Sometimes the use of the phrase six-pointer is overdone but it certainly isn’t on Tuesday even if the season hasn’t quite reached the halfway stage

If the visit of Salisbury to the Dave Bryant stadium was already important, it has now become pivotal as we aim to get back to winning ways after a wretched run that has yielded three points out of possible 18.

While the sendings off of Adam Thompson and Ruaridh Donaldson at Dover prevented us from getting anything from the game, fortunately they will both be available against the Whites since their respective one-match bans don’t kick in until next weekend.

The bad news, conversely, is that they will both miss the FA Trophy tie at unbeaten high-flying Harborough Town on Saturday.

The problems don’t stop there as Tosh Gallimore is unavailable for both games due to international call-ups. Just like on Saturday, Gavin is having to juggle his resources in order to put out a fully fit eleven with a handful of players again battling for fitness at the time of writing.

In his programme notes for tomorrow, Gav bemoaned the fact that we can away from Dover with nothing, in the process slipping into the bottom four.

“Saturday’s trip to Dover was one of those games that come around once a season. For us it was the wrong day as I really felt confident we could go there and win,” he writes.

Every ounce of concentration, therefore, will be needed for the visit of the Whites who leapfrogged Town in the table on Saturday with a 1-0 win at Chesham. We simply cannot afford to fall further adrift in what is undoubtedly the biggest league game of the season to date.

AW

With Christmas 2026 fast approaching, members, supporters and indeed Enfieldians all over the world will be searching for a Christmas present and/or stocking filler which will cap off a perfect seasonal moment to remember.

 We are now stocked up to meet the annual expectations of a retail/commercial entity, but can, on specific items, still get caught out. 

 Whatever your requirements, we strongly recommend getting any orders in by the end of November to guarantee Christmas delivery.

 We are over stocked with Enfield Town favourites such as white, yellow and grey replica team shirts (£49 Adults £35 Juniors).

We have premium woolly hats in blue and purple (£20) as well as all standard hats, scarves, gloves and snoods — at a set price of £15.

 Our popular winter coats (£80) and gilets (£55) are also available in various sizes. 

Our sweatshirts, hoodies and rugby jerseys are prominently worn by many regular supporters and at £35 each they offer great value

 Thermo and plastic drinking bottles are regularly bought on match days at £15 and £6 respectively.

 Winter blankets/throw overs and beach towels aren’t your usual non-league club shop items but again are very popular seasonal purchases, useable items on the bed or by the pool of a sun-kissed holiday. Both are priced £25.

 We also have a special and limited number of books, including an illustration of all match-day programmes of every Tottenham Hotspur fixture between 1909-1946 (45)

Additionally we are down to our last copies of the 2025/26 non-league guide and all non-league tables from 1889-2025. both at £12.99.

 Stocking fillers are also aplenty on our club shop shelves. Smaller items such as ETFC chocolates, key rings, card holders, pens, rulers, pennants plus much more can make that special day for the recipient a complete one.

A new product which some members and supporters have taken up are ETFC Gift Vouchers which can be redeemed at the club shop or Butler’s Bar. They can be both personalised and/or set at any value.

Please purchase from the Club Shop on a match day or by communicating via text 07493 425359 where we can arrange posting to your chosen address.

 Whatever you decide to buy, the club will include a pack of 3 air fresheners as a small traditional and seasonal show of thanks for your support.

 This is our club, our 100% fan owned club let’s make this Christmas an Enfield Town FC one.

Dover Athletic 4 Enfield Town 1

Report By Charlie Baker

Losing a man, or men in this case, was Town’s downfall as we drifted into the bottom four after yet another setback. But it could all have been so different.

Dover hadn’t won at home since August, while Town were looking for their first win in five.

Something had to give and while the Whites started on the front foot, with Alfie Matthews looping a shot onto the bar and Jalen Jones missing another chance, Town soon gained a foothold as Olly Davis, who scored a sublime freekick in Tuesday’s loss at Dorking, shot just wide.

