AFC Totton 3-2 Enfield Town
Report by Martin Bentley

The phrase “conceded an injury time winner” has appeared with depressing regularity in match reports this season. Sad to report that it appears once again in this report, as a Tony Lee header in the third minute of stoppage time saw mid-table AFC Totton take all three points from an absorbing game at the Snows Stadium. The defeat was particularly hard for Town to take, as their performance was a huge improvement on recent showings, only for old failings to cost them a point at the death.

With Lamar Reynolds recalled to the starting line-up and Avan Jones replacing Billy Leonard on the right flank, Town just about edged the opening 15 minutes, and got their noses in front when Tosh Gallimore was fouled some 25 yards from goal. Olly Davis stepped up to curl a delicious free kick over the wall and giving home keeper Jacob Knightbridge no chance.

The home side countered with a series of swift attacks down Town’s left, with Nino Adom-Malaki and Henry Hawkins struggling to cope with some incisive passing and dangerous crosses. The equaliser arrived on 23 minutes when winger Ashley Clarke danced past an exposed Adam Thompson and floated a cross onto the head of the dangerous Lee. Totton’s leading scorer also had a free kick opportunity in an almost identical position to Davis’ earlier effort, but his low drive was well saved by Hubert Graczyk in the Town goal. The home side then took the lead in first half stoppage time from yet another right-wing corner; this time Ralph Vigrass was left with a free header at the far post, and Town found themselves frustratingly trailing at the interval.

Town certainly came out firing in the second half through, with Davis apparently on a one-man mission to level the scores with efforts on 47 minutes (well saved by Knightbridge), 51 minutes (deflected for a corner) and 53 minutes (saved again). A gold-plated chance was wasted after 63 minutes however when Jones sliced the ball wide from 5 yards following a goalmouth scramble. It was beginning to feel like one of those days (it turned out, it was indeed one of those days, but more about that later), but, just as the home side were beginning to re-establish some control in midfield, Town came up with an equaliser. Gallimore’s 68^th minute long ball could be best described as ‘optimistic’, but Reynolds took the ball down, sprinted clear of his marker and buried the ball emphatically beyond Knightbridge.

No further significant chances came Town’s way in the following 20 minutes however, yet the allocated 4 minutes of added time unfolded with hair-tearing predictability. With Town pinned deep in their own half, they were forced to deal with a series of corners and free kicks.. Home captain Tyler Cordner had already hit the foot of Graczyk’s post with a snap shot before, annoyingly, depressingly, frustratingly – I have now run out of adverbs – they got one right; a left wing corner was powered home by the outstanding Lee, and the three points remained in Hampshire. The game concluded in chaos with a yellow card for Gallimore and a red one for Town coach Carl Garstang, apparently for protesting about a foul committed by Lee as the cross came over.

Worryingly, the winner was greeted by the majority of travelling fans with a resigned shrug. It’s been said before, but if games automatically ended at 90 minutes, Town would now be in lower mid-table instead of 23^rd. Not sure where we go from here.

Team: Graczyk, Benjamin, Thompson, Hawkins, Jones (Leonard 69), Bullas (Ackason 90+4), Youngs, Gallimore, Odom-Malaki, Davis, Reynolds

Unused subs: Connolly, Knight, Brown, Donaldson

Hemel Hempstead Town 3 Enfield Town 0

Report by Andrew Warshaw

What is it about teams who supposedly can’t score goals taking it out on Enfield Town?

Three days after letting in four without reply against Chelmsford, who had netted only three times in six previous outings, Hemel Hempstead Town – who hadn’t scored in five in all competitions — secured a convincing 3-0 victory on Tuesday as we ended 2025 on a hugely disappointing note.

A bitterly cold evening that began auspiciously with the kickoff delayed by 45 minutes because of floodlight failure caused by a local power outage ended with the travelling Towners fans wishing the lights had gone out for good to prevent such a poor result.

Everyone, not least Gavin Macpherson, expected a reaction from the Boxing Day debacle against Chelmsford. Instead it was more of the same as Town never got going on a frosty artificial pitch and only really upped their game when already 3-0 down and playing catch-up.

Ending the year in the bottom two was certainly not what the doctor ordered, the only positive being that there is half a season to go to put things right.

Gavin made three changes from Boxing Day, bringing in Henry Hawkins, Olly Davis for his first league start and Bailey Brown. But after a decent first 10 minutes, there was a notable lack of creativity or the ability to keep the ball for more than a few seconds.

It didn’t help, of course, that Town were hit by yet another stroke of bad luck with the news that Cian Dillon will be out for the remainder of his loan spell with a hamstring injury. It remains to be seen how that situation is addressed going forward.

