We are delighted to confirm the signing of all-action midfielder T’Sharne “Tosh” Gallimore who came off the bench late on in our opening game of the season at Torquay last Saturday.

Tosh, who turns 25 next week, has joined from Chesham United where he spent five successful years and made 126 appearances.

“I’m trying to build a squad and Tosh has played at this level for a good while,” said Gavin Macpherson.

 “It’s all about competing for positions. Too often last season, we didn’t affect things off the bench and it’s key that everyone fights for their place. Tosh brings another important dynamic to our midfield.”

Welcome Tosh!

Torquay United 3 Enfield Town 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Never mind the scoreline, feel the performance. Rarely, if ever, has a two-goal defeat promised so much.

It’s no exaggeration to suggest that on chances alone, Enfield Town’s opening game of the season – on paper one of the toughest trips of the entire campaign – could well have resulted in three points, let alone one.

Instead, we got nothing despite having to field a makeshift back three who had never played together and staging a brave second-half fightback.

Those who weren’t at Torquay on Saturday may question how a 3-1 defeat could be described in such a positive vein but even among the Gulls faithful the narrative at the final whistle was that we were distinctly unfortunate over the 90 minutes.

Such a shame, therefore, that we were playing catch-up so early in the game – the opposite to this time last year when we took a surprise lead on our National League South debut at the same venue, only to ultimately fall short.

Having lost Adam Thompson to a hamstring issue, joining the unavailable Henry Hawkins on the sidelines, Joe Payne was drafted into the back three with Ruaridh Donaldson switching to the middle.

With a couple of others missing too, Town were only able to name five substitutes instead of seven but started on the front foot and looked confident until being hit with a quickfire double blow.

Inside nine minutes, Cody Cooke’s flick-on straight from a Rhys Forster goal-kick found Louis Dennis who supplied the finish and two minutes later, we found ourselves further behind.

When the linesman controversially kept his flag down, Jordan Young ran on to the highly influential Matt Worthington’s inch-perfect pass and produced a sumptuous strike that no keeper was going to save.

Worthington, on whom Torquay have placed great hope this season, was running the show from his deep-lying midfield role and at this point, his team were too slick and too clever for Town, finding pockets of space, timing runs with precision  and exploiting an unfamiliar defence.

 But on 25 minutes Town so nearly halved the deficit when James Hamon pulled off a remarkable save from Lemar Reynolds’ close-range strike. Had the ball twirled the other way, it would have ended up in the Torquay net. Instead it spun against the post before being cleared.

It was indicative of Town’s ill-luck and by halftime we were three down courtesy of Cooke’s perfectly struck side-foot penalty after Payne was beaten on his inside and pulled down Young.

While they controlled much of the first half,  Torquay were nothing if not physical and a couple of crunching challenges on Xavier Benjamin and Billy Leonard resulted in yellow cards though the hit on the latter might easily have resulted in red.

H-T 0-3

The hosts may have been anticipating a landslide  but Town had other ideas and instead of damage limitation, we poured forward.

 Once  Forster had clawed away Sonny Blu Lo-Everton’s  curling effort to save us conceding again, we took over as Torquay’s intensity dropped.  

Just after the hour mark, Mickey Parcell was in the right place at right time with a half-driven tap in – apparently his first goal from open play since his return to the club — and from then on, it was one-way traffic.

Sam Youngs went close to finishing off a sublime four-man move, Tommy Wood’s header found Hamon in sparkling form again, Hayden Bullas had a shot deflected wide and substitute Harry Lodovica‘s first-time effort struck Hamon before bouncing up on to the bar instead of into the net.

There were more lucky escapes for Torquay, who were struggling with Joe Payne’s long throws. With 10 minutes left, Reynolds, clean through on goal moments after seemingly been struck in the face like a clothes line with nothing given, shot agonisingly wide of the far post. Then Avan Jones, during seven minutes of stoppage time,  found himself free at the far post but couldn’t direct Donaldson’s corner towards goal.

One ominous sight for Town was Benjamin limping off with what may have been concussion following a clash of heads with Cooke that delayed the game for five minutes and forced Town into yet another defensive switch.

Late on, there were cameo outings for new signings Matty Macarther and midfielder T’Shane Gallimore and the tremendous ovation the players got from the travelling faithful at the final whistle said everything about the effort and fighting spirit which augurs well for the new campaign.