On 15 minutes, more Town pressure paid off with great hold-up play in the box from the returning Cian Dillon, who put it on a plate for Billy Leonard to fire into the roof of the net.

But just when we were looking to push on, Adam Thompson was caught out by Rhys Forster and in the ensuing mix-up hauled down Rolando Onu when clean through. Inevitably Tommo was shown a red but unlike at Chesham, the hosts didn’t score from the resulting free kick.

Ollie Knight was soon sacrificed for Avan Jones as we bid to shore up the defence, but still we looked the more threatening side with Dillon having a header clawed off the line by Mitch Walker in the Dover goal.

The hosts also came close but we saw out the half relatively comfortably.

HT 0-1 

The second half began in  end-to-end fashion, a volley  from Dover’s George Nikaj just missing the target while Evan Jones went close with a header.

Town held out until the 69th minute when Dover’s extra man finally told as leftback Harrison Sodje picked up the ball on the edge of the box and rifled it into the bottom right-hand corner.

Having failed to break down 10 men for the majority of the match, Dover now had the momentum as winger George Nikaj shot just wide.

Town looked for damage limitation as Davis came off for Ruaridh Donaldson – but the centreback lasted just a matter of seconds.

As Dover launched a long throw into the box, a scramble ensued and Donaldson pulled down his man in front of goal and was also shown red. Harshly perhaps, especially when double jeopardy ensued, Matthews netting from the resultant penalty and putting any Town hopes to bed.

Moments later, Matthews struck again – and this time in spectacular fashion. The midfielder collected the ball 25 yards out and unleashed a rising drive that flew beyond Forster, sparking a release of relief and celebration around Crabble.

Dover controlled the final minutes with composure, drawing the sting from what had been a tight and tense contest. And it was no surprise when they added a fourth as Francis Mampolo, on as a second-half sub, threaded a quick-thinking pass to Ruben Soares-Junior who finished with aplomb.

Killed by the two-man deficit, Town had battled hard throughout and would certainly have fancied their chances with 11 players against a poor side who created precious little.

Next up Salisbury on Tuesday – now an even bigger game than it already was before suspensions kick in for both Thompson and Donaldson at unbeaten Harborough in the FA Trophy.

Town

Forster; Adom-Malaki, Benjamin (Ackason 89), Thompson, Hawkins; Knight (Jones 26), Bullas (Brown 84), Leonard, Davis (Donaldson 73), Gallimore, Dillon (Wood 84),.

(Edited by Andrew Warshaw)

Gavin Macpherson has described the next couple of weeks as the most challenging period of the season as we bid to arrest a worrying slide, put points on the board and stay in the FA Trophy,  all despite a well chronicled injury crisis.

At the time of writing ahead of the Dover game, no fewer than 10 players were carrying knocks of some description with some of them ruled out totally and others hoping to play a part in a vital fixture after five bruising defeats in six outings.

None of those absent at Dorking are likely to have recovered in time for our trip to Kent and Gavin has an unenviable juggling act to perform to try and make sure we can put out a competitive team both tomorrow and at home to Salisbury on Tuesday in what is a potential six-pointer.

Then comes the Trophy tie at high-flying Harborough followed by some much-needed midweek respite before we go again with three more games by the end of the month.

It’s a taxing time and such was the length of the treatment table that actual training on Thursday was replaced by an analysis session.

“We’ve played a lot of football in a short space of time and are about to do so again even more,” said Gavin.

 “There was no actual physical training as such so we focussed on Thursday on having a good look not only at the opposition but also ourselves. It certainly wasn’t a wasted session but there’s no getting away from the fact that we’ve a lot of players carrying knocks at the moment and the worst thing I can do is put half-fit players on the pitch. We were good with injuries up until a few weeks ago. Now suddenly it’s hit us.”

Although Dover picked up a point at Horsham in midweek, their home form is poor, an extra incentive for us to finally pick up speed, boosted by the re-signed Cian Dillon.

