Town Bring In Trio

We are delighted to welcome three signings to boost the squad ahead of this weekend’s game with Maidstone.

Harley Mills

Defender Harley Mills has joined us on an initial one-month loan from Peterborough United. A former youth-teamer with Aston Villa, Harley has been with the Posh since the summer of 2021, making four senior appearances in that time. Primarily a left-back, the 20-year-old is also adept in midfield and is described by his parent club as “extremely energetic and competitive”.

Carl Mensah

Another defensive reinforcement, Carl joins us from Bedford Town, where he had spent last season as club captain, guiding them to step 3 after victory – and a goal – in the Southern League Division One playoffs. The 28-year-old brings a much-needed physical presence and know-how to our defensive line.

Harry Ottaway

Someone that needs little introduction to many Enfield Town fans, experienced striker Harry re-joins the club for a second spell following a first stint which yielded 26 goals, several assists, and a reputation as a fans’ favourite. The veteran centre-forward has spent the last couple of seasons at step 1 with Dorking Wanderers, and also counts Carshalton Athletic, Dulwich Hamlet and Sutton United among his former sides.

Welcome, lads!

No Reward Again For Town

Eastbourne Borough 1 Enfield Town 0

Report by Andrew Warshaw

The tide surely has to turn soon following our sixth defeat in seven games yet one that deserved at least a point after arguably our most cohesive performance of the season to date.

Despite being throttled for 25 minutes by the speed and physicality of our full-time opponmets, we managed to restrict them to a single goal and controlled the second half without any reward.

Whilst there is a valid argument to suggest we need more quality in the final third, this was an altogether far more accomplished display than of late and one from which the team can heart with a mouth-watering home fixture on Saturday against Maidstone United.

Town were without the unavailable Sam Youngs while fit-again Mickey Parcell came into the back four in place of Bernie Tanner.

The Sports, without three or four regulars but with a squad of full-time players, swept out of the blocks with dazzling pace that ran us ragged.

 Jaydon Davis and Siya Ligendza both went close  in a lightning start before the breakthrough came on 16 minutes as a peach of a cross was swept into the net by Alfie Pavey.

It looked ominous for Town who were indebted to Alex Solomon for blocking Isaac Pitblado’s powerful header on the line.

But after showing the resilience not to fall further behind, Town started to grow into the game and a couple of half chances just before the break, notably Billy Leonard linking up with Hisham Kasimu, augured well for the second half.

H-T 0-1

Whatever was said at the interval, we were a very different proposition. On 56 minutes Fin Holter made a crucial save to deny Kasimu, then made an even better stop to keep out Ollie Knight’s low drive before Dan Quick’s last-ditch tackle prevented a certain equaliser.

With the crowd getting restless and nervous, venting their frustration at some of the refereeing (in truth it was the same for both sides), we looked more and more like gaining a point rather than conceding again as we had done in previous outings.

Yet despite another trademark flurry of subs and ending the game with three up front, it was not to be as the home defence, marshalled by Moussa Diarra, held firm, a classic example of an established Step 2 side’s ability to manage a game.

Despite us falling into the bottom three, Gavin was as upbeat as he could be after yet another opposition manager offered kind words about our performance, this time Eastbourne’s Adam Murray.

“The boys are absolutely gutted and crestfallen in the dressing room,” said Gavin afterwards. “I don’t think anyone could argue that the best team lost. Yes they ran us around at first but the last 15 minutes of the first half we matched them and  the second half was complete domination.”

“I’m not used to losing football matches but we were playing against a well-drilled full-time team. When you have players at your disposal every day, you are bound to be fitter and stronger but I can’t ask any more from our boys apart from taking their chances. These boys are running their guts out. Slough was perhaps the only exception. We’re a small fish in a big pond now but we have to reverse this very quickly. The fans were there applauding us off again but we owe them one or two.”