“When you go 3-0 down, it’s a very difficult road back against any opposition,” said Gavin Macpherson. “We made some poor decisions at the start and that’s massively understandable. I know that’s a weird thing to say because you never accept that. But if we had Tommy and Henry, those goals simply don’t happen. We had a totally makeshift back three, square pegs in round holes, and ended up playing three fullbacks instead of three centrehalves.”

“Once they got themselves together, we stepped up and how we haven’t got at least a draw against top opposition, I don’t know. All in all, I’m absolutely delighted with them.  I never thought we were massively short of Torquay and my over-riding feeling is lots of promising signs.”

“I wasn’t allowing damage limitation. Our supporters are the best in this league, no question. They acknowledged how the team put a shift in and just fell short. The fantastic support from the warmup to the end, you wouldn’t get that at any other club in this division.”

Town:

Forster; Benjamin (Macarthur 79), Donaldson, Payne; Jones, Parcell (Gallimore 88), Bullas (Brown 81), Youngs, Leonard; Wood (Lodovica 75), Reynolds

By Andrew Warshaw

Enfield Town may not be able to match some other clubs in National League South when it comes to full-time status and daily training schedules which is why fitness levels could prove a key element throughout the campaign – starting at Torquay tomorrow.

At various intervals during pre-season on the training pitch, Town employed a strength and development expert in Leon Braithwaite, designed to get us up to speed for the long haul ahead.

Leon, brother of former Olympic sprinter Darren Braithwaite, is close friends with Jon Nurse, the pair having taken their coaching badges together. The rest, as they say, is history.

Leon, who played professionally as a striker with Exeter City but who has widespread non-league experience and a close affinity with ETFC having represented us in 2006-7, spent a number of training sessions in the build-up to Torquay fine-tuning fitness levels in order to improve our ability to compete with the so-called bigger teams in the division.

“If you haven’t got the biggest budget, one way you can compensate for that is fitness to give yourself a fighting chance,” said Leon who is also a qualified sports psychologist and first lent his expertise to Town back in February last season when fitness levels needed a boost for the tough run-in.

It proved such a success in helping Town achieve their goal of survival that he was invited back in pre-season to put the players through their paces.

 “I spoke to Gavin and Nursey earlier in the summer and we devised a plan. Small margins help in football. The fitter you are, the more concentrated you are and you don’t get drawn out of certain positions. Your mindset is stronger in terms of attention to detail and being more adaptable,” explained Leon.

“The players embraced me with open arms. Everyone is fitter and stronger by about 20 percent than when I arrived for my first training session. They might be under the cosh at times in certain games and of course natural ability helps. But I believe you can also accrue points simply through fitness levels, especially when you’re not full-time. They got better and better in pre-season. From what I’ve seen, I have no doubt the club can compete this season.”

We are delighted to announce the signing of Matty Macarthur, who joins us following a successful period on trial.

Matty is an English-Australian winger who has impressed as a trialist, scoring in our recent victory over Spurs U21 and providing an assist in our win at Wingate & Finchley. He featured on 22 occasions for fellow NLS side Farnborough last season, chipping in with 3 goals and 2 assists. The 20-year-old has also worn the shirts of Gillingham, Tonbridge Angels, and Dartford.

“Matty has been with us for a couple of weeks and he wanted to have a look at us as well as vice-versa,” said Gavin Macpherson. “He’ll be a very welcome addition to the squad. He scored a great goal against Spurs, works hard, is tenacious and has ability. Everything I like in a player.”

Welcome, Matty!

Enfield Town 2 Tottenham Hotspur under-21 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

First Arsenal, then Spurs. As morale boosters go, Enfield Town couldn’t have asked for much more as we ended our pre-season campaign with another impressive showing ahead of the big kick-off at Torquay on Saturday.

A week after beating Arsenal’s under-21 side, another terrific goal from Lamar Reynolds plus a superb strike from the peroxide-haired triallist who has been so eye-catching of late gave us a well-deserved win over our near-neighbours in the annual fixture that has become an integral part of our pre-season campaign.

The management team, who again made wholesale changes in the second half in order to have a final look at a string of hopeful recruits, are bound to have spotted elements that still need tweaking ahead of the daunting trip to Devon but there’s an argument to suggest that we are peaking at the right time which augurs well for the weeks ahead.

Despite their youth, three of the Tottenham side had first-team squad experience on their side but just like against Arsenal, Town were the better side for large periods of the game against full-time opponents.