“In some respects it’s a reversal of a year ago where at times we weren’t even in games,” said Gavin as he reviewed recent encounters

“Some of the games we won last seaaon, we clung on whereas this season we’ve been as good if not better than the opposition, with one or two exceptions. The stats show we’ve created more chances in some games. It’s as if we’re a nearly team at the minute but unfortunately that’s not good enough.”

Without the possibility of a revolving door due to squad size, the changes Gavin says must happen are limited in terms of personnel.

“Change can also mean working practises, formation tweaks and moving players into slightly different positions,” Gav explained. “When you take everything into consideration, including carrying so many injuries without the backup some teams have, I’d consider this the most challenging time of the season.”

“In terms of Dover, I believe they have a virtually fully fit squad. We’ve done an extensive briefing on them and it’s for us to be able to pull something out the bag. I 100 percent believe we can. I feel for the supporters who travel every week because we believe we’re so much better than last season.”

AW

We are delighted to announce that striker Cian Dillon has rejoined the club on a 28-day loan from Queens Park Rangers.

The 19-year-old Republic of Ireland U19 and U21 international had an important spell with us late last season, helping us preserve our Step 2 status by scoring twice in six appearances.

Now he is ready to make his mark again in a Towners shirt.

“Happy to have Cian back with us,” said Gavin Macpherson. “Although we tried desperately to get him over the line for Dorking last night he will add some much-needed resilience to a squad already lacking through injury.”

Dorking Wanderers 2 Enfield Town 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Amid a worrying injury crisis, Enfield Town suffered a fourth league defeat in five games on Tuesday as a battling performance once again yielded no reward.

Town remain just above the relegation on goal difference courtesy of other results going in our favour but arresting the slump is not lost on the management team and has become a crucial priority.

No-one, least all Gavin Macpherson is making any excuses for the current malaise but it doesn’t help when a small-ish squad compared with most other sides in the division is shorn of a stack of players.

Already without the likes of Sam Youngs, Jack Bates and Ruaridh Donaldson, Town were able to name only six subs when Nino Adom-Malaki pulled out shortly before the game with a knee issue.

The fact that neither Bailey Brown nor Mickey Parcell were fit enough to play a part because of individual knocks despite being named on the bench and you get some idea of how stretched we were – and may still be for a few games yet with Tosh Gallimore ruled out of the FA Trophy at Harborough because of international duty.

Yet no-one can fault us for energy and application even if we were again lacking in the final third. Despite a disastrous start, Town were certainly not overawed (only once in truth have we been all season) and had we shown the same attacking intent over the 90 minutes as we did in the last 10 after pulling a goal back with Ollie Davis’ sumptuous freekick, we might well have come away with a point.

Tommy Wood found the going tough after being given a rare start in the absence of Sam but at the other end the hosts were in front inside a minute when two of Town’s back three inexplicably stepped out, allowing on-loan Forest Green Rovers forward Jose Marquez to give Dorking a quickfire start. Rhys Forster produced a strong hand but only proceeded to push the ball further into the net and will perhaps be disappointed he couldn’t keep it out.

Despite the setback we settled down but you have to take whatever chances you get, especially away from home and what a glorious one we had to equalise. Hayden Bullas – arguably Town’s best player on the night – went on a surging run before finding Ollie Knight whose shot stung the hands of the Dorking keeper. The rebound only needed a tap-in but Evan Jones blasted over.

For the rest of the half,  with 38-year-old Luke Moore pulling the strings in front of the Dorking defence and Dennon Lewis a constant threat, we couldn’t create much else going forward but at least managed to keep Dorking away from our own goal, including one superb tackle from Adam Thompson on Alfie Rutherford who was injured in the process and had to be subbed.

H-T 0-1

Dorking continued to press, however, producing a flurry of threatening inswinging corners and crosses. Jimmy Muitt flashed a header wide and Rhys pulled off a fine tip-over save.

Eventually one of the crosses seemed likely to pay off  and so it proved.  On 71 minutes, Muitt got the better of two Town players and when no defender got a foot in to clear the cross, Lewis rifled home at the back post.

Cue the introduction of both Davis and Eli Ackason, both of whom made an immediate impact which augurs well for the future.