Cian’s hold-up play was certainly missed as Town struggled to gain any momentum against a team who moved the ball far better.

Most of Hemel’s best work was down their right where Samuel Adenola was a constant threat and two quick goals within six first-half minutes proved decisive.

After 24 minutes,  a route one ball over the top saw  Hubert Graczyk keep out Joe White’s effort but when the ball fell to Hemel top scorer Millar Matthews-Lewis, he tapped home.

Six minutes later, the Tudors’ advantage was doubled as an unmarked Mauro Vilhete rifled the ball into the far top corner before any Town player could close him down.

H-T 0-2

Town needed to regroup and for a few minutes looked like they might get back into it.

But with Davis struggling to impose himself against physical defenders and both he and Sam Youngs receiving minimal support from midfield, there was little overall change to the pattern of play.

Adinola fired narrowly wide via a deflection and after 62 minutes, the  Tudors made the game safe – ironically moments after Lemar Reynolds was introduced to try to reduce the deficit.

Town gave away a freekick and when George Williams’  delicious delivery found the feet of Matthews-Lewis, Graczyk could only push his shot back into the danger zone where Charlie Rowan delivered the killer blow.

That, effectively, was that. Although Reynolds and Hawkins both went close late on, it was too little too late and now collective socks have to be pulled up for the visit to Totton on Saturday, followed by two home games.

Gavin was left distraught and frustrated in equal measure, especially given that we started with the same back three who have at times looked a formidable unit this season.

“I desperately wanted a reaction but the goals we are conceding, we’re not giving ourselves a chance of staying in football matches,” said Gav. “All of a sudden these things are creeping back and something has to change, whether it’s on the training pitch or personnel.”

“It runs a bit deeper than the defence, though, if truth be told. I asked all the players afterwards if they were hurting because we have a magnificent set of fans and this was unacceptable.

“The players have proved time and again that they will run through brick walls for the club but we were really poor in possession of the ball. Obviously the delay disrupted preparations but it wouldn’t have mattered if we kicked off at 6am or midnight.  The fact is we are miles better than what we are showing at the moment and we need to man up as a group.”

Town

Graczyk; Benjamin, Hawkins, Thompson; Adom-Malaki, Bullas, Gallimore (Donaldson 88), Brown (Reynolds 61), Leonard; Davis, Youngs

Gavin Macpherson will be looking for an immediate reaction to round off 2025 when we visit Hemel Hempstead on Tuesday (kickoff 7.45)  in the first of two successive away games.

The heavy Boxing Day home defeat to Chelmsford was as comprehensive as it was unexpected and something of a wake-up call after a four-game unbeaten run.

The management team will be hoping that all the good work achieved during that spell will not be undone but The Tudors will also be looking for a response after their narrow Boxing Day defeat to Chesham when they went down to 10 men and were undone by what manager Lee Allinson described as a “criminal” refereeing decision.

Hemel have now gone four league games without scoring during which time they have picked up a solitary point. On paper that should work in Town’s favour but we should take it with a pinch of salt given that Chelmsford’s goalscoring record hadn’t exactly been prolific before their demolition job on us.

The fact that Allinson’s team are still eighth in the table and pushing for a playoff place says much about their ambitions, coupled with some seasoned, experienced players in a deep squad.

“Whether Chelmsford was a blip, I’ll be able to answer that better after Hemel,” said Gavin. “The season isn’t over whether or not we achieve the points tally we ideally want over the holiday period. Hemel have taken a bit of a dip recently but before that, as the table shows, they were doing really well. They will be looking to bounce back and I just hope our players can reset themselves and rediscover who they are.”

AW

Enfield Town 0 Chelmsford City 4

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Few, if any, saw this result coming. After all, a resurgent  Town had put together a four-game unbeaten run while Chelmsford had only scored three goals in their six previous league outings.

But the Clarets did what they always do the day after Christmas, making it seven Boxing Day wins on the spin, this time emphatically giving Town a right pasting, hugely disappointing for a bumper 1,200-plus crowd and leading Gavin Macpherson to apologise for a far from festive display.

Ahead of kick-off, Chelmsford re-signed Kane Crichlow and acquired Charlie Adams, both quality players who contributed to bullying us all over the pitch with the visitors quicker and stronger.

Their afternoon got off to a perfect start straight from the kick-off when the dangerous Lyle Taylor was left unmarked from a flicked-on corner and hooked the ball home.

Caught cold, Town, who made one change with the returning Xav Benjamin replacing Avan Jones, rallied with a Sam Youngs volley that missed by a whisker. Youngs then went close again with a freekick but the visitors always looked the more composed and clinical side.

