Enfield Town have the chance to leapfrog  Chatham and move into second in the league  on goal difference tomorrow, Friday, when we end 2023 with a visit to Cray Wanderers in the second of our three holiday fixtures (ko 7.45).

Matches between the two sides often produce plenty of goals but Gavin Macpherson believes the task on Cray’s artificial pitch at Bromley could seriously test his players.

 Cray had their Boxing Day game against Margate abandoned late on because of a serious head injury to Yahya Bamba but have managed to play their way out of the bottom three in recent weeks.

In fact they haven’t lost at home in the league since mid-October, having drawn their last three,  and will be keen to put on a show in front of their fans.

“I think this is as tough as it comes,” said Gavin, one or two of whose players are still not back to full health following a bug that swept through the camp.

“I think Cray wanderers are a decent side and a really tough test awaits on an unfamiliar surface. It’s another significant hurdle we need to overcome and we’ll need to work very hard to do that.

“On a more important note I’m sure everyone at Enfield Town would like to wish Yahya Bamba a speedy recovery.”

Elections for Enfield Town FC’s Board of Directors are now open. There are eight candidates for six available positions.

Who Is Standing?

Candidates’ statements can be found by clicking on their names below. They are:

• Martin Bentley
• Graham Dodd
• John Dolan
• Christine Hamilton
• Geoff Lee
• Neil Lutwyche
• David Square
• Andrew Warshaw

Voting:

Members can cast their vote using the following methods:

• By email – Members will receive a ballot form by email. This should be filled out and sent to election@etfc.london
  
• In person – Ballot forms will be available at our home games with Haringey (1st Jan) and Folkestone (13th Jan) prior to the election deadline.
  
• By post – please mail postal votes to:
  ETFC Supporters Society, 21 Inverness Avenue, Enfield, Middlesex, EN1 3NT

The ballot closes on Thursday 18th January. The six candidates obtaining the most votes will be elected to the board at the AGM on Thursday 1st February.

Cheshunt 1 Enfield Town 2

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Bouyed by a majestic performance from new signing Taylor McKenzie against his old club and despite a woeful refereeing display, Enfield Town got their holiday fixture programme off to the perfect start in the so-called A10 Classico in front of a bumper 1,149 Boxing Day crowd.

Not surprisingly Taylor, signed the previous day from the Ambers, was given the bird by the home fans but showed exactly why the management team were so keen to bring him in, winning virtually every challenge both in the air and on the ground.

Cheshunt’s loss was very much our gain and the Enfield fans, who made up probably half the crowd if not more, taunted the hosts with chants of “Where’s your captain gone?” throughout the 90 minutes.

As a spectacle it wasn’t exactly pretty but then derbies invariably aren’t.

Town should have had the game wrapped up by halftime, then had to dig in towards the end after what Gavin Macpherson described as the worst penalty decision he had ever seen (more of which later)

Town were quickly out of the blocks as Rhys Beckles-Richards had one shot cleared off the line and was inches off target with another.

James Richmond planted a free header over the bar from a corner but on 20 minutes our early dominance told.

Ollie Knight’s freekick was only half cleared and when Marcus Wyllie’s turn and shot was fisted away by the Cheshunt keeper, Sam Youngs converted the rebound.

Moments later Beckles-Richards, who on another day might have a had a hattrick, forced Joe Rose into a smart near-post stop.

While Cheshunt at times looked slick going forward, we defended our box superbly and kept creating chances.

In the dying minutes of the half, Dylan Adjei-Hersey was sent clear but as his eyes lit up, he screwed his shot badly wide.

H-T 1-0

Cheshunt’s Isiah Noel-Williams, on a yellow card after a couple of dangerous challenges, was replaced at halftime and the Ambers re-emerged looking far more of a threat having hardly tested Rhys Forster.

Parcell put in a magnificent goal-saving challenge and we needed that second goal to put us in the clear.

It duly came midway through the half courtesy of a comical defensive mix-up as Jimmy Wallace headed the ball beyond his own keeper and watched it bobble over the line with Rose back-pedalling and Marcus Wyllie following up to make sure (pictured)

That should have given us breathing space. Instead, on 73 minutes Cheshunt reduced the arrears from the penalty spot thanks to a refereeing decision that had even the home fans scratching their heads in disbelief.

A highly demonstrative individual who had infuriated both sides with a series of random decisions — often from 40 yards away – somehow ruled that Solomon Baugh’s nasty trip on Adjei-Hersey was, in fact, a foul by the Enfield man.

Nwachuku coolly dispatched the spotkick but fortunately it didn’t end up costing us all three points. In fact, Beckles-Richards so nearly made it 3-1 before we saw out the remainder despite a couple of late scares to open up a six-point gap to Wingate and Finchley in fourth.

