Enfield Town played out an entertaining 2-2 draw with an Arsenal Academy team in a friendly arranged for reasons of both cash flow and match practice given we had been without a competitive game since Bath away.

Although the visitors dominated possession for long periods, Town succeeded in digging in and finding two equalisers to earn a highly creditable draw.

  The Arsenal starting line-up boasted several players with limited first-team experience and a goalkeeper with England Under-19 caps, and were quickly into their stride, causing Town numerous problems with some slick, pacy football.

They were in front after only nine minutes when skipper Louie Copley got behind the Town backline, and took advantage of an unlucky slip by Adi Connolly in the Town goal to roll the ball into an empty net.

  Town’s response was almost instant. Olly Davis made a penetrating run from midfield and slipped the ball to Billy Leonard on the right,  his shot taking a huge deflection to beat Gunners’ keeper Khari Ranson.

The rest of the half was dominated by the visitors, but an inspired display by Connolly kept the scores level, aided by two struck goalposts along the way.

 The second half followed a similar pattern, with Town drip-feeding substitutes onto the field; by the final whistle only Davis remained from the original starting eleven.

Connolly continued to defy the visitors’ efforts but eventually the dam was breached on 67 minutes, with Charles Sagoe Junior racing through a suspiciously large gap on the left side of Town’s defence.

Once again the Town response was almost instant. Avan Jones embarked on a meandering run out of defence, his shot from distance fumbled by Ranson into the path of Eli Ackason, who rammed in his first Town goal from close range.

There was still time for Ethan Cann to make a brilliant goal-line clearance to preserve parity.   

All in all a satisfactory evening for both sides’ bid for game time, in our case ahead our return to league action at Hornchurch on Saturday.

Team: Connolly, Kizzi, Thompson, Donaldson, Leonard, Bullas, Gallimore, Adom-Malaki, Davis, Wood, Triallist

 Subs: Jawonski, Jones, Benjamin, Hawkins, Knight, Ackason, Brown, Bates, Cann, Opoku

Martin Bentley

Enfield Town may not have had a game last Saturday but a very special guest gave up his time to join our popular football school sessions on the nearby 3G training pitch.

Sky Sports presenter Michael Bridge, born and educated in Enfield, has just been appointed the first ever patron of our charity arm and spent the morning integrating with our various teams – youth, disability, walking football etc – and presenting them with end-of-term medals.

Michael’s role will be to support the club’s registered charity work in the community.

“When the club approached me, it took me less than a second to say yes,” said Michael (pictured, centre, with walking football players) whose involvement with the club has already included promoting the new stand and being MC at the Steve Perryman/Alf d’Arcy evening at Butler’s Bar  back in April.

“It’s an incredible honour to be patron of the club’s charity projects. I’m very privileged to be able to travel to many places but Enfield is my home and where my heart is. Non-league football is the heart of the game and to be part of this community is a no-brainer. It’s been a real eye-opener to meet so many players of all ages and ability with smiles on their faces. That’s what non-league football is all about and I’ll do what ever I can to support this wonderful cause and this wonderful club.”

“I used to follow the old club and to come back as Enfield Town has after being ripped apart and now to be playing in National League South is pretty unbelievable. I really hope they stay up in what is an incredible tough league.”

Town vice-chairman Paul Millington commented: “Michael has followed us since were formed and we’re delighted he has agreed to become the patron of our charitable ventures. As part of that, we’re hoping he can get involved in various fund-raisers such as a Q and A session at the Dave Bryant, all the money going towards our community activities.”

AW

Our Enterprise National League fixture at home to Hampton & Richmond, which was postponed earlier this month, has now been rescheduled.

The new fixture will take place on Tuesday 6th January 2026 (19:45 kickoff).

For the second Saturday running, Enfield Town have the rare experience of no fixture this weekend, allowing the players to enjoy a team-bonding Christmas excursion and the management to plot a strategy for the busy holiday period.

Last Saturday’s shock postponement of our league fixture against Hampton and Richmond, coupled with the Beavers hosting Maidenhead tomorrow and the fact that we are no longer in the FA Trophy, has thrown up the bizarre spectacle of no competitive game until we visit league leaders Hornchurch in a week’s time when, frustratingly, Xav Benjamin will now have to serve his one-match  suspension.

Playing catch-up is far less preferable to playing games especially when the teams in and around us are picking up points which is what happened last Saturday when we slipped back into the bottom four just at the time when we had been showing some really encouraging form.

