All the best to midfielder Manny Maja who has decided to move on up the League pyramid. Our Young Player of the Year for 21-22, he made 35 appearances for the Town, and was Man of the Match 3 times – we wish him well for a very bright future!

I hope you are all enjoying the summer and are slowly getting over the disappointment of our play-off defeat?!

The board and management team are fully focussed on the new season ahead and are working hard to provide the best budget and playing squad for the new campaign. The management staff of Andy, Mario, Ian, Jake & John are all committed to another year and are determined to build on the improvement that we saw last season.

On the playing front, as a club we don’t operate with too many contracts so we have to wait until league registration forms are issued before “signing” and announcing players.  I appreciate that there is always a thirst for information at this time of year, but please be patient with us. Our trial matches start this weekend and pre-season training commences at the end of next week, it’s at this point that you will start to see announcements of players re-signing or joining the club. 

All of last season’s squad were invited to return for pre-season, but as happens every year, some players decide that their futures belong elsewhere. As such, we have already seen two players announce moves to other clubs – Jerry Gyebi has decided to try his luck higher up the pyramid and Harold Joseph has accepted an offer from Cray Wanderers. Both players have been a credit to the club and we wish them well with their new endeavours.

We expect that another two or three of last season’s squad may also move on, however we have a number of exciting new additions who we are talking to and hope to be able to talk more about these in the coming weeks. 

The pre-season schedule has been published and gives us a good mix of games to prepare for the 2022/3 term – We expect the league fixture to be announced towards the middle of next month.

Season tickets and friendly match tickets are now available to purchase online –  https://enfieldtownfc.ktckts.com/ . The Go To Town monthly scheme will continue and we will be in touch with packages in the coming week. All ticket and package prices have been frozen for 2022/3 and we look forward to seeing you all back at the QES very soon.

Up The Town!

Paul Reed 

Huge congratulations to ETFC life president Roger Reed, father of Town chairman Paul Reed, writes Andrew Warshaw.

Roger has just been made a Life Member of the Isthmian League, an incredibly rare accolade awarded at last Saturday’s AGM in Brighton when Roger stepped down as a board member after acquiring almost legendary status.

The announcement, in front of scores of Isthmian League clubs who gave Roger (pictured with Isthmian League chairman Nick Robinson) a rousing ovation, means he is one of only two life members currently living.

In the entire history of the league, founded in 1905, only small group of officials have ever been made Life Members – including none other than the late chairman of the Football Association and ex-Fifa president Sir Stanley Rous.

“I had no idea about the award,” said Roger who, at 75, has decided to call time on his invaluable work on the Isthmian League board where he was primarily responsible for maintaining standards through ground grading.

“I thought they would do something for me but not that. I was bowled over by it. To be honest, it’s still sinking in. I’m immensely proud.”

“I never dreamed for 10 seconds that I’d end up a Life Member of the League. I just did what I did because I had the knowledge and the time.”

“One of the things I enjoyed most was giving advice to clubs on how to improve their facilities in the most cost-effective way.”

Now retired, will he miss it? “Yes and no,” says Roger. “I must have visited literally hundreds of clubs. I decided to retire because of my age. I don’t quite have the energy any more to drive all those long distances. But I’ll miss being on the inside track, if you like. However, now I can relax and do other things. And of course I’ll still be coming to watch The Town as often as I can.”

We are delighted to confirm that our near-neighbours Tottenham Hotspur, whose training ground is a stone’s throw from the QEII, have again kindly agreed to provide invaluable opposition as part of our early pre-season preparations.

Tottenham’s Development Squad, who will this season revert to competing as Under-21s, will visit us on Tuesday, July 12, at 7pm.