Afterwards Gavin could not contain his feelings about the penalty, the ultimate blunder in a series of baffling decisions that made the players afraid to tackle and included booking Scott Thomas for merely pointing out an offside flag.

“As long as I’ve been football I don’t think I’ve seen as bad a decision as that,” fumed Gavin. “It was a clear foul on Dylan’s ankle and he actually had to come off because of it. I was utterly astonished.”

On deciding to throw McKenzie into the lion’s den for his debut, Gavin said: “It was a bold decision. Over the last couple days I veered towards maybe not being able to bring in him at all, to not starting him to starting him. I only made the decision in the morning. He’s big enough and bold enough and he came through it with flying colours as I knew he would.

“I do have some sympathy for Cheshunt. I know there’s a rivalry but if you lose your captain and he’s out there playing for the opposition, I know I wouldn’t like it. That’s important to acknowledge.”

“Despite that, some of the rhetoric coming out of Cheshunt I just find despicable. But it’s a great start to the holiday programme.”

Town:

Forster; Parcell, McKenzie, Richmond, Payne; Adjei-Hersey (Onyeagwara, 81), Thomas, Youngs, Knight; Beckles-Richards (Donnallan 80), Wyllie

Enfield Town go into the first of three games in six games over a challenging holiday period with a mouth-watering derby at Cheshunt on Boxing Day, given extra spice by our signing of former Ambers’ skipper Taylor McKenzie.

Taylor joined Saturday’s training session just minutes after becoming a Town player for the second time following five years at Cheshunt — and will be available for selection for the so-called A10 Classico which kicks off at 1pm.

Relegated from Step 2 last season after one season in National league south, Cheshunt have had to adapt back to life in the Isthmian League from which they earned promotion in 2021/22 with a late burst and playoff victory – the same season we agonisingly missed out.

A recent defeat at Lewes saw them slip into the bottom four but they were in decent form up to that point, winning two and drawing two of their previous four league games, scoring 11 goals in the process. In fact they have lost only one of their last eight in the league.

Derbies are notoriously unpredictable and the Boxing Day clash against one of our fiercest rivals is bound to be a highly competitive affair. The fact that all three of our holiday fixtures are against sides fighting for their lives is not lost on the management team.

“I realise geographically there’s not a lot between the clubs but points against Cheshunt are worth the same as every other team so we should be focused on the job in hand,” said Gavin Macpherson as he looked ahead to the fixture at Theobalds Lane.

“It’s a tough game because Craig’s teams always are difficult opponents. We’ve planned and prepared, it represents the start of a difficult run of games in a short space of time when often performances become secondary to points on the board. We’ll need everyone to be at their maximum over the next week or so.”

Andrew warshaw

We are thrilled to confirm the signing of central defender Taylor McKenzie from Cheshunt.

An experienced, physically-imposing defender, McKenzie – who was named the Ambers’ skipper this season – has been with Cheshunt since joining from Enfield Town in 2018, notching over 100 appearances and helping them to promotion to the National League South in 2021-22. His other previous sides include Notts County, Wrexham, Corby Town and Chesham, as well as Enfield Town – with Taylor having played 35 times for us during the 2017-18 campaign.

“Clearly we are delighted to welcome Taylor back to the club”, stated manager Gavin Macpherson.

“We’ve worked extremely hard to finalise this but it hasn’t been an easy decision for Taylor due to his association with Cheshunt and that’s very understandable… Defensively we’ve been looking to strengthen and I believe we’ve done just that. My job is about continuing to build an Enfield Town team and that means bringing in the right players with the right character to add to an already excellent group.”

The club has parted company with centre-back Kyle Bailey. Kyle, who joined us from Hungerford in the summer, made 13 competitive appearances for Enfield Town, scoring once and helping the side to two clean sheets. We thank Kyle for his efforts with us and wish him all the best for the future.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Callum Nevill as our Head of Performance Analysis.

Callum is currently employed by Leyton Orient where he analyses footage of their players during matches which includes clipping and coding individually.

His role at Enfield Town will follow a similar pattern, helping to find where we can strengthen the side tactically as well as physically, using match footage to assess where we can strengthen.

Callum’s work with ourselves and Orient will contribute to his MSc in Performance Analysis which he is studying with the University of Worcester.

Welcome, Callum!

Ware 1 Enfield Town 2

An experimental Enfield Town team ran out 2-1 winners in an enjoyable friendly at Wodson Park, with a number of academy players and triallists taking the opportunity to impress alongside members of the first-team squad.

With no competitive game scheduled until Cheshunt on Boxing Day, Gavin Macpherson gave vital game time to Josh Okotcha who skippered the side, Leo Donnellan, Obi Onyeagwara, Lewis Taaffe, Gucci Soulya-Osekanongo and Jonathan Hippolyte.

