We are pleased to announce that our postponed home game against Kingstonian has now been re-arranged for Tuesday, Feb 20, kickoff 7.45.

We regret that following a pitch inspection, today’s match against Kingstonian has had to be postponed.

A replacement date will be announced as soon as possible

There was hardly a dry eye in the house at our annual agm when Dave Bryant, the club’s first ever chairman, stepped down as a director and board member.

After it was announced that we would be naming our stadium after Dave for the rest of the season, he gave an emotional, heartfelt farewell speech covering the formation of the club right up until the present day.

The AGM agenda notably included the election of six board members. Re-elected by the membership were John Dolan, Christine Hamilton, Geoff Lee and Andrew Warshaw, all of whom were standing again after their terms had expired. Added to the board were Neil Lutwyche and Graham Dodd who replaced Dave and Les Gold who is also stepping down after years of invaluable and loyal commitment.

There was standing room only at Butler’s Bar for what chairman Paul Reed said was probably the best ever agm attendance, a testament to the growing membership and the work being done on and off the pitch by Gavin Macpherson and his backroom staff and our wonderful team of volunteers.

Paul said 114 members had voted in the election ballot and that Neil and Graham would give “fresh impetus” to the board as we move forward.

Paul admitted there had been a hugely disappointing  end to last season but paid tribute to Andy Leese for all his hard work over six seasons. Four candidates were interviewed for the manager’s job with Gavin being the unanimous choice, joining us despite fighting off interest from another club. Crowds are already up 20 percent under Gavin on the same period last season.

Paul paid special tribute to Dave and Les, to the late Michael Lowe and to ETFC physio John Abbott who recently retired after a generation of service to move to Suffolk.

Paul explained some of the logistics involved trying to balance being competitive with financial realities and also the viability of installing an artificial pitch which was almost certainly unaffordable without external funding.

Before the Q and A session with Gavin, the agm heard from Clare Donovan, ceo of Cooking Champions, our popular new matchday food partner.

Clare revealed how the charity helps 200 people per week with food packages and how much the company aligns itself with our fan-owned ethos.

The audience also heard from John Doyle, who is stepping down as head of our youth section. In his time in charge, the youth section has burgeoned to 24 teams and John invited any would-be successors to get in touch.

Then came Dave Bryant’s emotion-packed address which covered how the club came about, the highs and lows, the passion of creating our own club and the work that went into securing our own stadium.

When he had finished, Dave (pictured), without whom Enfield Town FC as a club almost certainly wouldn’t exist today, received a lengthy and richly deserved standing ovation.

The final session featured a good-natured, respectful and often humourous Q and A with Gavin, accompanied by Sam Youngs.

Gavin paid tribute to the fan base as he did his best to answer a series of probing exchanges about tactics, formations and individual players.

Admitting that losing Jake Cass early in the season was a major body blow, he nevertheless painted a positive picture of where we stand.

“We are in very good place although it’s not lost on me that the last month hasn’t been what we would have expected,” said Gavin, ahead of course of our 3-0 win at Canvey Island.

 “We have a team in the playoff places that’s working very hard to regain our momentum.  I think from a betting perspective we were destined to finish 14^th but I don’t mind defying the odds. My mindset is extremely positive.”

Andrew Warshaw

Canvey Island 0 Enfield Town 3

Report by Andrew Warshaw

That’s more like it! After a cagey first half, Town showed their true colours as we hit Canvey Island with a second-half goal blitz on Saturday to finally get back to winning ways.

In the 11^th hour absence of Gavin Macpherson for personal reasons, Jon Nurse took over the main managerial duties with a starting eleven that saw James Richmond dropped to the bench in favour of Josh Okotcha – albeit for only 41 minutes.

And on a ground that is traditionally unkind to us — not least last season when were well beaten in the league and FA Cup — we ended up worthy winners to remain the playoff places and hopefully re-ignite our campaign after the recent wobble.

Canvey arguably had the better of the first-half exchanges and almost went in front with the first meaningful attack of the game as Conor Hubble struck the crossbar with a 25-yard freekick, the followup also rebounding off the woodwork.

Town responded with Reece Beckles-Richards denied by keeper Sam Jackson but in a scrappy opening period we looked somewhat devoid of ideas, caught for long periods in a game of head tennis.

For Canvey, who lost by the same score at our place in November, Jadon Crowhurst played the ball behind our backline but the dangerous Bradley Sach fortunately scuffed his shot wide.

