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.

AW

We are thrilled to announce the return of the award-winning and unmissable Cinelli Brothers playing an acoustic set on Thursday, Feb 20th, at  Butler’s Bar, Enfield Town FC.

Winners of the 2024 UK Blues Band of the Year, the Cinellis, who have toured all over the world, are known for their electrifying live shows, earning a loyal fanbase and international acclaim.

As aficiandos will know, they have performed at our club several times before and have agreed to play a similar acoustic fund-raising gig to their last appearance back in August which went down a storm, featuring three members of the regular four-piece band.

 We are delighted they can fit us in to their busy schedule and thanks go to Christine Hamilton for arranging their eagerly awaited return.

Doors open at 7.30 and tickets priced £15 can be purchased  online at https://enfieldtownfc.ktckts.com/event/concert3/the-cinelli-brothers-live-……. .

Any remaining tickets on the night will be strictly subject to availability and capacity

Enfield Town 1 Bath City 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Sam Youngs, not for the first time this season, rescued a point for Town but the players will rue not collecting all three against below-par opposition on a frustrating afternoon.

With the other teams in the drop zone all facing tough games against top six sides, this was a golden opportunity for us to climb the table and move closer to safety.

But we found ourselves chasing the game at halftime  and despite a dominant second-half display couldn’t make our superiority count.

Bath had won three out of four under new manager Darren Way but hadn’t played for two weeks and looked rusty.

 They almost fell behind in bizarre circumstances early doors when a clearance was charged down by Mickey Parcell 40 yards from goal and the ball ricocheted forward and bounced off the woodwork.

With Jake Hutchinson playing up front alongside Amaru Kaunda and Youngs in just behind, Gavin Macpherson went for an attacking formation — on paper at least.

But after that freak early chance, further opportunities were few and far between though Town could not be faulted for their approach play with Lennon Peake and Billy Leonard giving Bath plenty to thinking about on the flanks.

For all our promise, it was the visitors who broke the deadlock three minutes before halftime despite having posed little threat.  Henry Hawkins was penalised trying to cut out a fine diagonal switch from Scott Wilson and Jordan Alves buried the freekick beyond Rhys Forster who, for some reason, had positioned himself behind the wall leaving the other side of his goal gaping.

The last action of the half saw a melee in the Bath area following a corner, the ball ultimately trickling into the keeper’s arms.

H-T 0-1

Town came storming out for the second half and Leonard’s cross-shot grazed the bar while Peake’s deliveries were a constant threat, yet another finding a jungle of legs in the Bath area but not converted into an equaliser.

For all our dominance, we very nearly conceded again. Just before the hour mark, Town  fans breathed a collective sigh of relief when Romans danger man Wilson made space for himself but narrowly missed the target when it looked for all the world like he had doubled his team’s lead.

Finally, just when it looked like it might be a barren afternoon, the pressure told on 76 minutes.

A sweeping Parcell pass found Leonard who fizzed the ball across goal for Youngs, by now pushed further forward, to finish in trademark style at the back post.

It was the least Town deserved but for all their strong running and desire, the same old problem of lack of quality in the final third meant we ended up with one point instead of three, something that surely has to change for us to secure survival. The reality is that we cannot afford to draw games we should win and lose games we should draw in the weeks ahead.

“There’s a realism we didn’t win the game. I wish Henry hadn’t made the challenge but Rhys should have kept it out and he knows that,” said Gav. “Conversely I’m not sure their keeper had many shots to save. Yes they were on the rack at times but for all our entries into their box, we weren’t good enough  where it matters most and it’s a massive frustration.”

Next up the small matter of a visit to Weymouth next Saturday. “We set out to get four points minimum from these two games. Now we have to go and win there,” added Gav.

Town

Forster; Benjamin, Thompson, Hawkins; Peake, Brown, Youngs, Parcell, Leonard; Hutchinson (Whittaker, 70), Kaunda (Chukwu, 82)

Another Saturday, another challenge and the chance to achieve a rare double when Bath City are the visitors to the Dave Bryant stadium.

Our smash-and-grab 1-0 win back in September seems a long way off and now of course Bath have a new manager in place, with Darren Way appointed just before Christmas

The effect has been immediate with Bath winning three of their last four games during which time they have conceded just once – at Dorking last time out.

With Weymouth to come next weekend and four of the next six games against sides in the bottom half of the table, you get the feeling that this is a pivotal period in terms of picking up points.

“I’m not just saying this but the boys are upbeat with smiles on their faces” said Gavin Macpherson despite last Saturday’s chastening setback in Kent. “Everyone believes we can get a result. We sat in Maidstone’s dressing room till gone 7 o’clock last week but it was not in self-pity.  We got straight back on the horse and went to work. That’s the only way I know.”