Tottenham had an early let-off when Reynolds lashed the ball wide after being put clean through but Lamar made no mistake with his second opportunity on 23 minutes, running on to Tommy Wood’s  sublime headed flick to finish with aplomb.

Spurs of course had their moments, Luca Williams-Barnett beating the offside trap and shooting across goal and Xavier Benjamin having to clear his lines  in the nick of time. At the other end, Billy Leonard was a constant threat and only a last-ditch clearance by Malacki Hardy prevented us doubling our lead.

You can’t make mistakes against full-time opponents, however ,and when the otherwise reliable Ruaridh Donaldson was disposssed by Russell-Denny three minutes before the break, the same player ran through to equalise.

Before the halftime whistle, Wood looped a header just over the bar from a corner and within  moments of the restart we should have moved further in front. Halftime sub Harry Ludovica was clipped from behind but smashed his penalty against the top of the bar.

By the end of the game, Town had made a full 11 changes but if anything we were even stronger in the second half as further chances came for Ludovica and Evan Jones though Reiss Elliott-Parris should have scored for Spurs with a bullet header.

The game was won just after the hour mark  when the afore-mentioned blond-haired triallist, put through down the right by Mickey Parcell, checked back on to his left foot and drove the ball expertly into the far corner (pictured).

Ethan Cann, a new name on the Town bench, then conjured up a superb block on the line to keep us in front and Bailey Brown’s header almost extended our advantage late on.

All in all, a highly encouraging evening’s work to get us in the groove.

“The one thing I demand from the players is hard work and energy and I was pleased with that,” said Gavin Macpherson. “We were a bit wasteful but we’ve made huge strides since Wingate and Finchley. You always get a lull in pre-season at some point…but the important thing is to finish pre-season strongly and do the right things. The result tonight was the cherry on the cake.”

“I’ve got to be pleased with where we are but I also have to acknowledge that we’re playing Torquay away in front of a big crowd with everything stacked against us. There’s continuity from the second half of last season which helps going forward and we’ve added some players we’re very happy with. The partnership up front is something we couldn’t produce last season. We are still a couple light but we will plan and prepare for Torquay to try and get the best out of the game we can.”

First-half line-up

Enfield Town: Forster, Benjamin, Thompson, Donaldson, Bullas, Parcell (c), Leonard, Youngs, Wood, Reynolds, Triallist A. Substitutes: Connolly, Jones, Payne, Hawkins, Cann, Brown, Trialist B, Trialist C, Trialist D, Ludovica, Trialist E.

Second half subs:  Connolly; Jones, Payne, Hawkins, Cann, Brown, Triallist b, Triallist c, triallist d, Lodovica, triallist e

We are delighted to confirm the addition of central midfielder Hayden Bullas, who joins us on a season-long work experience loan from Leyton Orient.

The 18-year-old has featured in our last two pre-season friendly wins against Arsenal and Wingate & Finchley, and last season played 27 times for Dartford, helping them into the Isthmian Premier play-offs.

Welcome, Hayden!

Enfield Town 2 Arsenal under-21 0

Report by Andrew Warshaw

What a difference a few days make. Following a lacklustre, disjointed display at Wingate on Saturday, all the commitment and endeavour came flooding back when we secured a well-deserved and highly promising win over a technically gifted Arsenal under-21 side.

Despite being without the unavailable Adam Thompson, Town were solid at the back, competitive in midfield and created chances up front – all ingredients that augur well for when we start the season proper.

The young Arsenal side may have been physically inferior yet they made up for that with skill and technique and, as expected, bags of possession. But Town’s management team will have been delighted by our pressing game and the ability to get into dangerous positions.

As early as the third minute, Lamar Reynolds showed the pace he will bring by racing through on goal, only for Gunners keeper Remy Mitchell to spread himself and keep out Lamar’s shot.

Lamar was again in the thick of the action when he  managed to get a touch to Billy Leonard’s low cross but not enough to steer the effort on target.

Arsenal’s Ceadach O’Neill found the net, only to be ruled offside, and although Louis Zecevic-John forced Rhys Forster into action on a couple of  occasions, Town continued to probe.

 Sam Youngs, skipper for the night with Mickey Parcell on the bench, couldn’t quite connect when Avan Jones lashed the ball across goal. When he did connect, from a corner, Sam planted a powerful header straight at Mitchell with Tommy Wood lurking.

In front of a 950-plus crowd, all Town’s new signings were showing what they could offer and there was a collective sigh of relief when the excellent Jones was soon up on his feet after taking what at first looked like a worrying knock.