Chelmsford  had already given Town two huge let-offs — Hayden Bullas clearing one effort off the line and Taylor lashing over from close range — before doubling their lead just before halftime through Archie Tamplin’s superb curler from the edge of the box.

Town were uncharacteristically shaky at the back and second best in midfield. As a result, the front two didn’t create enough while at the other end Graczyk had to fling himself to his right to prevent a third Clarets goal.

H-T 0-2

Sadly it didn’t take long for that to change. With superior fluency and transition play, the visitors always seemed to have one extra man and five minutes after the break, Crichlow was given time and space to mark his return by rolling the ball into the net.

It was now all over as a contest and it was no surprise when Taylor completed the rout with a simple follow-up.

If there was a shred of positivity, it was the cameo performances of subs Olly Davis and Eli Ackeson but that would be clutching at straws as we fell into the bottom three though with half the season still to play.

Only at Dover when we were down to nine and Chesham to 10 have Town been so comprehensively dismantled this season but there is plenty of time to put things right.

“We were bullied out the game in some respects which is strange for a team of mine,” said Gavin. “Their full-time training really came into play compared with our boys but that’s not an excuse. Today was as bad as it’s been this season and I have to apologise to the fans after a good run of form.”

“We were way, way below where I expect us to be. Whether it’s just a blip, I’ll be able to answer that better after Hemel on Tuesday.”

Town (3-5-2): Graczyk; Benjamin, Thompson (Hawkins 70), Donaldson; Leonard, Adom-Malaki, Gallimore, Bullas (Brown 58), Youngs (Knight 86) Dillon (Ackason 71), Reynolds (Davis 58)

Enfield Town stage their final home outing of the year on Boxing Day (ko 3pm) hoping for a bumper crowd to spur them on to a fifth straight unbeaten game.

Although Town remain in the bottom four, their form of late, plus a superior goal difference to all the clubs around them, augurs well for the holiday period and thereafter in the scramble to move away from the danger zone.

Having completed a one-match ban, Xav Benjamin is back in contention for selection while Henry Hawkins could also return after injury and make up what would then be our most familiar back line this season alongside Tommo.

Ruaridh Donaldson and Evan Jones hardly put a foot wrong against Hornchurch yet such is the competition for places at this moment – in stark contrast to our recent injury crisis – that someone will doubtless be left disappointed.

After beating Eastbourne Borough last time out on the road, the Clarets are seeking back-to-back away victories but eight points out of our last 12 represents a decent enough return and Town will be eager to maintain their unbeaten National League South record against Angelo Harrop’s side as well as move closer to safety.

Having said that, mid-table Chelmsford have won no fewer than six straight Boxing Day matches so an intriguing encounter is in store.

“There is no doubt we face a very dangerous opponent, however we are in good spirits and form despite the disappointment of a late equaliser on Saturday,” said Gavin Macpherson.

“We must constantly reset from game to game but continue to play with desire, resilience and work rate whilst we strive to improve our quality. I still expect Chelmsford to be challenging come to the end of the season so it’s just another chapter in a difficult Christmas and New Year schedule.”

AW

Hornchurch 2 Enfield Town 2

Report by Andrew Warshaw

A terrific point away from home against the league leaders or two dropped right at the death against 10 men?

Depends which way you look at it and how remaining results pan out over the rest of the Christmas and New Year period.

What is indisputable is that Enfield Town came within a whisker of inflicting the first home league defeat of the season on the Urchins. And that in the first half we played some of our best football of the season.

Indeed any neutrals who didn’t know which team was which might easily have concluded in that opening period that we were the side at the top of the league and Hornchurch were scrapping near the bottom.

Gavin Macpherson was forced to reshuffle the back line with Xav Benjamin serving a one-game suspension and Henry Hawkins too much of a gamble given the need the bed him back in slowly after a long layoff through injury.

But it has to be said that both Ruaridh Donaldson and Evan Jones acquitted themselves  commendably alongside the imperious Adam Thompson.

Not that they were worked overtime in that first half when Town scored early and should have extended their lead.

After just 13 seconds, Lemar Reynolds’ long-range shot lacked sufficient power but showed good intent and on six minutes, our early promise was rewarded.

Hornchurch didn’t deal with a corner and when Billy Leonard nodded back across goal, Sam Youngs  — back in the starting lineup wearing head and face protection following his broken nose – showed great control to rifle a bouncing ball into the roof of the net when he could easily have screwed it wide (pictured celebrating).