Ten minutes before the break Okotcha came off second best under pressure from Rio Davidson-Phipps who fired into the side netting from an acute angle.

In trying to shepherd the ball out of play, Josh collided with the metal fencing and after lengthy treatment had to be subbed by Richmond with a nasty facial gash.

H-T 0-0

Talk about a sea change after the break. As we changed shape, made the pitch bigger and radically improved our movement on and off the ball, Beckles-Richards put a sublime Mickey Parcell cross over the bar and at the midway point,  we hit the front.

The on-loan Manny Harvest, becoming an important cog in our midfield with his vision and industry, saw a powerful effort parried by Sam Jackson and Sam Youngs followed up from close range.

Youngs was denied what he thought should have been a penalty, Harvest was forced off with a hip issue and when Sam Higgins, notorious scourge of Enfield Town, came off the Gulls bench with 17 minutes left, Towners fans held their breath.

Within seconds of his introduction, however, we doubled our lead with a classic Marcus Wyllie individual effort, gliding past three opponents before finding space to drill his shot into the corner.

Higgins flashed a header just wide but Town were now very the team in the ascendency and put the game to bed in the 89th minute as the ball fell kindly to Lewis Taaffe who put Marcus through to provide another cool finish for his 18^th league goal of the season (pictured).

“It was difficult pitch to play on and we knew it would be a battle,” said Jon Nurse. “It was hard at first to gain any foothold but we’re a team that is capable of going on to win games when we stay in it and things open up.”

“We worked hard in training to try and cut out mistakes. The last few results were hard to take and this is just what we needed to change the tide.”

Town:

Forster; Parcell, Okotcha (Richmond, 41), Mackenzie, Payne; Taaffe (Adjei-Hersey, 89) , Thomas, Harvest (Alves, 68), Youngs; Beckles-Richards, Wyllie

Having taken just five points from seven games, Enfield Town aim to snap out of a disappointing run of form tomorrow with a visit to Canvey Island.

Canvey may sit 13^th in the table but they have been impressive at home, winning their last three league games.

Having said that they have had a tough week and just like Town will be looking for a response.

Last Saturday a depleted Canvey lost 5-1 on the road at Chatham Town and then crashed out of the Essex Senior Cup at the 4th Round stage to Buckhurst Hill.

There are a handful of minibus seats remaining at £15 with departure time 12.30 from Donkey Lane. Contact Ram at ram.ismail@enfieldtownfootballclub.com

We may have beaten the Gulls 3-0 at our place earlier in the season but Gavin Macpherson is under no illusions about how challenging it will be to get back to winning ways after our recent blip.

“You always have to be conscious of how you can motivate your players. But for Canvey, it’s about how our mindset is for the game following two defeats,” said Gavin.

“We’ve got to play really well it’s as simple as that. They’re a good team with and without the ball, we’ve got to be better than we have been recently to get a result.

“Some of our lads who attended the fans Q+A (at the AGM) after training will be fully aware just how much our supporters are behind them. That should be motivation enough for us all to be better.”

AW

Tomorrow’s Annual General Meeting takes place at the stadium, in Butler’s Bar, from 7:30pm.

The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

1. Apologies
2. Minutes of last years AGM
3. Result of board elections
4. ETFC Ltd Accounts
   To approve accounts for ETFC Ltd
5. ETFC SS Accounts
   To approve accounts for ETFC Supporters Society
6. Board Review/Update
   To include updates on new facility and 3G pitch
7. Cooking Champions Presentation
8. Youth Section
9. Q & A with Gavin Macpherson and others

We look forward to hopefully seeing as many of you as possible. At this stage, we are planning on filming the meeting and sharing the video on our YouTube channel shortly after its conclusion.

Enfield Town 1 Billericay Town 2

Report By Andrew Warshaw

Not the result we wanted, of course, and arguably beaten by the better side.

But we have now played two of the division’s heavyweight pace-setters in the space of four days. The important thing is that we snap our loss of form and momentum as quickly as possible, restore confidence and keep our play-off hopes on track.

To be fair there were a couple of mitigating circumstances against Billericay. Ollie Knight received a three-match ban just a few hours before kickoff (more on that later) while traffic snarl-ups meant Mickey Parcell had to be replaced at the last minute in the starting line-up by Dylan Adjei-Hersey, with Lewis Taaffe moving to fullback.