H-T 0-0

Town didn’t let up and a trademark Leonard run and cross was again met by Youngs who again headed straight at Mitchell. The young Arsenal keeper followed that up with a wondrous tip-over save to thwart Jones on the volley.

Demaine Agustien should have put the visitors ahead, only to see his curling shot clear the bar. But  on 67 minutes we got what we deserved by opening the score. And what as goal it was.

A seemingly routine route-one clearance by Forster found Reynolds in space and our new striker plucked the ball out of the air with terrific technique before lobbing Mitchell with pinpoint precision.

Youngs, who could have had a hattrick on another day, saw his goalbound effort blocked by Marcell Washington before we doubled our lead with eight minutes left. Substitute Harry Lodovica, who towered above the Arsenal defence when he came on, was not picked up as he leapt to head home Joe Payne’s long throw.

“We were really disappointing on Saturday, we felt we were flat and a long way off it, and let them know that,” said Town assistant manager Jon Underwood. “We asked for a reaction and I think we got it.”

“The Braintree clean sheet and the one Saturday may have been a bit fortunate but we fully deserved it tonight. We’re demanding high standards and this time we got them.”

“When you play Arsenal, whatever the age group, they keep the ball, have lots of movement and ask a lot of questions of you. But we pressed when we could, then at other times had to drop off a bit deeper and be compact. That’s probably the best we’ve been out of possession. That’s important cos there are going to be spells in this league where you don’t have the ball.”

“Lemar complements the other strikers we have here. He missed a couple of weeks of pre-season and has been catching up. Ruaridh Donaldson the same. They’re seasoned players at this level but you can’t fast track these things, they have to get the minutes in their legs.”

Without a game this coming Saturday, Town’s final pre-season outing will be against Tottenham’s under-21 squad next Tuesday. “It’s not easy to get the balance right but we’re doing our best and tonight felt like we’re getting there,” said Unders.

Town

Forster; Benjamin, Hawkins, Donaldson; Leonard, Bullas, Brown, Youngs, Jones; Reynolds, Wood

Subs during part of second half:

Payne; Knight, Triallist A, Lambert, Parcell, Ludovica

Wingate and Finchley 0 Enfield Town 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Forget the scoreline. Gavin Macpherson was more than a touch peeved after what he described as our worst pre-season outing so far, calling into question the attitude of the players.

On an excellent playing surface and against Step 3 opposition, Town were second best for large parts of the game and might easily have lost – only to snatch victory four minutes from time through an Avan Jones header.

A performance lacking in cohesion and ideas was somewhat of a surprise given we lined up with a strong side. Harry Lodovica made his debut up front with another new recruit Hayden Bullas, on loan from Orient, in midfield.

Yet Wingate looked the sharper, more energetic side against a strangely lacklustre Town who didn’t seem to come to grips with the 3-5-2 formation.

Having said that, we got off to a decent start when Wingate keeper Charlie Granger clawed a Sam Youngs header on to the bar. Sam hit the woodwork again with a close-range header from a corner but either side of those efforts, it was  the hosts who posed the greater threat.

The second half saw the management team ring the changes as per, only for Wingate to create the majority of the chances from open play

The fact that none of them found the back of Enfield’s net was down to a mixture of finishing being narrowly off target, our own woodwork hit twice, sharp stops from Adi Connolly and a healthy dose of good fortune.  On one almost comical occasion, a hospital backpass from the normally reliable Adam Thompson saw the ball bounce over Adi’s head and roll inches wide of an unguarded net.

On 86 minutes, however, Town got over the line when a freekick from a triallist saw Jones steal a yard on his marker and power home a header. Another set-piece goal, another clean sheet but Gavin was not a happy bunny.

“It’s by far the worst we’ve played in pre-season,” he bemoaned. “I felt we were lacking commitment. They ran harder than us and outworked us. It was really poor and something we’ll need to have a look at. Yes another clean sheet and set-piece but I’m not going to dress it up into something it’s not. We could easily have conceded today.”

“Too many of the players are still not up to speed. Too many have missed chunks of pre-season. I can’t accept performances like that whether it’s the league or pre-season.”

Better to have such a below-par performance now, perhaps, rather than when the season starts and we have two more friendlies, against the Arsenal and Spurs under-21 sides, to put things right.

“That’s true but I expect standards to be as high as they can but there was an attitude problem and that’s something we simply cannot guilty of because we are in a league where we are a small minnow,” said Gavin.