The fixture is bound to generate enormous interest and tickets can be purchased in advance on the following link:

https://enfieldtownfc.ktckts.com/event/ent2223120722/enfield-town-v-tottenham-hotspur-u21s

We are pleased to confirm six pre-season matches ahead of the 2022-23 season. We look forward to welcoming St. Albans City and Spurs’ Under-21s to Donkey Lane, as well as visiting some near-neighbours during July:

Saturday 9^th July [15:00] – Cockfosters (A) – Chalk Lane

Tuesday 12^th July [19:00] – Tottenham Hotspur U21s (H) – QEII Stadium

Tuesday 19^th July [19:45] – St. Albans City (H) – QEII Stadium

Saturday 23^rd July [from 12:00] – Cheshunt/Haringey Borough (A) – Theobalds Lane

Saturday 26^th July [19:45] – Ware (A) – Wodson Park

Saturday 30^th July [15:00] – Hayes & Yeading (A) – SkyEx Community Stadium

*These fixtures are subject to changes of date and time. Further fixtures may yet be added

The pain of Enfield Town losing right at the death to Hornchurch in the semifinals of the playoffs will take time to heal.

But as the club looks towards maintaining our competitiveness in time for next season,  there is a huge amount of promise lower down the age scale, writes Andrew Warshaw.

Last week, having already won their regional league in the National League U19 Alliance, the academy side narrowly missed out on the semifinals of the subsequent knockout competition in an attempt to become Champions of Champions.

In their quarterfinal at Chelmsford they so nearly made it through only to lose 5-4 with the last kick of the game.

Manager Ahmed Abdulla, who reports to Town’s academy chief and first-team coach Ian Hart,  can’t heap enough praise on his young players who have done the club proud.

“The way we lost was really cruel especially as we fought back from 3-1 down,” said Ahmad.  “I’m super proud of the boys after a fantastic season. It shows we’ve got up and coming players in-house, Ross Busunda and George Rankin to name but two.”

Meanwhile, as part of our ongoing relationship, our neighbours Tottenham Hotspur generously provided a dozen members of their under-18 squad recently to assist with much-needed ground maintenance at QEII.

“It was a great gesture by Spurs, with their training ground being in the borough, to help their local community club,” said Town vice-chairman Paul Millington.

Enfield Town’s academy team have reached the quarterfinals of the National League U19 Alliance knockout competition, taking another giant step towards becoming regional champion of champions, writes Andrew Warshaw.

Goalkeeper Adi Connolly (pictured) was our hero, saving three penalties in the shootout after the last-16 tie with Tonbridge finished 1-1.

Both goals came in the second half, the visitors opening the scoring before David Agbon equalised.

The boys, who did brilliantly to win their league to put them into the knockout phase of the competition, now visit Chelmsford in the quarterfinals next week.

“We didn’t play that well but still got the result which says a lot,”  said  manager Ahmed Abdulla. “It’s good for the boys to still have something to play for.”

By Andrew Warshaw

It’s not only our senior team who we should congratulate on a magnificent season.

Our academy side deserves enormous credit for having just won their division of the National League U19 Alliance and will host Tonbridge at 1pm tomorrow (Wednesday) in the first knockout phase in attempt to become Champions of Champions.

Anyone who witnessed our friendly last month against Southend under-23 will have been impressed by a raft of young academy players who were given a chance to mix with the first team.

Several of the lesser-known players produced eye-catching performances all over the pitch which certainly augurs well for the future including fullbacks Monty Clarke and Yahke Solomon, diminutive central midfielder James Bone and substitutes Ross Busunda and George Rankin.

The academy side won Division C, as it’s known, on goal difference from Barking on the final day of the season.  Basunda, who scored  a superb goal in that win over  Southend,  netted 18 times in as many appearances.

 Manager Ahmed Abdulla can’t heap enough praise on his young players who have done the club proud.

Ahmed, who is responsible to academy boss Ian Hart, is convinced some of his kids are good enough to break into the senior team.

“What you saw against Southend was just a glimpse of those who could hold their own in and around the first team,” he said. “It shows we’ve got up and coming players throughout the club. But like the senior team, it’s not about individuals, you need a whole collective team.”

“Incredible as it may sound, we had to win our last five games in seven days to win the title which is unheard of at any level. And we got five clean sheets.”