Not great for planning and there was nothing we could do either by yet another inexplicable penalty award against us that left just about everyone scratching their heads.

In front of a post-500 crowd boosted by children from a local school, Billericay showed us very quickly why they are where they are squad-wise as they started strongly.

Alfie Cerulli pulled the trigger just two minutes in,  forcing Rhys Forster into a brilliant save with his wrong hand.

As the early pressure mounted, Richard Asamoah raced past three players and unleashed a 20-yard shot that Rhys managed to scramble to safety.

But against the run of play and after weathering the storm, Town went in front on 15 minutes with a delightful goal from Marcus Wyllie as he brought down Sam Youngs’ header into the box and netted with a controlled finish (pictured).

Ricay failed to capitalise on an unfortunate James Richmond slip but were soon back on level terms, albeit in the most fortunate of circumstances.

Jimbo was deemed to have handled as he cut out Frankie Merrified’s cross even though his arm was not raised, and Bradley Stevenson equalised from the spot.

It was tough on Town and Parcell received a booking for dissent from the bench. But we responded well and might have gone in ahead at halftime.

Marcus’ left-foot drive came back off the post while Sam uncharacteristically spurned a great chance following excellent vision by Manny Harvest, who caught eye throughout in central midfield.

H-T 1-1

Those chances bode well for the second half but for some reason we got bogged down and created little more to shout about.

Ricay skipper and former Towner Matt Johnson, who put in a typically commanding display, missed a golden chance as his team regained control but on 56 minutes they regained the lead.

Another defensive mix-up, all too apparent in recent fixtures, allowed Cerulli to break with pace down the left and with an extra player in the box, Stevenson moved the ball on to Asamoah who fired home.

Stevenson could have made it 3-1 when he cut inside but whacked the ball over the bar and despite eight minutes of stoppage time following treatment to blood-splattered Ricay keeper Daniel Wilks, we couldn’t find a way back – much like Hornchurch on Saturday.

After five points from a possible 21, it’s not rocket science to acknowledge we are lacking in confidence.

But we remain in the playoff positions and it’s certainly not a crisis, especially when you consider the two-year plan Gavin Macpherson and his team took on when they arrived. And when you consider we lost Jake Cass early doors. And, perhaps most significantly of all, that we are doing much better than some of those with far deeper pockets.

We also need luck which isn’t running for us. Take the last two penalties against us, for example. But there were no excuses from the manager.

“There was a moment tonight, just as on Saturday, when we contributed to our own downfall,” said a frustrated Gavin. “But they defended better than us and the reality is we’ve played two of the top sides in the league and we’re not quite there. Having said that, I expect better, especially in the previous games.”

“Mickey’s issue with getting here was a total shock and we had to reshuffle but I’m not bemoaning our bad luck. I have to sit down and see whether things are working because I can’t coach mistakes.”

On Ollie Knight’s suspension – as a result of an incident at Kingstonian involving one of their players when he was sent off – Gavin was unequivocal. Having already had a three-match ban at the time, Ollie now serves another several months after the game in question.

“It came out of the blue and I’m disappointed at the time the FA took,” said Gavin. “At first they couldn’t even get the league we were playing in right! Ollie knows he let himself down even though I don’t think he did it deliberately.”

Town:

Forster; Parcell, McKenzie, Richmond, Payne; Adjei-Hersey (Alves 85), Thomas (Hipployte 76), Harvest, Youngs; Wyllie, Beccles-Richards

The games are coming thick and fast and there’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves after Saturday’s narrow defeat to Hornchurch.

There’s no better way to dust ourselves down than to go again and that’s what we do tomorrow Tuesday against fellow contenders Billericay (k-o 7.45).

It’s a classic six-pointer, arguably bigger than against runaway leaders Hornchurch given the tight race for playoff places.

The Blues are third in the league, three points ahead of us having played one game fewer.

It’s therefore imperative we don’t allow them to get away but having gained a thoroughly deserved 1-1 draw against our Essex rivals earlier in the season, there is no reason why we can’t match or better that result.

Ricay were beaten 1-0 late on at Bognor on Saturday and before that were held at Cheshunt. But 15 goals in their previous four games tells its own story.

It promises to be a mouth-watering occasion under the lights against another big-spending heavyweight opponent and Gavin Macpherson is under no illusions.

