Enfield Town stage their final home outing of the year on Boxing Day (ko 3pm) hoping for a bumper crowd to spur them on to a fifth straight unbeaten game.

Although Town remain in the bottom four, their form of late, plus a superior goal difference to all the clubs around them, augurs well for the holiday period and thereafter in the scramble to move away from the danger zone.

Having completed a one-match ban, Xav Benjamin is back in contention for selection while Henry Hawkins could also return after injury and make up what would then be our most familiar back line this season alongside Tommo.

Ruaridh Donaldson and Evan Jones hardly put a foot wrong against Hornchurch yet such is the competition for places at this moment – in stark contrast to our recent injury crisis – that someone will doubtless be left disappointed.

After beating Eastbourne Borough last time out on the road, the Clarets are seeking back-to-back away victories but eight points out of our last 12 represents a decent enough return and Town will be eager to maintain their unbeaten National League South record against Angelo Harrop’s side as well as move closer to safety.

Having said that, mid-table Chelmsford have won no fewer than six straight Boxing Day matches so an intriguing encounter is in store.

“There is no doubt we face a very dangerous opponent, however we are in good spirits and form despite the disappointment of a late equaliser on Saturday,” said Gavin Macpherson.

“We must constantly reset from game to game but continue to play with desire, resilience and work rate whilst we strive to improve our quality. I still expect Chelmsford to be challenging come to the end of the season so it’s just another chapter in a difficult Christmas and New Year schedule.”

AW

Hornchurch 2 Enfield Town 2

Report by Andrew Warshaw

A terrific point away from home against the league leaders or two dropped right at the death against 10 men?

Depends which way you look at it and how remaining results pan out over the rest of the Christmas and New Year period.

What is indisputable is that Enfield Town came within a whisker of inflicting the first home league defeat of the season on the Urchins. And that in the first half we played some of our best football of the season.

Indeed any neutrals who didn’t know which team was which might easily have concluded in that opening period that we were the side at the top of the league and Hornchurch were scrapping near the bottom.

Gavin Macpherson was forced to reshuffle the back line with Xav Benjamin serving a one-game suspension and Henry Hawkins too much of a gamble given the need the bed him back in slowly after a long layoff through injury.

But it has to be said that both Ruaridh Donaldson and Evan Jones acquitted themselves  commendably alongside the imperious Adam Thompson.

Not that they were worked overtime in that first half when Town scored early and should have extended their lead.

After just 13 seconds, Lemar Reynolds’ long-range shot lacked sufficient power but showed good intent and on six minutes, our early promise was rewarded.

Hornchurch didn’t deal with a corner and when Billy Leonard nodded back across goal, Sam Youngs  — back in the starting lineup wearing head and face protection following his broken nose – showed great control to rifle a bouncing ball into the roof of the net when he could easily have screwed it wide (pictured celebrating).

 Town continued on the front foot with Lemar and Cian Dillon giving the Hornchurch defence plenty to think about.  Urchins’ keeper Arthur Nasta smothered a Dillon effort while Lemar’s turn and volley flashed over. Then it was Nino Adom-Malaki’s turn to get in on the act with a Cruyff-like piece of trickery but chose the wrong option by trying to dink the keeper.

That should have been 2-0, only for Town to enjoy a huge slice of good fortune when debutant Hubert Graczyk was wrong-footed by Josh Rees’ effort, only for the ball to come back off the post into the grateful arms of our new keeper.

Apart  from that, plus a Junior Morias effort fired into the side netting, Town had been the side knocking on the door.

H-T 0-1

The first big chance of the second period also went to Town, Harry Gibbs forced into a goal-saving clearance to thwart a lightning interchange of passes between our two strikers. Then Lemar spotted Nasta off his line but couldn’t quite direct a 40-yard lob goalwards.

But the momentum was beginning to change as Hornchurch, clearly given a half-time rocket, went to their bench for inspiration, picked up most second balls and began to thread dangerous passes together.

Yet just as they were building up a head of steam, Josh Hare was dismissed for a second yellow. On paper it was a relief for Town. Instead, it only serve to galvanise the hosts.

Sub Henry Sandat looked to have equalised, only for it to be ruled out by a high foot. But on 75 minutes, the 10 men were level when an overlap down our left wasn’t picked up and Sandat buried the cross.