Town: Forster; Payne, Nembhard, Solomon, Parcell; Leshabela (Folivi, 77), Thomas (Krasniqi 64); Knight (Adjei-Hersey, 79), Leonard, Peake; Kasimu (Beckles-Richards, 64)

Peterborough Sports in FA Cup

Despite a plethora of lower-league teams still in the competition, we will have to face Step 2 opposition when we enter this season’s FA Cup in the second qualifying round.

Our opponents on Saturday, Sept 14, are Peterborough Sports from National League north but at least we are at home which gives us more than a fighting chance in what could be an extremely tight game.

The Turbines have won two, drawn one and lost three of their first six games of the season and are currently in 18th place.

The fixture sets us up to try and gain revenge for that dramatic defeat in the competition four years ago when we drew 2-2 at Sports in the first qualifying round, only to agonisingly lose on penalties.

Improved Performance, Same Outcome

Chippenham 3 Enfield Town 2

Report by Andrew Warshaw

 For 25 minutes in the first half yesterday and a good chunk of the second, Enfield Town played perhaps our best football of the season to date.

No wonder, at the final whistle, Gavin Macpherson once again cut a frustrated figure.

For the third time in six games, we led a lead slip – in this case not once but twice – after going in front. And for the second match in a row, we were beaten with virtually the last kick of the game.

Did we deserve more? Without a doubt but that will be of scant consolation  players, management and fans after our fifth loss in six games.

All in yellow, it all started so brightly for Town on a grey, humid Wiltshire day, backed by a noisy thong of away fans who outsung the home supporters all afternoon.

After Chippenham’s Tom Owen-Evans was correctly denied a first minute penalty following minimal contact, we took the game to the Bluebirds.

Hisham Kasimu, back from injury and enjoying his best game so far in an Enfield shirt, rattled the crossbar after intercepting a terrible backpass, then Billy Leonard hit the side netting from a tight angle.

And on 17 minutes our early promise yielded dividends. Hisham, a physical presence all game, won the ball in a dangerous position and picked out Ollie Knight who raced down the wing before delivering a sublime cross for Billy Leonard to slide in at the far post (pictured).

It was just what we deserved at the time but as so often in this campaign, we couldn’t hold on to the advantage. Just before the half hour, Matt McClure found a pocket of space just outside the area and rifled a fierce drive into the top corner despite Rhys Forster getting a hand to the ball.

It was Chippenham’s first moment of real danger but they immediatly built on it and started to stretch us. Owen-Evans had another penalty appeal turned down, this one more plausible, while Forster held on to a Joe Andrews low drive and Dawes had another effort blocked on the line.

H-T 1-1

Chippenham started the second half as they had finished the first with Dawes pulling the strings and shooting over after some fine interplay.

But we, too, looked a threat going forward and Kasimu had the ball in the net again after a wonderful move through the middle of the pitch, only to be ruled offside.

Now it was end to end stuff. McClure scuffed his shot in front of goal after Dawes had skimmed past three Town players, then Owen-Evans drew  an excellent save from Forster.

But on 70 minutes we were back in front  with Kasimu’s first goal for the club, pouncing on  a defensive howler to shoot past Will Henry.

Hisham so nearly extended our lead as could only find the side netting from Ollie Knight’s pass but then came the denouement we had all hoped to avoid.

With 11 minutes to go, Bernie Tanner’s attempted clearance went straight to the opposition and after the ball was recycled, Owen-Evans fired home an angled shot.

Now it was all about trying to see the game out for a point but it was not to be as we struggled to keep possession. Two Chippenham chances came and went before, in the third minute of stoppage time, substitute Aaron Amadi-Holloway took advantage of another defensive slip and crashed home the winner through the hands of Forster who didn’t even see it.

“To be honest I’ve never been more angry after a game,” declared Gavin. “When you see so much effort, both from management and players, and when you see a strategy that is largely working and then you chuck away a game with two very basic errors, these are things that you will get exploited for at this level.”

Falling too deep in the pitch after scoring is becoming a pattern. “Maybe it’s because getting in amongst the opposition is unsustainable if we don’t have enough legs in the side,” said Gavin. “But if you can’t secure the ball, you can’t get up if you smash the ball up the pitch and it comes straight back. When you’re playing against better teams you can’t avoid to do that. Unlike, perhaps, last season.”