“It’s a far from ideal situation but we will have a management meeting on Saturday and a few of us will go and watch games involving upcoming opponents,” said a somewhat throaty Gavin Macpherson who is dealing with a heavy cold.

Such a long break between games is of course totally beyond our control. As a result, a friendly against Arsenal’s academy side has been arranged for Tuesday but even then, it’s a delicate balancing act.

“That’s part of what the management team will be fine-tuning,” explained Gav. “The friendly is designed to help us go this long without a competitive game but we have to balance keeping the players on their toes with possible injuries.”

On the player front, Joe Kizzi’s loan deal runs out the day before Hornchurch and discussions are under way to see whether it’s viable for the club to try and extend it. As far as the goalkeeping situation is concerned, George Barrett can play at Hornchurch and thereafter, says Gavin, it’s a question of looking at options with Tom Norcott seemingly fit to return. Whatever happens, we’ll have a quality keeper on the books.

Gavin still can’t get his head round the decision to call off last Saturday’s game against Hampton and Richmond when both sets of players, and both managers, wanted to play. At the time of writing, a fresh date was being agreed with an official announcement imminent.

“I was as astonished as anyone and so were Hampton,” said Gav. “I’ve never seen a game called off under those circumstances. I feel for the club and for the supporters but we’ve done a mini-pre season this week and now we prepare for Arsenal which we’ll have to piece together quite carefully in terms of who plays and who doesn’t.”

 AW

We are thrilled to announce that Alan Lovell and Robin Bibi will be playing at Butlers Bar on Thursday 29th January  for a special ETFC fundraiser, our first live gig of 2026.

Alan made his name with the iconic Swinging Blue Jeans, both as guitarist and vocalist, and has also toured and recorded over the years with many other famous acts including Marty Wilde, PJ Proby, Denny Laine and The New Vaudeville Band.

You might well have seen him perform locally as the lead singer and guitarist of the 60s All-Stars, a veritable super group that has wowed audiences across the country.

Alan will be teaming up on the night with Robin Bibi, widely recognised as one of the UK’s top blues/rock guitarists.

Having paid his dues working with such names as Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Ben E. King, The Pretty Things and Helen Shapiro, Robin launched the Robin Bibi Band in the late 90s and has been nominated by the British Blues awards in several categories. Like Alan, he too has performed with the 60s All-Stars and blends elements of some of the great blues players, including BB King and Peter Green, into his own totally unique sound.

Doors open at 7.30pm and tickets priced £15 can either be purchased in advance by calling Christine Hamilton on 07949 071587 or by email ianchrisham@hotmail.com. Alternatively on the following link:

https://enfieldtownfc.ktckts.com/event/ent2526concert1/alan-lovell-robin-bibi-live-.

Tickets on the door subject to availability. There will also be a bar and raffle.

We are pleased to announce that we have agreed an upcoming friendly match with an Arsenal Academy XI at the Dave Bryant Stadium.

The match will take place at home on Tuesday 16th December, with a 19:30 kickoff, and offers fans a chance to catch a glimpse of the Gunners’ next generation, while also providing Gavin Macpherson’s squad with valuable minutes during a break in their National League South schedule.

Ticket details will follow soon.

Today’s game against Hampton and Richmond has been postponed following a pitch inspection by the officials.

An update as to a rescheduled fixture will be announced as soon as possible

Enfield Town go into tomorrow’s crunch fixture with Hampton and Richmond buoyed by a resurgence in form and keen to make it 10 points out of a possible 12.

Having parted company with their manager, with skipper Alan Massey taking over temporarily, the Beavers broke their 13-match winless streak on Tuesday, beating AFC Totton 2-0 to secure their first league win since the end of August.

In the process they leapfrogged Town in the table, sending us down to 20th, but the roles will be reversed if we can secure another maximum haul.

We will have to do it without Sam Youngs who is just starting to recover from a midweek operation on a broken nose, his third unfortunate injury in a matter of weeks after being relatively unscathed for much of his career.

 Mickey Parcell has still not recovered either from a calf problem while Henry Hawkins remains on the sidelines. Xav Benjamin’s one-game suspension makes it four out but there is better news about Joe Kizzi who looks to have shrugged off a knock that kept him out at Bath while the extension of Cian Dillon’s loan spell is brilliant news at the other end of the pitch.

“Hampton have had a little bit of a bounce as often happens and we need to stop that. The important thing is to continue to pick up results  but obviously psychologically we’d jump back over them with another three points,” said Gavin Macpherson.