Gavin concedes that the upcoming fixture list will put the squeeze on a lot of teams in terms of grinding out results.

“When you look at our next few games, the majority are teams that in the bottom half or mid-table and I get that. On paper maybe they are more achievable than, say, Maidstone away. But the flipside is that the league is tough throughout. Bath, for instance, are in good form with a new manager and are pushing teams very hard.”

“But I’ll tell you this. If I didn’t think the boys were 100 percent with me, I’d call it a day for both personal and professional reasons. But we’re going to give this a right crack, trust me. Not just tomorrow but going forward.”

AW

Two supporters of Enfield Town FC who launched their own independent film company are celebrating the success of their debut feature film.

Producers Ismail Ismail and Jake Jacovides, along with several financial backers from Enfield Town, premiered The Spin last autumn at the Belfast Film Festival. The film quickly garnered acclaim, winning the award for Best Irish Feature Film at the Dublin International Comedy Film Festival.

The Spin is a heart-warming comedy that features a talented cast, including Tara Lynne O’Neill (Derry Girls), Owen Colgan (Hardy Bucks), Brenock O’Connor (Game of Thrones), and Leah O’Rourke (Derry Girls), alongside Kimberly Wyatt from the Grammy-nominated girl group The Pussycat Dolls and TV presenter, model, and social media star Maura Higgins.

Isi and Jake have been friends since they met at Winchmore School’s sixth form over 45 years ago. The Ismail family have been involved with the Towners for many years. Isi’s brother Ram, is a director at Enfield Town FC, while Kem Ismail served as strength and conditioning coach before moving on to West Ham United and currently Birmingham City.  Many of you will also recognise club members Serap, Muzzy and Arin; all of whom have backed the production to reach the big screen.

Looking ahead, 2025 promises to be an exciting year as The Spin continues to gain momentum, securing spots in international film festivals including Chicago, Rome, and Bremen.

Isi shared his excitement, adding: “It’s a thrill to be involved in a creative project like The Spin with Jake. The film is primarily about friendship, so we can easily relate to the characters’ experiences. In our case, Jake is probably the sensible one! We are delighted that it is receiving such acclaim; it seems like a wild dream compared to when we were just fooling around in Mr. Brown’s maths class at Winchmore School”

Watch the trailer here:

You may be aware that our bid to the Football Foundation to secure funding for our ground improvement was approved in December. Our new stand has been ordered and we are now awaiting confirmation from Enfield Council that planning consent for the works has been granted. This should hopefully be received this month, and we will then be in a position to arrange for the work to be commenced as soon as possible in order that we can comply with league deadlines.

Many supporters have named seats in the Granite stand and we can now confirm the way forward for those seats:

• New name plaques will need to be produced for the seats in the new stand. If you purchased a named seat in the Granite stand within the last 5 years, we will arrange for these to be produced and installed free of charge.

• If you purchased a plaque in the Granite stand over 5 years ago and wish to have a plaque in the new stand there will be a fee of £25 per seat to cover both the production and installation costs as we are unable to remove the plaques from the existing seats.

Can you please advise us by January 28th via email to membership@etfc.london whether you wish your named seat plaque to be transferred to a seat in the new stand. We would also appreciate responses for anonymous donations of over £150 to our recent crowdfunding campaign, or for any requests for certain names on plaques for these larger donations. If your existing plaque is more than 5 years old, we will also need your confirmation that you are in agreement to meet the charge of £25 per seat.

We can move 25 seats from the current Granite stand to provide a 4th row of seats in the main stand. If you would like your named seat to be transferred to the main stand, please let us know if you wish to take up this option. There will be no charge for this but as we can only accommodate 25 seats these requests will be met on a first come first served basis.

Maidstone United 4 Enfield Town 0

Report by Andrew Warshaw

For over 75 minutes yesterday, against full-time opponents who were on a 17-match unbeaten league run, Enfield Town were well in the game and, at one stage when trailing by a single goal, looked the side more likely to score.

Only a penalty, conceded late on the first half and needlessly given away by a handball, separated the sides as we stuck to our game plan of being difficult to break down.

Then it all fell apart as we fell to a 4-0 defeat against a bang in form Maidstone United side who ran out worthy winners courtesy of substitute Shaq Coulthirst’s 13-minute hat-trick though the final scoreline  perhaps flattered them.

No wonder Gavin Macpherson, consigned to the away directors box to watch game through an accumulation of yellow cards in the Town dugout over the season, was left feeling so aggrieved.