“The first team having such a good season rubbed off on my boys who wanted some of the same feeling. Lots of the boys go to first-team games and they come back saying how they’d like to do the same.”

Enfield Town 2 Hornchurch 3

Report by Andrew Warshaw

So close and yet, agonisingly, so far.

In front of our biggest ever home attendance, a staggering 1,948, Enfield Town’s promotion hopes ended in heartbreaking anguish last night, leaving players, management, fans and directors collectively shellshocked.

Town were just three minutes away from the Isthmian Premier League playoff final, with promotion to the Holy Grail of National League South within touching distance, when Hornchurch struck twice to spoil the party in a last-gasp win that left all of us scarcely able to  believe what had happened.

In an incredible atmosphere in our first playoff for five years, Town led twice through Jerry Gyebi and Mo Faal, only for the Urchins to level on 87 minutes with a piece of sublime skill from super-sub Sam Higgins, then snatch victory three minutes later as the clock ticked towards extra time.

With three players ruled out at the worst possible time – skipper Scott Thomas and Nathan Smith through injury and long throw specialist  Lee Chappell through personal circumstances – John Muleba started at right-back and Harold Joseph, who had hardly trained, was called up at the last minute to the bench against the surprise winners of last season’s FA Trophy.

Town’s line-up was certainly an attacking one with all three of our forwards starting in a 4-3-3- formation.  Adam Cunnington had the game’s first big chance when he headed wide after two minutes while at the other end former Towner Micky Parcell sent Liam Nash’s backheel too close to Nathan McDonald.

Olly Muldoon and Joe Christou both then threatened our goal as we took time to settle but  we gradually imposed ourselves on the game and  on 38 minutes, shortly after a clear penalty claim for handball was turned down, we took the lead. Percy Kiangebeni’s freekick was flicked on and Jerry Gyebi – one of our best players on the night – supplied an excellent finish (pictured).

It could so easily have been 2-0 when a Sam Youngs effort hit the base of the post before rebounding to safety. The first half was then prolonged for several minutes for what appeared to be a bad injury to Hornchurch’s Tom Wraight who was carried off on a stretcher and replaced.

H-T 1-0

Just after the restart, again we might have doubled our lead when Cunnington’s bicycle kick had Joe Wright, another ex-Towner, scrambling, only for Hornchurch to level out of nothing on 56 minutes when Nash took advantage of hesitant defending to convert a long throw.

It didn’t at the time do any lasting damage, however, because within a couple minutes we had restored our lead as Muleba’s surging run and cross was rattled home by Mo Faal.

But cue Hornchurch’s call from the bench for the dangerous Higgins who turned the game on its head. With his first touch,  he created a golden chance for Nash who shot inches wide with McDonald beaten.

With 15 minutes left on the clock, we almost made the game safe only for Wright to save superbly from the ever-willing if tiring Cunnington. But just as it looked as if we would hold on and the celebrations would last long into the night, they were suddenly cut short. Higgins controlled the ball 25 yards out and sent an outrageous lob beyond McDonald and in off the post for 2-2.

All eyes were now on extra time but instead Town’s collective hearts were broken as the ball was fed out once again to Nash and this time he made no mistake, lashing it into the far corner.

As our frustrations boiled over, there was still time sadly for Manny Maja to be dismissed for a second yellow.

To make matters worse, victory would have given us a home final against local arch-rivals Cheshunt, who upset Bishop’s Stortford in the other semifinal, on Bank Holiday Monday, a double whammy that made the last-gasp defeat all the more gut-wrenching to take.

Crestfallen players who had left everything on the pitch slumped to the ground in abject disappointment at the final whistle before regrouping for a squad huddle with the management staff to reflect on what has been the club’s best ever season.

It was entirely fitting that after a memorable campaign, the team were given a rapturous send-off by the majority of a bumper crowd that had the stadium packed to the rafters and bursting at the seams.