 Town continued on the front foot with Lemar and Cian Dillon giving the Hornchurch defence plenty to think about.  Urchins’ keeper Arthur Nasta smothered a Dillon effort while Lemar’s turn and volley flashed over. Then it was Nino Adom-Malaki’s turn to get in on the act with a Cruyff-like piece of trickery but chose the wrong option by trying to dink the keeper.

That should have been 2-0, only for Town to enjoy a huge slice of good fortune when debutant Hubert Graczyk was wrong-footed by Josh Rees’ effort, only for the ball to come back off the post into the grateful arms of our new keeper.

Apart  from that, plus a Junior Morias effort fired into the side netting, Town had been the side knocking on the door.

H-T 0-1

The first big chance of the second period also went to Town, Harry Gibbs forced into a goal-saving clearance to thwart a lightning interchange of passes between our two strikers. Then Lemar spotted Nasta off his line but couldn’t quite direct a 40-yard lob goalwards.

But the momentum was beginning to change as Hornchurch, clearly given a half-time rocket, went to their bench for inspiration, picked up most second balls and began to thread dangerous passes together.

Yet just as they were building up a head of steam, Josh Hare was dismissed for a second yellow. On paper it was a relief for Town. Instead, it only serve to galvanise the hosts.

Sub Henry Sandat looked to have equalised, only for it to be ruled out by a high foot. But on 75 minutes, the 10 men were level when an overlap down our left wasn’t picked up and Sandat buried the cross.

Cut a frantic finale. Olly Davis came off the bench to restore Town’s lead after more fine work by Dillon and it looked for all the world like the enforced three-week break from league action would pay off handsomely.

Instead the joyous celebrations that greeted Davis’ goal were short-lived. Deep into stoppage time, the otherwise impressive Tosh Gallimore (second only in our midfield to the outstanding Hayden Bullas) gave away a needless freekick and in a right old melee, Graczyk could do no better than push the ball straight at the feet of Sandat who broke Town hearts with the kind of  all-too-familiar last-gasp finish that plagued us earlier in the season.

Although we remain in the danger zone, it’s important to note our goal difference is the best of any of the bottom seven which augurs well.

“Hornchurch reacted like they’d won the game and we’d lost it which says a lot about how we played,” said a frustrated but generally upbeat Gavin Macpherson. “They have considerable fire power and in the second half they moved the ball better than us but all in all I can’t fault our boys. They were magnificent.

“We were mindful, having not played a league game for three weeks, that we might come back without momentum. But that wasn’t the case. Yes, it’s tinged with disappointment as we were looking to see the game out but when I take the last four games into perspective — two home wins, two away draws — there’s a lot to be positive about.”

Town:  Graczyk; Jones, Thompson, Donaldson; Adom-Malaki, Bullas (Knight 91), Youngs, Gallimore, Leonard; Dillon, Reynolds (Davis 76)

After back-to-back Saturdays with no competitive football, Enfield Town go into the lion’s den – or make that the Urchins den – tomorrow in what promises to be one of our toughest encounters of the season.

Three points clear at the top and unbeaten at home may look scary but don’t tell Gavin Macpherson we have nothing to lose against the league leaders.

“I never like to use that phrase no matter who we are playing, it’s not in my vocabulary,” said Gavin. “Some people have said it’s a free hit but that’s nonsense. We understand how vast the task is but we’ve been on decent form of late so why not face the leaders in their own backyard and have a go at it? If they are too good for us, so be it.”

Yet as if facing Hornchurch wasn’t in itself a daunting enough challenge, Town will have to shuffle the pack in defence against a team that has been scoring for fun.

Not only will Xav Benjamin have to serve the one-match ban that would have been against Hampton and Richmond but the classy Joe Kizzi, who played a major part in our recent mini-revival, has been recalled by Barnet through injury.

With Henry Hawkins available but still regaining fitness after a lengthy layoff, Gavin faces an unenviable decision with the back line once again having to be tinkered with. The fact we have no fewer than six games in three weeks cannot be discounted.

“Henry is injury free but we’ll have to assess him,” said Gav.  “I don’t want to focus too much on those we haven’t got because in other areas of the pitch some important players are back and good to go like Youngy, Tosh and Lemar.”

And between the sticks we have another new goalkeeper making his Town debut.

Having had two keepers on loan in recent weeks following the departure of Rhys Forster, both are now injured and have now been recalled by their respective clubs.

That forced the management team to act quickly by bringing in Hubert Graczyk following his departure from Wealdstone.

Poland-born Hubert was an England youth international between U16 and U18 levels and spent much of his youth career with Arsenal’s Academy after joining from Everton and featured 31 times for the Gunners’ U21 side.