Eli showed commendable quick feet but it was Davis who stole the show from a Town standpoint, showing exactly why he’s such a potentially exciting asset by wrapping a sublime freekick round the wall with 10 remaining on the clock.

Now we pinned Dorking back but  for all our endeavour, it was too little, too late.  Jones, leaning back, thrashed the ball over but as we poured men forward, Dorking came within a whisker of adding a third through a Lewis breakaway.

“I think we were playing against the best team in the league,” Gavin declared. “We were literally trying to throw a team together and the boys worked desperately hard. We didn’t create too many clearcut chances if I’m honest but we went toe to toe with a very good side even if at times we had to hang in. But at the end of the day we’ve no points, again, and it has to stop.”

Hopefully starting at Dover on Saturday.

Town

Forster; Benjamin, Thompson, Hawkins; Leonard (Ackeson 81), Gallimore, Bullas, Knight, Jones; Wood, Reynolds (Davis 73).

Dorking Wanderers is a tough enough away fixture with a full squad to choose from let alone having to deal with a number of walking wounded.

Having lost three of our last four league games, though there is an argument to suggest we  deserved better in two of those losses, Town go into Tuesday night’s fixture without Sam Youngs, who has been skippering the side of late, as well as potentially a few other forced absentees.

In all likelihood, Sam will be out for a minimum 10 days having had a number of staples inserted in a 3-cm gash to the head suffered during  Saturday’s defeat to Eastbourne.  

With Jack Bates and Ruaridh Donaldson again likely to be on the sidelines and Gavin facing the prospect of at least two other first-team absentees, the squad could be stretched to its limit for what is bound to be a massively  awkward tie against one of the strongest sides in the division that have put together three straight league wins and are especially formidable at home.

Town fans will be hoping we can at least repeat last season’s hard-fought draw as we bid to move clear of the drop zone.

“The task is not lost on any of us,” said Gavin. “I have huge belief in our squad but it’s got to the point where we would all take a poor performance but sneak a scrappy 1-0 win in the last minute. I’m working dreadfully hard to get this team to where it should be. We all know how strong Dorking are but we have to get something either tomorrow or at Dover on Saturday, preferably both.”

AW

Enfield Town 1 Eastbourne Borough 2

Report By Andrew warshaw

It all started so positively. A player of the month award for Hayden Bullas and a guard of honour for Sam Youngs for having broken the club’s appearance record (pictured)

But by the end, Enfield Town were ruing yet another league defeat and have now ominously collected just three points out of a possible 12 to remain just above the relegation zone.

Town were a shadow of the side that comfortably beat Ebbsfleet in their last home encounter and, as Gavin Macpherson had predicted, faced an Eastbourne side who belied their bottom-four position.

Unlike previous recent defeats, we couldn’t really argue that we created enough to take something from the game, at least in the second half when we failed to hurt The Sports going forward.

Conversely, Eastbourne’s leading scorer Pemi Aderoju was always a threat and he was his double that earned the visitors only their second league win of the season.

After Eastbourne had shaded the opening exchanges, Town put together a sustained period of pressure and made it count on 29 minutes when Henry Hawkins, up from the back, stole in the back post to convert a crisp set-piece.

Ryan Sandford had already come to his side’s  rescue by brilliantly clawing away a Sam Youngs header.  

Sam had earlier been forced to leave the field and change his shirt — for the first of no fewer than four times during the afternoon — having been the victim of an over-zealous challenge by Camron Gbadebo which led to a blood-splattered head wound.

But no sooner had Enfield got on the scoresheet than the visitors responded in style two minutes later with a magnificent bullet header from Aderoju from the edge of the box.

Minutes later, Town were forced into a change when Bailey Brown  limped off with a groin issue to be replaced by Ollie Knight

H-T 1-1

If the parity was just about right at halftime, one might have expected Town to push on after the break.

Instead, six minutes into the second half, it was the visitors who came from behind to lead. Nino Adom-Malaki looked to have been fouled near the byline but nothing was given and the resultant cross was by swept home by Aderohu.