“Whether it’s a mindset thing, it has to be addressed. For 20 minutes or so we got strung out between the units. We were much better in the second half but we have fallen short again and it’s for me to decide whether we coach our way out of this or make changes.”

Gavin rejected the idea that our subs may have been made too late. “If there was a valid argument  that the lack of subs contributed to the defeat, I would accept it. But that’s not what happened. It’s absolutely not why we lost the game.”

Next up another away trip, to Eastbourne on Tuesday, an even tougher game on paper. But no-one can fault us — as Gavin pointed out — for effort and intention.

Town: Forster, Soloman (Parcell 86), Payne, Joash Nembhard, Tanner, Adjei-Hersey, Youngs (Leshabela 83), Leonard,  Thomas, Knight, Kasimu (Beckles-Richards 86)

Hats off to Cinellis

Huge thanks to the Cinelli Brothers for another fantastic performance at a fund-raising gig at Butler’s Bar last Tuesday which went down a storm in front of many Town members, friends and loyal fans.

Marco Cinelli and Alessandro Cinelli played a part-acoustic, part-electric set at extremely short notice, joined by guest guitarist Joe Anderson, recently a member of the Connor Selby band.

Such is  the status of these fantastic multi-instrumentalists that they recently won the 2024 UK Blues Band of the Year award. They are now in the  middle of  a European tour (Belgium last Sunday and Norway today, Friday)  followed by a widespread tour of the United States.

We are extremely grateful to them for continuing to raise the profile of our club and helping us with fundraising in what is an extremely busy schedule.

Christine Hamilton

On The Road Again

After a disappointing run of results, we visit improving Chippenham on Saturday – another long trip — hoping to end the month with some renewed vigour to push us up the table.

After a couple of early defeats, the Bluebirds have picked up form and now have five points from as many games – two more than Town. Last time out, they were seven minutes away from defeating Chelmsford City on the road before drawing 1-1.

 With another tough away game to come at Eastbourne on Tuesday, the fixtures are not getting any easier as we continue to learn the hard way about the gulf between steps 2 and 3.

Last season Chippenham finished a creditable 12th in the league, exactly halfway, but we are perhaps due a result – as well as a little luck — after last Saturday’s heartbreaking finale against Hemel Hempstead.

 Jack Smith, conspicuous by his absence in midfield, has started light training again which is great news though he’s not yet ready to be selected. Meanwhile the quest for a new central defender is intensifying daily along with enquiries about an additional forward.

“If we think that Chippenham are a side who we can tick off as a possible for us, well no teams are in this division,” said Gavin Macpherson. “They like to pass the ball more than some teams and have an excellent centreforward. I was encouraged despite the result about Monday’s display against Hemel but we will have to have the same level of application to give us a chance.”

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Town Suffer Last-Gasp Heartbreak

Enfield Town 0 Hemel Hempstead Town 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Football is a cruel game, never better illustrated than seeing a crucial point snatched away in the 95th minute on Monday.

When you’re near the bottom, things tend not to go your way and so it was as Hemel delivered a devastating sucker punch in front of a 975-strong Bank Holiday crowd.

No-one can gloss over the fact that four straight defeats, in the process sending Town into the bottom four, doesn’t make for encouraging reading.

On the positive front, we have got our two furthest away trips out of the way already and the games we’ve lost have been to the top four sides in the division.

That, of course, will do little to alleviate the gut-wrenching disappointment of this latest setback, our endeavour and spirit having deserved to yield a different outcome especially after having to travel further than any other side in the division over the Bank Holiday weekend.

With Mickey Parcell and John  Oyenuga both nursing injuries, Alex Solomon was drafted in as an emegency rightback and looked impressive until having to come off with breathing problems while Dylan Adjei-Hersey was also given a starting role as Gavin rotated a stretched squad, making four changes from the defeat at Truro and giving one or two a much-needed rest.