“Clearly having some players back the last couple of weeks has given us more to work with but we’ve also reset a few things as a management team if truth be told. I will never hide behind the fact that it’s my show and ultimately I’m accountable. We’re going to lose football matches, of that there’s no doubt given the reality of the division. But the important thing is to have a few of the mini-runs we’re on now over the season as a whole.”

With no game in a week’s time, the players are planning a team building day out while a midweek friendly is in the throes of being arranged for Dec 16.

“Two weeks without a competitive game is never good because you can lose momentum but we’ll be making sure they train hard and stay focussed for a very busy Christmas and new Year period,” said Gav.

Just a reminder that since this is our last home game before Christmas we are holding our annual winter collection for North Enfield Foodbank. If you can donate any item, however small, it will be gratefully received. 

Urgently needed items include Christmas food such mince pies, chocolate, biscuits, puddings, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy. Also any of the following:

• Christmas crackers (to pull)
• Sweet and Savoury snacks
• Long life nut roast
• Tinned meat and Fish
• Long life ready meals/ noodles
• Tinned rice pudding/ custard
• Sugar and cooking oil
• Coffee/ Hot chocolate
• Washing powder and cleaning products
• Toiletries (soap, shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, deodorant, toilet roll etc)
•  

Your donation can be left either at the Turnstiles, Club Shop or in the Foyer in the main stand.

More information on North Enfield Foodbank can be found here:

https://northenfield.foodbank.org.uk/

AW

We are delighted to announce that on-loan QPR striker Cian Dillon has extended his stay with the Towners until 31st January 2026.

Ireland U21 international Cian has proven a valuable addition to Gavin Macpherson’s squad since re-joining on loan last month, providing four assists and a goal in four National League South starts.

He had previously notched two goals and two assists during his previous loan spell with us towards the end of the 2024/25 season.

Bath City 1 Enfield Town 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Enfield Town made it seven points out of nine as Billy Leonard scored for the second year running at Twerton Park to give us a share of the spoils – the least we deserved on the day.

 Town had only won once in the league away while Bath have been struggling at home for large parts of the season. A draw therefore seemed a likely outcome and so it proved as we remained two places above the drop zone.

With Joe Kizzi ruled out with a groin strain along with Mickey Parcell, who celebrates his 30^th birthday on Tuesday, Ruaridh Donaldson was drafted into the back three.

Bath started the brighter and twice threatened our goal before Sam Youngs – again wearing protective headgear – struck the base of the post  following a corner.

As we gained a foothold, Xavier Benjamin went on a driving run before shooting well and Lemar Reynolds just failed to supply a strong enough finish to convert  Cian Dillon’s brilliant swivel and pass. At the other end, the Romans continued to keep us on our toes as dangerman Owen Windsor’s goalbound effort was luckily deflected wide.

Youngs should have hit the target with the final action of the half but in truth defences had been very much on top with clearcut chances few and far between.

H-T 0-0

A pot-marked pitch didn’t help either team  but desperate for a first home win since Oct 21, Bath flew out of the traps after the interval and for 15 minutes put us under severe pressure.

It was during this spell that they forged ahead.  A Joe Raynes’ 25-yard screamer had already been pushed over by George Barratt when Luke Russe’s pull-back in the area found Windsor who blasted the ball home before any Town defender could reach him.

Barratt was quickly called into action twice more, first tipping a Keiran Parcelle volley round the post, then saving from Matt Bowman after Tosh Gallimore was caught dithering.

But Town weathered the storm and just like in the first half came on strong, epitomised by Leonard’s superb equaliser as he played the ball up the line to Dillon before sprinting into the box to receive it back and sweep home.

Town, with renewed optimism and momentum, now looked the team likely to take all three points as we pegged Bath back. Reynolds would have scored had he shot either side of Charlie Binns instead of straight at him while Olle Davis, on as an impact sub, twice worked his way into dangerous positions without quite delivering the finish.

After our first league draw since the end of August, Gavin Macpherson was quietly content, all the more so with the news that Cian Dillon’s loan spell looks set to be extended after talks with QPR.

“They started better than us in each half but overall we’re slightly disappointed not to have nicked it,” said Gavin. “It’s a decent result given our reaction after they scored. The really important thing now is the week ahead of next Saturday against Hampton and Richmond because then you start to look at 10 points from 12 which is as good as most teams in the division.”

Town:

Barratt; Donaldson, Thompson, Benjamin; Adom-Malaki, Bullas, Gallimore, Youngs, Leonard; Dillon, Reynolds (Davis 70)