We are delighted to announce the signing of Gucci Soulya-Osekanongo who has been on trial with us and has impressed the management team.

Gucci, whose first stint with us was in August and September last season, joins from Sutton United whose academy he captained to the third round of the 21-22 U18 FA youth cup.

The 19-year-old midfielder also spent some time with Corinthian-Casuals last season.

“I’ve been impressed with Gucci, he’s young and hungry to succeed at Enfield and I love that,” said Gavin Macpherson.

“He gives us a different option in midfield which can only be healthy for the squad.”

Welcome back, Gucci!

Two goals from Jake Cass ensured Enfield Town picked up a third pre-season win on the bounce on Tuesday evening, but they were made to work for their victory by a dogged Rayners Lane side.

Although on paper this was a test against a Step 5 outfit, the hosts started with several players who spent last season two divisions higher and they frustrated Town for large spells in a stop-start first half punctuated by a series of fouls.

The visitors were unable to carve through the Lane defence or muster any clear-cut chances of note, with Joe Payne’s 25-yard free-kick on 20 minutes easily gathered by the goalkeeper, while at the other end former Towner Alex Cathline missed a gilt-edged header from close range following a swift counter down the left flank. On the cusp of half time, Town’s best chance fell to James Richmond, whose hooked shot following a Payne long throw was directed straight at the keeper.

HT: 0-0

An unchanged XI after the break, but there was now far more verve to Town’s performance. Adi Connolly stood tall and remained sharp to hold onto an effort at his near post before a trialist embarked on a surging run through the centre and nudged the ball into the path of Cass, whose low snapshot bobbled into the goalkeeper.

But Town’s number 9 made amends a minute later and in quite some fashion. After good combination play on the edge of the box by two midfield trialists, a fizzed cross found Cass in the centre, who brought it down with the side of the boot and, on the bounce, produced a sensational overhead kick which looped into the left-hand corner.

It was soon two in as many minutes as Mickey Parcell’s sweeping pass picked out Cass at the gallop to clip the ball over the advancing goalkeeper for his, and Town’s, second of the evening.

Town were now in control of proceedings and were denied a third by a lick of paint; a driving run from a midfield trialist concluding with his long-range shot smacking the post. Town introduced five changes to the fold for the final quarter of the game and – with the exception of Lane’s Keano Robinson striking a post from a sloppy free-kick – saw out the game in relative comfort.

While this could be summed up as another display of two halves, Town’s marked improvement after the restart, as well as a clean sheet, pleased manager Gavin Macpherson:

“Firstly, credit to [Rayners Lane]: they’re not a Step 5 side, that’s for sure. They are in league terms, but there’s a lot of Step 3 and above players out there.”

“I wasn’t best pleased at half time and I told [the players], if I’m honest. I won’t know if the reaction is due to me telling them but I thought the second half was really good, especially that initial half an hour … legs, energy, passion: everything I’m asking from the team. I thought the first half, even though we spoke about it before the game, was devoid of that.”

“Players are sometimes too accountable by managers, and I’ve told them the first thing I’ll do is go away and look at what we’re doing and how we’ve set them up and see whether that first half is anything to do with that. There are certainly concerns that I have at the moment, of course, it’s pre-season – why wouldn’t you? You’re taking over a team that’s trying to learn your methods. But all in all, it’s a fairly pleasing night I think.”

“Massively pleased with Cassy; scored two and could have had more, so that’s a real bonus for us to see him functioning.”

Enfield Town: Connolly; Parcell, Richmond (Okotcha), Bailey, Payne (Bessadi); Birch, Trialist (Thomas), Trialist, Trialist; Wyllie (Youngs), Cass (Beckles-Richards)

Tonight we visit Step 5 Rayners Lane FC in our penultimate pre-season fixture hoping to build on two successive victories.

In May, Rayners Lane beat Langley 2-0 in their divisional playoff final  to secure promotion to Step 5 for the first time since 1994

You may have noticed last Saturday that the management team introduced a couple of Ian Hart’s academy players in the second half, a deliberate move to give them a taste of first-team action.

“Of course they are not ready yet but it’s the start of a pathway,” Gavin Macpherson explained. “We want to give those lads a focus.”

Bringing young players through is a fundamental part of Gavin’s management philosophy.

“It’s a passion of mine. I know it can’t be done en masse but it gives them a focus that Enfield Town is where they should be looking.”

Waltham Abbey 2 Enfield Town 3

Report By Andrew Warshaw

Entertaining passages of play mixed with defensive sloppiness. In other words, plenty of work still to do in the remaining two weeks before the big kick-off.

That was pretty much how sum up another tight pre-season win over Step 4 opposition on Saturday.

On a pitch that was a credit to our opponents, we were again missing a number of key players and Waltham Abbey presented more than a decent challenge, if anything enjoying the better of the second half.

While there was much to admire about some of our build-up play, there is still some concern about several aspects going into the final two friendlies, not least relinquishing possession when going forward and our new-look pressing game at times not working as instructed, leaving us too strung out on occasions.