Unbeaten Hemel were without leading marksman Ricardo German, who scored 33 goals for Chesham last term, but still posed a considerable threat with the likes of Alfie Cerulli up front and midfield ace George Williams, a full Welsh senior international who was in their 2016 Euro squad.

But it was at the back where they had the player of the match in skipper Kyle Ajayi, their reigning player of the year who gobbled up the vast majority of Town’s forward forays.

After a strong start from the visitors, who missed a couple of decent chances, just like at Truro we began to grow into the game and Nana Owusu, brought back from Walton and Hersham where he is on a dual registration, almost gave us the lead after great work from Khanya Leshabela.

Whilst we could have done with more clear-cut openings in our attacking third, Michael Folivi getting little change out of his previous club’s backline and visiting keeper Craig King having little to do, at the other end we defended far better than in the two previous games. Joash Nembhard was deservedly named our man of the match.

Having said that, we got lucky when Akei Woolard-Innocent rattled the woodwork with a Hemel freekick while the 6-foot-6 Sydney Ibie planted a free header over.

H-T 0-0

The second half followed a similar pattern with Hemel fast out of the blocks.

 Rhys Forster scrambled the ball clear from halftime substitute Kyran Wiltshire (pictured) while we somehow managed to keep out a flurry of quick-fire goalbound efforts. But again we responded well after absorbing pressure, Joe Payne firing a freekick into the side netting. 

In general this season the officials have been of a far higher standard than at Step 3 but we were on the wrong end of some highly questionable decisions against Hemel including a booking for Gavin for nothing more than throwing his arms in the air when a clear push in the back on Owusu wasn’t given.

As both teams tired, it seemed for the world as if the match would remain scoreless, only for Ollie Knight to miss the target on 80 minutes as he headed a right-sided cross agonisingly past the post.

It may well have won the game for Town. Instead, five minutes into six added on, Hemel caught us out down their left and when the ball was pulled back across the area, sub Trae Cook-Appiah applied a shanked finish.

“The boys worked their socks today and I can’t fault them for that,” said a crestfallen Gavin. “We definitely deserved more but it’s a results business and I can’t accept this run of form if we want to stay in this league.”

Gavin reserved particular praise for the fans.

“Not only am I accountable to the board, I’m accountable to the supporters. I understand how this club is set up and the way they are still supporting me and the boys is truly humbling. I’m going to work as hard as I can to turn this round.”

Town

Forster; Solomon (Knight, 58), Nembhard, Tanner, Payne; Thomas (Krasniqi, 95); Adjei-Hersey, Leonard (Youngs, 73), Leshabela, Owusu (Peake, 78); Folivi (Beckles-Richards, 66)

Tinners Prove Too Sharp

Truro City 3 Enfield Town 1

Report By Andrew Warshaw

Gavin Macpherson made no excuses after keeping the players in the dressing room for 30 minutes with some “home truths” following this latest setback which only emphasised yet again the need for defensive reinforcements.

The fact it took the team over nine hours on Friday to get to Cornwall, in the process having to do away with the scheduled training session en route, should not detract from another frustrating collapse after we led at halftime courtesy of a peach of a strike from Michael Folivi, replacing the injured Hisham Kasimu.

It was particularly disappointing given that after weathering an early Truro storm in front of a 1,500-plus crowd at their new stadium, we grew into the game, quietened the crowd and were just starting to force the hosts into mistakes when we were picked off early in the second half and never recovered.

It didn’t help that a swirling wind made conditions exceptionally difficult in terms of ball control but it was the same for both sides and Truro coped better over the 90 minutes though Scott Thomas, by far our most accomplished performer on the day, led by example.

Lining up in a 4-1-4-1 formation to give us more width to make way for new signing lennon peake, signed from Hornchurch, we struggled initially to cope as Truro came firing out of the blocks. Twice Rhys Forster came to our rescue while Jaze Kabia outstripped our entire defence yet inexplicably fired wide.