Missing the unavailable Lennon Peake , Joe Payne came into the side while Amaru Kuanda made his first start for the club though, perhaps surprisingly, alongside Sam Youngs rather than playing off either Jake Hutchinson or Anointed Chukwu.

The Stones started brightly, hurling a long throw into our box from which George Fowler’s curling effort just cleared the bar.

It continued to be a case of attack versus defence, with Stones’ leading marksman Aaron Blair giving Henry Hawkins a tough time and Fowler planting a free header over.

But Town were holding their own in terms of organisation and discipline until, that is, the 35^th minute when an extremely harshly awarded freekick was handled by Bailey Brown and Ben Brookes stroked home the penalty.

 Town hadn’t really threatened going forward but now we did, twice in fact. Sam Youngs saw his header pushed over by Alexis Andre Jn (pictured) and from the resultant corner, Hawkins missed a great opportunity.

H-T 0-1

Maidstone continued to have the lion’s share of the possession but Chukwu, just off the bench with Youngs pushed into his more familar position, so nearly pulled us level, somehow missing the target from three yards out.

We proceeded to carve out a couple more half chances, Mickey Parcell blasting over, but after our best spell of the game, the Stones doubled their lead on 78 minutes when Blair beat his man and pulled the ball back for Couthirst to rifle into the net.

All our hard work was suddenly undone and as concentration lapsed, mistakes were made and the same pair were at it again, Blair slipping the ball into the path of Coulthirst who drilled home.

And there was still time for Coulthirst to complete his hat-trick, tapping home after Forster stopped but couldn’t hold a powerful Riley Court drive.

“It’s difficult watching from the stands because you can’t make spur of the moment decisions,” said Gavin Macpherson who spent much of his time ringing down to the dugout to give instructions but didn’t use that as any kind of excuse.

“Probably outside of our dressing room no-one expected us to get anything from the game but the penalty aside, I was fairly happy at halftime. We expected the stats to be in their favour but the first 25 minutes after halftime, we were the better side. Then the last 15 minutes were a complete disaster and littered with mistakes which cost us and I’m livid.”

“There are games you feel you need to win and there are games like today where if you come away with something you’re feeling very chuffed. I couldn’t give a monkeys where Maidstone are in the league because we’ve contributed to our own downfall.”

Town:

Forster; Benjamin, Thompson, Hawkins (Adjei-Hersey 89), Leonard, Mickey Parcell, Smith (Chukwu 71), Brown, Payne, Youngs, Kaunda.

They’re third in the table, have won their last SIX National League South games, are top of the form guide, a full-time outfit and havn’t lost a league game since the end of October.

That gives you some idea of the task facing Gavin Macpherson’s men at Maidstone United tomorrow, a game Gavin describes as our hardest of the season to date on paper against a former EFL team.

Town fans wont need reminding of the corresponding fixture back in September when we were on the wrong side of a 4-1 defeat.

We’re undoubtedly a more settled side now than we were then but it’s still a learning curve as we try to build on last Saturday’s confidence-boosting last-gasp win over Chelmsford.

Although Alfie Tuck and Dan Cox have returned to their respective clubs, Gavin has virtually a clean bill of health at his disposal other than the likes of John Oyenuga who has resumed training but isn’t quite ready.

A couple of Maidstone’s most influential loan players have returned to their parent clubs but they nevertheless pose a considerable threat, spearheaded by Aaron Blair who scored a hattrick against us in September.

“It’s a really difficult one, make no mistake,” said Gavin. “Obviously Blair is a major threat but he’s not the only one. But hopefully we’ve ironed out a few of the issues we had when we met them before.”

One of Gav’s decisions will be  whether to keep Sam Youngs – seven goals in 10 games – up top or push him back into his regular role and employ exciting on-loan teenager Amaru Kaunda alongside either Anointed Chukwu or Jake Hutchinson. “Youngy has been really effective as a nine so it’s one of a number of things we are working on in terms of selection,” said Gav.

It’s probably fair to say that Town need 1.5 points per game to have a realistic chance of staying up so whenever we fall short, theoretically we have to win the subsequent game. But having picked up three points last time out who’se to say we can’t go on a run?  

“I anticipate the top sides will by and large keep winning — hopefully not against us – and it’s then a question of which sides further down can pick up enough points,” said Gavin. “I know it’s a cliché but we’re taking each game in isolation. We’re a completely different outfit to last time we played Maidstone but if we don’t get it right, we will pay the price.”

AW

Many congratulations to Lennon Peake, who scooped December’s V&S Player of the Month Award after a series of fine performances on the wing.

Ahead of our win over Chelmsford, Lennon was handed his award by Rick Howlett from partners Vanderpump & Sykes Solicitors.

For being named National League South manager of the week following our victory over Chelmsford