“Football can be a cruel mistress at times and so it proved,” said Enfield manager Andy Leese. “A devastating end to the game and our hopes which I just didn’t see coming. We gave it our all and edged a very competitive game until the last few minutes when a couple of bits of excellent finishing undid us. It’s been an exceptional season in so many ways and we shouldn’t lose sight of that. Final mention to our incredible support which went to a new level last night. Huge appreciation from us all on the management and playing staff.”

Despite the agony of defeat and a summer of “what ifs” ahead, the entire squad can look back with pride. The playoffs were always the goal from day one of the season, something clubs with far greater resources than Town also aspired to but never achieved.

A record points tally and biggest ever average home gate speaks volumes about the commitment and camaraderie of a unique group of players.

“It was hugely disappointing to get so close to our first playoff final at this level but when the dust settles we will look back and feel very proud,” said chairman Paul Reed.

“To have a crowd of that magnitude shows the inroads we’ve made in the local community and how our support base is growing. Hopefully we can carry that forward.”

Town: McDonald, Muleba, Bray, Gyebi, Kirwan (Della Verde 90), Kiangebeni, Maja, Youngs;  Cunnington, Faal, Cass

Playoff Preview by Andrew Warshaw

It is, quite simply, the biggest game we have ever played at the QEII and the anticipation is reaching fever pitch.

They say you deserve to be where you finish and after 42 league games, months of intensive hard work, behind-the-scenes attention to detail and all-important spirit and cameraderie, it all comes down to Wednesday night’s nailbiting play-off semifinal against familiar foes Hornchurch.

Play-off games, as we all know, are one-off affairs. They can be decided by a sublime piece of a skill or an outrageous stroke of luck. Euphoria can change to heartbreak in the blink of an eye – and vice-versa.

Just like Town, Hornchurch will be desperate to come away with victory, not least after losing to us twice this season. With a place in the final and the Holy Grail of Step 2 football so close, neither side will want their season to end just yet.

One thing’s for sure: the management team will have been meticulous in the build-up to the game and the atmosphere promises to be electric with Towners fans coming out in their hundreds to try and push us over the line and into a final against either Bishop’s Stortford or Cheshunt.

What we have achieved already is a tribute to the management staff and players, most of whom were not around the last time we reached the playoff semifinal five years ago. This time we want to go one better.

It’s highly possible that not one, not two but three ex-Town players could be facing us in a Hornchurch shirt with several ex-Towner legends likely to be in attendance.

Having become the first Step 3 side to win the FA Trophy, non-league football’s biggest prize, last season, Hornchurch know all about the big stage. But after Saturday’s Bognor result, coupled with Wingate’s surprise win at Hornchurch, there was a confident air of “bring it on” amongst our boys who are hungry to succeed and raring to go.

“Being rewarded with a home tie is something in all honesty I didn’t expect would happen,” Andy Leese (pictured) told the Our Local Non-League podcast. “But we worked hard for it and finishing third in the league is a reflection of what we’ve done all season so I’m absolutely delighted.”

With no league fixtures to fall back on, Andy and his staff will have left no stone unturned to get the players in the right frame of mind.

“The mindset is obviously slightly different because it’s bit like the last-chance saloon. But I’ve got a bunch of players who know the drill. A lot of them are used to playing in big games.”

Advanced ticket sales have gone through the roof though you can of course still purchase tickets on the night by cash or card at the turnstiles.

Stand transfer tickets, price £2 , will be available on the night but are likely to sell out before kick off. These can be purchased at the exit to the balcony in the main building. For crowd management and safety reasons there will be no access to the balcony except for those purchasing stand transfer tickets. We would appreciate your co-operation with these arrangements.

Turnstiles will open at 6 PM, bar and catering facilities will be open, and it is suggested you try to arrive 30 minutes before kick off if possible. This will help to ensure we can get everyone in the ground before kick off.

We do anticipate the main car park will be full before kick off . If you can walk or arrive by public transport that may be preferable. Car sharing is also very much encouraged.

COYT!