Yet when Truro couldn’t make their early dominance count, it became a far more even contest as we gave as good as we got. Having already had a goal disallowed for a foul on the Tinners’ keeper, on 39 minutes we took the lead as Sam Youngs pounced on hesitancy in the final third and fed Folivi who unleashed a sublime right-foot curler that gave the keeper no chance (celebrations pictured).

H-T 0-1

It seemed to be the perfect response to Tuesday’s debacle against Slough but once again everything we had worked for was lost in the blink of an eye as Truro turned the game on its head in a quick-fire spell.

On 51 minutes, we failed to cut out three passes and when the ball landed at the feet of Seidou Sanogo, he produced an audacious back-heel that nestled in the corner.

Before we could recover we were undone by an even worse goal from a defensive standpoint as skipper Tyler Harvey – very much Truro’s main man who had already struck the bar in the first half – wasn’t picked up and headed home a freekick.

Suddenly, Truro had options all over the pitch and Gavin responded by switching formation and making a flurry of subs, the most encouraging being the introduction of Alex Solomon.

But even that couldn’t alter the scoreline in our favour. Instead Truro increased their lead as talisman Harvey swept the ball in at the near post with 15 minutes left as we failed to deal with a long throw.

 “We were actually allright for long periods but if you can’t defend your box, this league will find you out,” said Gavin who was as candid as he’s ever been. “We saw it on Tuesday and we saw it again. I’m accountable because I put this team together but they are not doing the things they’ve been asked to do.”

“I can’t blame the conditions or the journey down because we were ahead at halftime. There was no freak goal that blew back in the net, just bad defending. Their second goal in particular is beyond a joke, the kind of thing  you see on a Sunday morning.  

“We keep trying to put certain measures in place but the players – not all of them — keep making the same errors.  It’s now become a theme and my only conclusion is that I need to change but I have to go again on Monday with what I have.”

After painful back-to-back defeats, the boys need all the support they can get from our home game with Hemel Hempstead on Monday (kickoff 3pm) that becomes even more crucial to get us back on track.

“Perhaps this level is leaving a few of them behind,” added Gavin following our most arduous away trip of the calendar. “The fact is there’s no hiding place but some of them are starting to shrink when things don’t go well. I only have a few hours to think about Monday but we’ve got to stop handing teams goals on a plate.”

Town: Forster; Oyenuga, Nembhard, Tanner (Solomon, 67), Payne, Youngs (Leshabela, 67), Tanner, Thomas (Krasniqi, 89), Peake (Beckles-Richards, 67), Knight (Adjei-Hersey 89), Folivi.

Challenging Schedule Awaits Town

Enfield Town embark on a gruelling Bank Holiday programme on Saturday with the long 600-mile return trip to Truro following by Monday’s home game against Hemel Hempstead.

No-one needs reminding about Tuesday’s sobering setback against Slough and the management team will be looking for an immediate response against a Truro side who have started the season impressively having taken four points from three games, their only setback coming against promotion candidates Dorking.

By all accounts the Cornishmen were unlucky to only come away with only a point at Salisbury in midweek and with a likely four-figure crowd behind them will be a tough nut to crack.

Town’s players  — minus the injured Hisham Kasimu who didn’t travel  cos of a back strain and with Mickey Parcell also nursing  a knock – entered new territory by leaving for Cornwall today (Friday) in order to overnight and prepare better for the game but Gavin Macpherson made no secret of how difficult the next 48 hours will be.

“The one thing I’ll asking the boys is not to go out with any fear on the back of Tuesday,” said Gavin. “But the fact is they are going to have to run and compete harder than they ever have.”

“It’s an horrendous schedule compared to nearly everyone else. That’s what we’ve been given but we’re a part-time team and it’s the worst possible scenario. In terms of travel it’s a nightmare.”

“It’s a tough ask for the teams coming up but I keep saying, this is where we wanted to put ourselves and we have to get on with it.”

Without too many options throughout the squad, Gavin and his staff have been looking carefully at what changes to make, especially defensively “It’s clear that what happened on Tuesday is way below what we expect. Hopefully it’s a one-off so let’s see how this weekend goes and then I’ll take stock.”

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