bar by Will Buse.

Billy Leonard then drove into the keeper’s arms before Amaru Kaunda  raced into the area, only to see his slashed shot rebound off the head of Youngs and spin just over.

As the game opened up, Youngs was presented with another effort, this time getting it wrong by firing high and over while at the other end Ibrahim Meite stung the hands of Rhys Forster who had enjoyed a relatively quiet afternoon but then had to make a flying stop from Ben Greenwood.

Cue an unexpected frantic finale. On 80 minutes Benjamin received a straight red for lashing out at Brandon Goodship before it was 10 apiece as home skipper Tom Bearwish picked up his second yellow.

Five minutes later Town thought they’d won it as Youngs converted a penalty, awarded for handball (pictured). Buse got a strong hand to it but couldn’t keep it out and all we had to do now was manage the last few minutes of regulation time and four more added on to secure a valuable victory.

But with virtually the final kick, Bailey Brown, instead of either lashing the ball out of the ground or passing it back to Forster who had called, allowed substitute  Harrison Day to nip in front of him and was penalised for a senseless barge.

Softly awarded maybe but Jake McCarthy made no mistake by smashing the ball down the middle of the goal to give Weymouth a lifeline they scarcely deserved. There was hardly time to restart before the final whistle,  leaving Brown inconsolable and the whole Town team devastated at having got so close.

“What Bailey did was at the stupidest thing I’ve seen in a long time because the game was done,” said a crestfallen Gavin Macpherson. “Lennon’s knee doesn’t look good and being without Xav for three games (after Eastbourne on Tuesday) is going to be tough but equally I can look at the top end of the pitch.”

“I said the same thing last week about the forwards. They show what they can do in training in terms of getting on the end of things but then go out and do something different on the pitch. Today was a killer, not in terms of the season but in terms of not getting the three points.”

Forster, Benjamin, Thompson, Hawkins, Leonard, Brown, Parcell, Youngs, Peake (Payne 29), Hutchinson (Whittaker 70), Kaunda (Beckles-Richards 74).

Both managers insist it’s a must win game but something has to give.

Having let Bath City off the hook last Saturday, Enfield Town go to Weymouth on Saturday for a crunch clash that has all the makings of a classic six-pointer.

Town are two places and four points ahead of the bottom-placed Terras who have still not won at home in the league and for whom results have not really picked up but who have nevertheless proved a tough nut to crack since the arrival of Warren Feeney as manager.

Gavin Macpherson is not one to focus on bad luck or bemoan lost opportunities but having set out to get a minimum four points from Bath and Weymouth, Saturday’s clash somehow takes on extra spice  between two sides who have struggled to score goals.

“That’s why we’re both down there,” conceded Gavin. “If you can’t score goals, you have to keep clean sheets which is unrealistic at this level. They’ve made some signings this week which suggest they are trying to put that right.

“It’s a tough league. You have to have the right structure. I understand because of the position of both teams why  people are building this game up but it’s no different to other weeks in terms of our preparation.”

On the injury front, Dylan Adjei-Hersey is the latest victim to be ruled out but barring any late unforeseen developments, Gavin is hopeful the rest of the squad will be fit to start against a team that ran high-flying Maidstone and Worthing close in their last two outings and will be out to make life as uncomfortable as possible for us.

But vice-versa too, with both clubs in danger of being cast further adrift if either lose. “We are going to there to win the game, simple as that,” said Gavin. It should make for an intriguing afternoon.

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