“We knew this week would be a tough one, when you play the best two teams in the league in the space of few days it’s demanding,” said Gav. “We must focus more than ever on the job in hand and get us back functioning like I know we can.”

AW

Enfield Town 1 Hornchurch 2

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Five points from six games now but certainly no need to panic.

Town remain fourth after this narrowest of defeats against the runaway league leaders, helped in part by two other leading playoff-chasing sides losing as well.

Much was made of Hornchurch being without a string of key regulars but as their caretaker manager pointed out afterwards, they have invested in a heavyweight squad, arguably stronger than any other team  in the division.

Town made three changes from the 3-3 draw with Hashtag; with Ollie Knight, Dylan Adjei-Hersey, and Mickey Parcell restored to the starting lineup.

It all started very positively as Mickey Parcell’s low cross was headed goalwards by Sam Youngs, only for stand-in keeper Noah Phillips to push it against the post and Quentin Monville to clear off the line.

Ten minutes later a Ryan Scott header at the other end was fortunately powered straight at Rhys Forster.

In truth much of the first half was a scrappy affair, a series of Joe Payne long throws coming to nothing as both sides wrestled for supremacy.

Then, just before halftime, the Urchins took the lead with the most bizarre penalty award for handball, seemingly seen by no-one except the referee and dispatched in the corner by Femi Akinwande.

As Town responded, Joe Payne drilled a freekick wide while Marcus Wyllie’s goalbound shot found a Hornchurch body in the way.

H-T 0-1

In front of our biggest gate of the season (880),  Town discovered some much-needed urgency following a relatively lacklustre 45 minutes during which we were guilty of not enough pressure on the ball.

A foul on Ollie Knight on the edge of box (was it inside?) saw Youngs fire a freekick straight into the arms of 19-year-old Phillips but on 57 minutes parity was restored.

Town were awarded a spotkick of their own, again for handball though this time far more obvious, the otherwise excellent Ryan Scott – scourge of Town in the corresponding fixture earlier in the season — being the culprit (pictured). Up stepped the ever reliable Youngs to blast the ball down the middle.

The equaliser galvanised us but just as we appeared to move into the ascendency, we fell behind again.

James Richmond’s challenge on Muldoon earned him a booking but not before Muldoon’s sublime pass found Sean Scannell who ran on and rolled the ball into the corner.

Briefly we were down to 10 men as Parcell suffered a nasty gash on the face. He was luckily soon back on his feet and we came within  a whisker of levelling. Wyllie did well to keep the ball in play and from his cross Youngs was inches off the target.

Cue a series of substititions as we tried to find the  creativity in open play to open up a physically imposing back line that gobbled up almost every home attack.

Six minutes of stoppage time were added but in the end it wasn’t to be and we go again on Tuesday against Billericay.

“We came up against a very mean defence but I was really pleased with the application in the second half,” said Gavin Macpherson. “Sadly we contributed to our own downfall. Things could be very different in terms of the last few games but sadly they’re not.

“At the moment the boys don’t seem to be functioning as they were in the early part of the season. Maybe they’ve lost a little bit of confidence, I’m not sure. But we need to pep ourselves up.”

Town – Forster;  Parcell, McKenzie, Richmond, Payne; Thomas, Youngs, Adjei-Hersey (Onyeagwara, 78) Knight (Taaffe, 86), Wyllie, Beckles-Richards (Hippolyte, 65)

Enfield Town go into the first of two massive home games tomorrow as we test ourselves against a couple of the division’s heavyweights.

Billericay are the visitors on Tuesday but first we have the small matter of leaders Hornchurch (ko 3pm) against whom we put up more than a decent show in the corresponding game earlier in the season before running out of a gas and falling to a 2-0 defeat.

The Urchins have lost only once in the league all season and lead the table by six points, 10 ahead of us having played a game more.

Five points from our last five fixtures isn’t exactly playoff form but there is no better way to prove our mettle than to go toe to toe with one of the pre-season promotion favourites, especially since they are now under new management and have shown signs of vulnerability in recent games with three straight draws.

“We all know how difficult the week ahead is, starting with Hornchurch,” said Gavin Macpherson who is looking for our usual passionate support to get behind us.

“As it stands they are the best side in the division and we know how tough our task is. We are underdogs but we don’t mind that, I’m looking for the best of Enfield Town both on and off the pitch.”

“Against the best sides you are looking to find that extra 5 or 10%, our supporters can certainly give us that boost, we all know how crucial they are to us.”

AW