Lamar Reynolds was next to leave the field because of a hamstring tweak, paving the way for Olly Davis to make his Town debut off the bench.

 But if anything, it was Eastbourne who came closest to adding to the scoreline. Aderoju, who had already showed how vital a proven goalscorer can be, slipped just as he was about to complete his hattrick whilst a flicked header from a teammate came back off the woodwork.

As Town rallied in the latter stages, Davis miscued an effort while Sandford clawed away a corner from just under his crossbar.

To complete Sam Youngs’ misery, he was hospitalised after the game to have a nasty 3-cm gash, which is likely to take several days to heal, stitched up.

“We felt confident coming into the game and we had a really good 30 minutes when we scored,” said Gavin afterwards. “Credit to the lad for the equaliser but then we make a mistake for their second. They kept spinning it behind us and in truth we never got into our rhythm and didn’t create much in the second half. Eastbourne won’t stay in that position but this is a really poor result and I’m bitterly disappointed cos we’ve thrown points away and let ourselves down which I haven’t said many times. The reality is that it’s a results business and now we have to try to get something at Dorking and Dover.”

Forster; Benjamin, Thompson, Hawkins; Adom-Malaki (Jones 88), Brown (Knight 37), Bullas, Gallimore Parcell 88), Leonard; Youngs, Reynolds (Davis 60)

Some exciting news ahead of our crucial fixture with Eastbourne Borough this afternoon.

We are delighted to announce the signing of two new players:  Olly Davis, a 19-year-old forward/winger from Braintree, and Eli Ackason from our academy.

Olly, who was originally with Ipswich’s academy where he progressed through the  youth ranks from the age of seven, was on loan last season at St Albans before moving to Step 1 Braintree.

Eli, meanwhile,  was the standout performer in our Middlesex senior cup defeat to Uxbridge in midweek.  Both are available for selection today.

“Olly Davis is a versatile player who will add pace, creativity and hopefully goals to the team,” said Gavin Macpherson. “I’ve known and liked Ollie for a while and feel now is the time to add to the squad. My intention is not to stop there but as we know recruitment often takes time, I’m sure we’ll all fully welcome Olly to the club and hope he enjoys his time with us.”

“In terms of Eli, I think after his performance against Uxbridge we can see the benefit of the academy players training regularly with the first team and being given the opportunity to play first-team football. I think the time now is right for Eli to be on senior forms and we will look at all options as we look closely at his development.”

Welcome Olly and Eli

Gavin Macpherson is under no illusions about the importance of tomorrow’s basement battle against Eastbourne Borough, another full-time team but one he believes is in a false position.

The Sports finished one point off the automatic promotion places last season, only to slip up in the playoffs – an indication of the threat they can potentially pose.

Although they have only one league win so far this season and are one place off the bottom, victory away at Maidenhead and a draw at Ebbsfleet in their last four games illustrates their threat on the road, particularly now that Tommy Widdrington is back in their dugout.

But with a fair wind behind us, literally and figuratively, the points are there to be won.

“I don’t know why Eastbourne are in the position they are but I’m not reading much into it when you look at the players they’ve got. They are well resourced and clearly under achieving at the moment,” said Gavin.

“I wouldn’t call it a six-pointer at this stage of the season but it’s obviously an important game. But we’ve been playing well. We’ve been the better team for most of the last three performances even though we only got the one win against Ebbsfleet. In fact I’d go as far as to say that only against Chesham have we been outplayed.”

Converting a sufficient number of our chances and conceding last-ditch goals, as everyone knows, have been ongoing concerns. “When I said I was angry after Horsham it wasn’t directed at the boys but from a results perspective, they deserve to be doing better,” said Gavin.

“Like so many sides in this division, Eastbourne are another full-time team who have more time to prepare, plan and train but I know the side we’ve put together is competitive. Give me that sort of time with this group and we’d be infinitely higher but it is what it is.”

 Meanwhile the hunt is on to boost the forward positions. With Harry Lodovica and Matty Macarthur now departed, the management team are working hard to bring in at least one proven replacement. Watch this space …

AW