We could not really have got off to a better start, however. With just 55 seconds on the clock, a Sam Youngs shot was blocked and Marcus Wyllie followed up to score.

Marcus is getting more and more confident and his second goal on 32 minutes was a joy to behold. A clever Sami Bessadi dummy from a right-wing cross fell to Mickey Parcell whose forward pass appeared to be cut out by a defender, only for Marcus to nick the ball away and finish deftly (pictured).

In between, Rhys Forster had to be on his toes to keep out a couple of home efforts whilst Abbey also hit our woodwork.

With halftime approaching, they reduced the deficit under farcical circumstances courtesy of an own goal, a dodgy back pass to Rhys hitting him in the stomach and rolling over the line despite him back-pedalling to try and keep it out.

But we quickly restored out two-goal lead, Sam Youngs burying a free header from a Jo Payne long throw.

The sight of Jake Cass leading the line with power and authority was a huge tonic for the management and all Towners fans. Jake almost scored with an audacious overhead kick, managing 45 minutes in his first pre-season outing as he improves his fitness.

H-T 1-3

We might well have been out of sight on chances but six minutes after halftime, Abbey cut the deficit again as a result of yet more defensive hesitation.

They then proceeded to have more of the ball as Gavin rang the changes though with three minutes left, we should have wrapped things up when triallist shot straight at the keeper with the goal at his mercy.

“If there was going to be a lull, it was probably this game because they’ve been going Tuesday, Thursday in training, then Saturday,” Gavin explained afterwards.

“Some of what I saw was very pleasing. On the other hand some players didn’t step up and take responsibility for certain things. And you can’t legislate for the goals which were two of the worst I’ve seen in a long time, and that can’t go on.”

“But they were a week, if not two,  ahead of us in terms of their pre-season and were therefore a little bit sharper.”

“There’s still work to do to get the players round to our way of thinking. We are transitioning from a certain style of football into another but we should hopefully  see a progression going forward by the time we play  Concord Rangers. Everyone needs to be singing from the same songsheet.”

Town starting lineup:

Forster; Parcell, Okotcha, Richmond, Payne; Thomas, Youngs, Bessadi, Becles-Richards; Cass, Wyllie

The draw for the 23-24 Fenix Trophy has been announced, with the 12 participating teams learning where they will travel across the continent.

Enfield Town have been drawn in Group A with Copenhagen-based side BK Skjold, the current colders of the tournament; and Welsh side Llantwit Major.

We are in discussions with both sides and will meet with players and management to schedule the fixtures. We will of course update you on any news if and when we get it.

Town make the short trip to Waltham Abbey tomorrow, Saturday, for the next assignment in our pre-season campaign, kickoff 3pm

Gavin Macpherson was distinctly displeased with Tuesday’s display and tomorrow should give an indication of how he intends to shape the group going forward.

Our Step 4 opponents, in the same division as Tuesday’s opponents Welwyn Garden City, finished last season mid-table but have won two and drawn two of their pre-season fixtures to date, scoring 14 goals in the process.

Waltham Abbey’s address is Capershotts, Sewardstone Road, Waltham Abbey EN9 1NX. See you there!

Sing it with us… We’re All Going On A European Tour!

We are thrilled to announce that Enfield Town have accepted an invitation to play in this season’s edition of the Fenix Trophy, a UEFA-approved European competition for non-professional clubs of exceptional social, historical, and cultural distinctiveness.

This is the third season of the tournament, with 12 teams taking part from right across the continent. Last season’s tournament was won by Copenhagen side BK Skjold, who beat Prague Raptors in the final in Milan.

We join these other sides in the competition:

– BK Skjold (Denmark)*
– Llantwit Major (Wales)
– Prague Raptors (Czechia)*
– Venus Bucuresti (Romania)
– FC United of Manchester (England)*  **
– Vinsky FC (France)
– KSK Beveren (Belgium)*
– Lewes FC (England)**
– Krakow Dragoons (Poland)
– Gilla FC (Finland)

*Seeded Teams
**Sides from the same nation are kept apart

There will be 4 groups of 3 teams, with 2 home and 2 away games. Each match will be streamed on the official Fenix Trophy YouTube channel. The draw is taking place this coming Saturday at 1pm – make sure your passports are up to date!

We will update you on when we arrange fixtures (these were after October in last year’s edition) as soon as we have news.

 Welwyn Garden City 1 Enfield Town 3

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Enfield Town ran out 3-1 winners at Step 4 Welywn Garden City on Tuesday, finally getting on the scoresheet after three pre-season outings without a goal.

Yet Gavin Macpherson was far from happy afterwards, describing  the performance as a step back  and hinting strongly that some tough decisions will have to be made.

After highly creditable displays against QPR  Development, Spurs Under-21 and Bracknell, our first-half showing at Welwyn – managed by former Town favourite Marc Weatherstone — was poor against lower-league opposition in terms of passing, composure and communication though Mickey Parcell put in another commanding eye-catching performance.