This time, the deal is not a loan and it is hoped that after all the unavoidable chopping and changing Hubert, 22, can at least play out this season with Town.

Although Tuesday’s friendly with Arsenal provided vital minutes on the pitch, Gavin wasn’t 100 percent comfortable with some players’ level of  performance.

“It remains to be seen until we’re into the game Saturday how much the rest and the Arsenal friendly did us good, or didn’t,” said Gav. “We’ve had a couple of curveballs this week but we’ve set a points target until the end of the year, let’s see if we can get there.”

AW

We are delighted to announce the signing of goalkeeper Hubert Graczyk following his departure from Wealdstone.

Poland-born Hubert was an England youth international between U16 and U18 levels and spent much of his youth career with Arsenal’s Academy after joining from Everton, spending six years at Hale End and going on to feature 31 times for the Gunners’ U21 side.

From there, he moved to Manchester United where he largely played in their academy setup, though he trained with United’s first team earlier this year, as well as featuring during a selection of first-team warm-ups in the FA Cup before his departure in the summer. The 22-year-old also has senior experience at this level following a loan with Slough Town during the 2023/24 season.

Welcome, Hubert!

Enfield Town played out an entertaining 2-2 draw with an Arsenal Academy team in a friendly arranged for reasons of both cash flow and match practice given we had been without a competitive game since Bath away.

Although the visitors dominated possession for long periods, Town succeeded in digging in and finding two equalisers to earn a highly creditable draw.

  The Arsenal starting line-up boasted several players with limited first-team experience and a goalkeeper with England Under-19 caps, and were quickly into their stride, causing Town numerous problems with some slick, pacy football.

They were in front after only nine minutes when skipper Louie Copley got behind the Town backline, and took advantage of an unlucky slip by Adi Connolly in the Town goal to roll the ball into an empty net.

  Town’s response was almost instant. Olly Davis made a penetrating run from midfield and slipped the ball to Billy Leonard on the right,  his shot taking a huge deflection to beat Gunners’ keeper Khari Ranson.

The rest of the half was dominated by the visitors, but an inspired display by Connolly kept the scores level, aided by two struck goalposts along the way.

 The second half followed a similar pattern, with Town drip-feeding substitutes onto the field; by the final whistle only Davis remained from the original starting eleven.

Connolly continued to defy the visitors’ efforts but eventually the dam was breached on 67 minutes, with Charles Sagoe Junior racing through a suspiciously large gap on the left side of Town’s defence.

Once again the Town response was almost instant. Avan Jones embarked on a meandering run out of defence, his shot from distance fumbled by Ranson into the path of Eli Ackason, who rammed in his first Town goal from close range.

There was still time for Ethan Cann to make a brilliant goal-line clearance to preserve parity.   

All in all a satisfactory evening for both sides’ bid for game time, in our case ahead our return to league action at Hornchurch on Saturday.

Team: Connolly, Kizzi, Thompson, Donaldson, Leonard, Bullas, Gallimore, Adom-Malaki, Davis, Wood, Triallist

 Subs: Jawonski, Jones, Benjamin, Hawkins, Knight, Ackason, Brown, Bates, Cann, Opoku

Martin Bentley

Enfield Town may not have had a game last Saturday but a very special guest gave up his time to join our popular football school sessions on the nearby 3G training pitch.

Sky Sports presenter Michael Bridge, born and educated in Enfield, has just been appointed the first ever patron of our charity arm and spent the morning integrating with our various teams – youth, disability, walking football etc – and presenting them with end-of-term medals.

Michael’s role will be to support the club’s registered charity work in the community.

“When the club approached me, it took me less than a second to say yes,” said Michael (pictured, centre, with walking football players) whose involvement with the club has already included promoting the new stand and being MC at the Steve Perryman/Alf d’Arcy evening at Butler’s Bar  back in April.

“It’s an incredible honour to be patron of the club’s charity projects. I’m very privileged to be able to travel to many places but Enfield is my home and where my heart is. Non-league football is the heart of the game and to be part of this community is a no-brainer. It’s been a real eye-opener to meet so many players of all ages and ability with smiles on their faces. That’s what non-league football is all about and I’ll do what ever I can to support this wonderful cause and this wonderful club.”

“I used to follow the old club and to come back as Enfield Town has after being ripped apart and now to be playing in National League South is pretty unbelievable. I really hope they stay up in what is an incredible tough league.”

Town vice-chairman Paul Millington commented: “Michael has followed us since were formed and we’re delighted he has agreed to become the patron of our charitable ventures. As part of that, we’re hoping he can get involved in various fund-raisers such as a Q and A session at the Dave Bryant, all the money going towards our community activities.”

AW