Cut a frantic finale. Olly Davis came off the bench to restore Town’s lead after more fine work by Dillon and it looked for all the world like the enforced three-week break from league action would pay off handsomely.

Instead the joyous celebrations that greeted Davis’ goal were short-lived. Deep into stoppage time, the otherwise impressive Tosh Gallimore (second only in our midfield to the outstanding Hayden Bullas) gave away a needless freekick and in a right old melee, Graczyk could do no better than push the ball straight at the feet of Sandat who broke Town hearts with the kind of  all-too-familiar last-gasp finish that plagued us earlier in the season.

Although we remain in the danger zone, it’s important to note our goal difference is the best of any of the bottom seven which augurs well.

“Hornchurch reacted like they’d won the game and we’d lost it which says a lot about how we played,” said a frustrated but generally upbeat Gavin Macpherson. “They have considerable fire power and in the second half they moved the ball better than us but all in all I can’t fault our boys. They were magnificent.

“We were mindful, having not played a league game for three weeks, that we might come back without momentum. But that wasn’t the case. Yes, it’s tinged with disappointment as we were looking to see the game out but when I take the last four games into perspective — two home wins, two away draws — there’s a lot to be positive about.”

Town:  Graczyk; Jones, Thompson, Donaldson; Adom-Malaki, Bullas (Knight 91), Youngs, Gallimore, Leonard; Dillon, Reynolds (Davis 76)

After back-to-back Saturdays with no competitive football, Enfield Town go into the lion’s den – or make that the Urchins den – tomorrow in what promises to be one of our toughest encounters of the season.

Three points clear at the top and unbeaten at home may look scary but don’t tell Gavin Macpherson we have nothing to lose against the league leaders.

“I never like to use that phrase no matter who we are playing, it’s not in my vocabulary,” said Gavin. “Some people have said it’s a free hit but that’s nonsense. We understand how vast the task is but we’ve been on decent form of late so why not face the leaders in their own backyard and have a go at it? If they are too good for us, so be it.”

Yet as if facing Hornchurch wasn’t in itself a daunting enough challenge, Town will have to shuffle the pack in defence against a team that has been scoring for fun.

Not only will Xav Benjamin have to serve the one-match ban that would have been against Hampton and Richmond but the classy Joe Kizzi, who played a major part in our recent mini-revival, has been recalled by Barnet through injury.

With Henry Hawkins available but still regaining fitness after a lengthy layoff, Gavin faces an unenviable decision with the back line once again having to be tinkered with. The fact we have no fewer than six games in three weeks cannot be discounted.

“Henry is injury free but we’ll have to assess him,” said Gav.  “I don’t want to focus too much on those we haven’t got because in other areas of the pitch some important players are back and good to go like Youngy, Tosh and Lemar.”

And between the sticks we have another new goalkeeper making his Town debut.

Having had two keepers on loan in recent weeks following the departure of Rhys Forster, both are now injured and have now been recalled by their respective clubs.

That forced the management team to act quickly by bringing in Hubert Graczyk following his departure from Wealdstone.

Poland-born Hubert was an England youth international between U16 and U18 levels and spent much of his youth career with Arsenal’s Academy after joining from Everton and featured 31 times for the Gunners’ U21 side.

This time, the deal is not a loan and it is hoped that after all the unavoidable chopping and changing Hubert, 22, can at least play out this season with Town.

Although Tuesday’s friendly with Arsenal provided vital minutes on the pitch, Gavin wasn’t 100 percent comfortable with some players’ level of  performance.

“It remains to be seen until we’re into the game Saturday how much the rest and the Arsenal friendly did us good, or didn’t,” said Gav. “We’ve had a couple of curveballs this week but we’ve set a points target until the end of the year, let’s see if we can get there.”

AW

We are delighted to announce the signing of goalkeeper Hubert Graczyk following his departure from Wealdstone.

Poland-born Hubert was an England youth international between U16 and U18 levels and spent much of his youth career with Arsenal’s Academy after joining from Everton, spending six years at Hale End and going on to feature 31 times for the Gunners’ U21 side.

From there, he moved to Manchester United where he largely played in their academy setup, though he trained with United’s first team earlier this year, as well as featuring during a selection of first-team warm-ups in the FA Cup before his departure in the summer. The 22-year-old also has senior experience at this level following a loan with Slough Town during the 2023/24 season.

Welcome, Hubert!

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.