After Gavin and the management team made a series of halftime changes, ball retention improved considerably, leading to a couple of excellent strikes from Marcus Wyllie and Sami Bessadi.

Town’s opening pre-season goal came on 15 minutes from the penalty spot. Charlie Crowley made a superb save but in the ensuing melee, Zak Brown was adjudged to have handled and  Reece Beckles-Richards fired home though Crowley got a good hand to the ball.

Ten minutes before the break, the Citizens levelled, also from the spot. Louis Birch, playing out of position at central defence following the late withdrawal of Kyle Bailey, made a holding midfielder-type challenge on Bailey Stevenson who proceeded to get to his feet and fire home the equaliser.

Both sides made a number of halftime subs and ours fortunately proved decisive with the likes of Sam Youngs and Scott Thomas adding authority and stability.

On 68 minutes we regained the lead after the best move of the game ended with Marcus drilling a right-foot strike into the far corner.

Three minutes from time, not one, but two goalbound strikes were blocked by the Welwyn defence. But when the ball fell to Bessadi he made no mistake with the third attempt, thrashing the ball home with a composed finish.

In truth we should have had more but Welwyn also had their fair share of chances and Gavin was distinctly non-plussed with the overall display.

“We had a few established players missing tonight but I can’t say I was best pleased, especially at halftime,” he said.

“Even if we’d won 6-1, I didn’t see some of the things I wanted to see and I wrote a lot of things down with a view to going forward to training on Thursday.

“To be perfectly honest,  I’d been pleased with the first three games and although tonight we stuck the ball in the net, I expected more from some of the players. I’ve seen a lot of good things come out in training so far but in some respects this was a step backwards.”

With the business end of pre-season to come in the next three games, Gavin didn’t mince his words.

“A few have knocked on my door saying they should be more involved but unfortunately some of them came up short. We now have to have some conversations. A few who’ve been with us simply won’t be in training on Thursday,  that’s the grim reality. It’s hard but that’s being a manager!”

“On another level it’s the best game we could have had in terms of making some decisions. I have to go what I feel in terms of getting it down to a group.”

Town starting line-up:

Connolly; Parcell, Birch, Okotcha, Payne; Wilkes, triallist, triallist; Beckles-Richards, Wyllie, triallist

Second half subs included Youngs, Thomas, Richmond and several triallists

Enfield Town 0 Bracknell Town 0

Report By Martin Bentley

Enfield Town played out their second consecutive goalless draw in pre-season against Southern League Bracknell Town on Saturday, although this game was of a different nature to Tuesday’s stalemate with Tottenham Hotspur’s Development squad.

Against opponents of equal standing to us, Town were able to attack more, and were unlucky not to get on the scoresheet, particularly in the first half.

Playing a passing game aimed at getting behind the visitors’ defence, Town succeeded in fashioning several good scoring chances, with Reece Beckles-Richards (pictured left), twice, and Sami Bessadi all having one-on-ones saved by visiting keeper Michael Eacott.

In addition, Joe Payne’s clever free-kick was well saved and Oliver Knight’s cross from the left curled on to the top of a startled Eacott’s cross bar.

Bracknell’s main attacking threat came from their wingers Zidan Akers and a triallist, with the former’s shot hitting the side netting and the triallist’s effort being well saved by Rhys Forster.

The mass second half substitution did not come until 65 minutes had passed, and the game unsurprisingly became more disjointed at this point.

Town still fashioned a few half-chances, mostly from the triallists on show, as well as Kian Wilkes’ far post header that was grabbed by Eacott.

Encouragingly, the second string Town defence succeeded in protecting Adi Connolly from any direct second half threat.

All-in-all, Town’s performances continue to be encouraging. All we need now is a few goals!

“I was pleased with the way we played. There are new concepts being added as we develop and I’m seeing pretty much what I want to see for pre-season at Step 3,” said Gavin Macpherson.

“I am however fully aware that we all like to see some goals and from the number of clear chances we created we should win the game comfortably.  So the in-possession creativity is on schedule but we need to start taking responsibility in front of goal whilst continuing to look solid.”

First half line-up: Forster, Parcell, Payne, Thomas (c), Bailey, Richmond, Bessadi, Youngs, Beckles-Richards, Triallist, Knight

Subs at 65 minutes: Connolly, Birch, Wyllie, Wilkes + 7 Triallists

Our third pre-season fixture against Bracknell Town tomorrow, Saturday, is a very special occasion.

Dubbed Community Day, we welcome our Emergency Services to the stadium who will put on demonstrations for children and adults alike, including how to carry out CPR.

With the emphasis on youth, other activities in the build-up to kick-off will be a magician and live band.

Adults will be charged only £5 between noon and 1.30, with children entering for free.

Everyone is welcome to stay on afterwards for the game against Bracknell Town, an extremely strong Step 3 side who last season reached the first round of the FA Cup and lost in the final of the playoffs in Southern League Premier Division South.

“They’re a very good Step 3 side,” said manager Gavin Macpherson. “It’s a good opportunity almost at the halfway stage of pre-season to see where we’re at against a side at our level.”