“The one thing we have to have on our side – and did have for large chunks of last season – is the fact that we battle and work hard. If those two things are not there as a fundamental, we’re going to have a very difficult season because, without any disrepect to Wingate, we’re going to face a whole lot better than the team we faced today.”

First half team:

Forster; Benjamin, Thompson, Donaldson; Payne, Parcell, Bullas, Youngs, Leonard; Lodovica, Reynolds

Second half subs:

Jones, Hawkins, Knight, Wood, Brown, Connolly, two triallist

We’re thrilled to welcome forward Harry Lodovica to the club after a highly encouraging pre-season.

Harry, 26, joins us from Maidstone United in the National League South, with previous experience at Hendon, Braintree Town, Chelmsford City, Aveley, and Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Championship.

A versatile striker who scored the penalty in our 2-0 win over Braintree on Tuesday and almost netted again, Harry can play as a complete forward, advanced playmaker, or target man, bringing dynamism to our attack.

“Really pleased to get Harry over the line,” said Gavin Macpherson. “Harry came in pre-season and I thought he was a real handful, there’s only better things to come from him. He’s been professional and has worked really hard since coming in.”

“We’ve had a good look at him and feel we have a chance to get him back to the level he was after an injury-hit season. I feel that if we can get that right, we could have a good player on our hands. He’s humble, works hard and wants to find a home again after a difficult season with injury at Maidstone.”

Welcome, Harry!

Enfield Town 2 Braintree Town  0

 In their latest pre-season run-out, Enfield Town recorded a morale-boosting win over full-time National League opposition with Lamar Reynolds notching his first goal for the club.

If the win was a touch fortunate as Braintree Town dominated possession for long periods and created plenty of chances, a combination of solid defending, good goalkeeping and a couple of visits from Lady Luck edged us closer to where we want to be come the start of the season.

Indeed the first-half side, minus the unavailable Sam Youngs, was as close as we’ve seen so far to how we might set up against Torquay.

Although Bayley Brown had the first chance of the game with a shot comfortably saved by Braintree’s triallist goalkeeper, the visitors were quickly into their stride.

Soon after a Braintree effort was disallowed for offside, however, Town drew first blood in the 12^th minute, Ruaridh Donaldson’s right-wing corner nodded powerfully home by Reynolds. Another set-piece goal – huge promise for the season to come.

Now Braintree flicked the ‘on’ switch and pinned Town back for long periods. Rhys Forster was a busy man, keeping out well-struck efforts from Tom Blackwell and Jacob Pinnington, while centre-forward Lewis Walker blasted over an open goal.

Town still threatened on the counter, a delicious piece of twinkle toes skill from Bayley Brown setting up Reynolds who this time got his feet in a tangle.

The siege continued into the second half, with Blackwell replaced by an equally speedy triallist. Both Adam Thompson and Henry Hawkins had to deal with dangerous low crosses in the first two minutes, followed quickly by another disallowed Braintree effort.

 The best of Forster’s saves came after 63 minutes, a point-blank block from Freddie Hockey. At the other end, Billy Leonard had a header well saved, with the rebound falling to a triallist, resulting in another excellent block, this time from the visiting defence.

 With the arrival of the Triallist Army later in the half, Town started to enjoy more possession, and doubled their lead on 71 minutes. Thompson was fouled 12 yards from goal following a corner and a triallist thumped the penalty home with a refreshing lack of ceremony. The same triallist headed narrowly wide from Knight’s cross as Town finished the game on a high. Whilestill not the finished article, there were plenty of encouraging signs.

“It was a really good test for us and it could have been a bizarre scoreline,” admitted Gavin Macpherson who dispensed for the first time in pre-season  with 4-4-2 in order to try out two other formations and put an extra player in defensive midfield where Ruaridh Donaldson partnered Micky Parcell in the first half.

“Last Saturday we had 11 chances and scored one so to come out with a couple of goals from fewer chances is a real plus,” said Gavin. “I’m really pleased for Lamar. Last season we didn’t manage to stretch teams enough.”

With three friendlies left, however, there is still much to think about. “ We have work to do in terms of our movement and how we function out of possession,” said Gavin. “Physically we’re in good shape but there is clearly work to do tactically.”

First-half team:

 Forster, Benjamin, Hawkins, Thompson, Leonard, Parcell, Donaldson, Brown, Jones, Wood, Leonard

Subs in second half: Lambert, Payne, Knight plus 7 triallists

Martin Bentley