Both teams employed two wide players, which made for an entertaining and open encounter.

 Town enjoyed the better of the first half, and turned round two goals to the good courtesy of Lewis Taaffe’s well directed freekick, and a first Town goal for Gucci Soulya-Osekanongo follwing Obi Onyreagwara’s jet-propelled gallop down the right wing and low centre.

The best effort from Step 4 Ware thumped against the post midway through the half but Town were good value for their lead.

 The second half saw the customary fleet of substitutes being introduced, but the flow of the game was not affected.

The lively Onyeagwara had Town’s best chance of the half with another solo gallop ending in a decent save from the home keeper. The hosts pulled a goal back from a corner early in the half but Town’s youthful and blown-together defence succeeded in repelling all further efforts.

 A night on which several trialists and academy boys  could be proud of their efforts whilst some of the first-team squad who hadn’t had much action were given a chance to improve fitness levels.

Martin Bentley

Enfield Town 3 Dulwich Hamlet 2

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Sometimes playing against 10 men can be a curse rather than a blessing.

Not this time as Enfield Town took advantage of numerical superiority for the last 35 minutes on Saturday, hitting back from two goals down to end Hamlet’s 10-match unbeaten league run and move into Christmas in third, a fantastic achievement and something to be proud of.

Tactical nous by the management team combined with a collective reaction from the players turned what looked like a potential defeat against strong opponents  into three massive points that set us up for the holiday programme.

Dulwich’s tall defenders gobbled up much of our early play whilst their long ball game kept us on our toes at the other end.

The spaces we usually find were hard to come by and on 37 minutes we fell behind. Mickey Parcell sold Rhys Forster short with an underhit  backpass and Josh Okotcha impeded Danny Mills as Hamlet’s danger man prepared to shoot on the turn. Luke Wanadio made no mistake from the spot.

We should have equalised straight away when Reece Beckles-Richards was clean through but slipped at the vital moment though Dulwich got lucky when a crude foul on Ollie Knight by Joshua Okpolokpo earlier in the same move went unpunished.

H-T 0-0

After an even first half, Town emerged with far more ideas and fluency and were immediately denied a stonewall penalty for a blatant handball by Okpolokpo that incensed players and management alike.

R’van Constable then pulled off two smart saves but on 54 minutes we were given the perfect encouragement when Okpolokpo, booked in the final minute of the first half, was finally sent off for a second yellow.

Yet it was Dulwich who struck again, doubling their lead as Mills’ strength took him into the area before unleashing a powerful drive beyond Rhys Forster.

Town needed a lifeline and Sam Youngs almost provided it, only for Constable to get his fingertips to a rasping drive.

Parcell then saw a volley flash wide while Marcus Wyllie, uncharacteristically, missed our second one-on-one of the afternoon as he poked the ball straight down Constable’s throat.

A change of formation saw us move to 3-5-2 with Parcell in central midfield and on 69 minutes we halved the deficit.  

Seemingly keen to atone for his previous blunder, the referee harshly pointed to the spot for a hardly visible handball and Youngs sent the otherwise commanding Constable the wrong way.

It was exactly the tonic we needed if only we could improve our finishing to round off our attacking play.

Youngs had a 25-yard volley tipped over but on 81 minutes, debutant Jonathan Hippolyte, signed only on Friday, levelled from close range just moments after coming off the bench when Wyllie’s soft shot was deflected into his path.

Even now it seemed Dulwich, despite being pegged back, might hold out with ten.

Instead,  in the last minute of normal time, Lewis Taaffe, another well-timed substitution, collected an uncleared corner and fed James Richmond who smashed the ball  home from the edge of the box (pictured, celebrating).

There was still time, after the final whistle, for Dulwich boss Hakan Hayrettin to be dismissed for what appeared to be some choice language to the referee after declining to shake hands with our dugout.

Gavin Macpherson had also fallen foul of the ref by being booked at halftime for seemingly simply standing up for his players but was delighted with the win, especially after training on Thursday had been disrupted by floodlight failure.

“I think our tactics were spot on,” said Gavin citing the change in system that arguably won us the game as we went wider when 10-man Dulwich played narrower.

 “All we were lacking early on was that bit of quality and sharpness in trying to break them down. We had got into good areas but then fluffed our lines.”

“Would we have won 11 against 11? I’ve no idea to be honest but I don’t think anyone can deny us the win. They’re an experienced side with Step 1 and 2 players.

“I wasn’t happy with the goals we conceded because it gave us a mountain to climb. It’s not every day you manage to come back from two goals down.

“But in terms of character and desire I can’t fault the players.”

Forster: Parcell, Okotcha, Richmond, Payne; Adjei-Hersey (Hippolyte 73), Youngs, Thomas, Knight; Beckles-Richards (Taaffe, 82), Wyllie (Donnellan 90)