Haringey Borough 1 Enfield Town 2

Report by Andrew Warshaw

On a ground where we invariably get scant reward and with several key players still missing, Town made it back-to-back derby wins on Monday to round off a thoroughly satisfying Christmas and New Year period.

In front of over 800 fans, a significant number of whom were Towners fans making the short journey, we moved up to fourth in the table as other results went in our favour.

Following the Boxing Day rout of Potters Bar, this was always going to be a different encounter altogether against a team who invariably raise their game against us.

After controlling the first half, we at times had to dig in but Nathan McDonald was largely untroubled by Haringey’s pacey forwards.

Skipper Scott Thomas, with another outstanding midfield display, led by example while all those around him put in a committed shift. The management team now have the proverbial nice selection head-ache when those unavailable are back!

After a minute’s applause to celebrate the life of Pele, we got straight down to business and deservedly took the lead on 19 minutes.

Sam Youngs, with an audacious piece of improvisation, forced a tip-over save from Luke Mewitt and from the resulting short corner, Josh Hill – arguably man of the match – powered home a header from James Dayton’s cross (pictured, right).

Town continued to dominate and although clearcut chances were in short supply we were well worth our halftime lead.

H-T 0-1

Haringey have a habit of never lying down and almost restored parity within two minutes of the restart when the teenage Stefanos Georgiou cut in from the left and skimmed the bar.

Two Borough freekicks in dangerous positions then ensued, both of which thankfully came to nothing, while Town suffered a blow when Dayton had to be subbed with what looked like a hamstring or groin problem.

His replacement, Lyle Della-Verde, almost doubled our lead when he dribbled past his marker and saw his left-foot shot flash just wide.

Town needed that second goal to halt Haringey’s quest for an equaliser and got it on 85 minutes courtesy of some neat interplay. Della-Verde played in Youngs and his low cross was knocked home by the tireless Adam Cunnington.

That should have been that, only for a nervy, blood and guts finale as Borough halved the deficit.

On 90 minutes, Jueven Spencer, who otherwise put in a faultless display, was adjudged to have up-ended Kaylen Hinds who sent McDonald the wrong way from the penalty spot.

In the ensuing melee as Haringey’s players sought to grab the ball with time running out,  Nathan was booked and Haringey’s ex-Towner Olu Durojaiye shown a straight red card for a headbutt for which he can have no excuses.

Down to 10 men, Haringey arguably had their best period but we managed to see the game out and might have added a third with the very last action.

With every one of Haringey’s players committed forward, the ball was deflected into Della-Verde’s path but after running half the length of the pitch unchallenged, his shot was pushed to safety by Mewitt, followed by the final whistle.

“I felt we controlled the game today,” said Andy Leese who must have been delighted with the commitment from everyone in all-blue and another eye-catching display from new signing Chez Isaac. “We scored from a well-worked corner and withstood some Haringey pressure in the opening period of the second half.”

“The last 10 minutes were more fraught than they needed to be but we had the cushion of the second goal by then. A great three points in the context of the other results around us. A successful Christmas period where we have adapted and coped with the loss of some key players.”

Town

McDonald; Spencer, Hill, Wilson-Braithwaite, Payne; Dayton (Della-Verde, 51), Thomas, Isaac, Youngs, Wyllie (Taaffe, 76); Cunnington

The club are incredibly saddened to learn the news of the death of club life vice-president Keith Wortley.

Keith had a huge influence on football in Enfield, firstly as secretary and director at Enfield FC during their heyday before helping to set up Enfield Town FC in 2001, again taking the role of secretary.

He played a huge role in the successful delivery of the project to move to the QES in 2011, utilising both his professional and football experience to ensure the move was a huge success. Following his stepping down from the secretary role, we were honoured when Keith accepted a life presidency in recognition of his tremendous work for the club.

Keith (pictured here receiving his award from ETFC director Christine Hamilton when she was mayor of the borough) was the epitome of a true gentleman who had so many friends throughout the football world.

Chairman Paul Reed said: “It’s impossible to overstate how important he was to football in the Borough. I’ve known Keith for pretty much all of my life and am very proud to have been able to call him a friend.

“What he didn’t know about running a football club wasn’t worth knowing and he offered me great advice and insights during my first few years as chairman. His legacy at the club is certainly the QES and we are forever grateful for his incredible work in making our dream of a ground of our own a reality. Keith was the most honest, fair, professional and diligent man you could ever meet, always doing things the ‘right way’ whilst still maintaining a wonderful sense of humour. Myself and all of his friends will miss him greatly.”

Keith is survived by his wife, son, daughter and grandchildren. He will be sorely missed by everyone at ETFC. The club will pay a special tribute at our home game against Kingstonian on 7th January.

Congratulations to Nathan McDonald who won the Pitching In Isthmian Premier Golden Gloves Awards for November

Nathan won the award, sponsored by AB1 Goalkeeping, after conceding just one league goal  in November.

He received his prize from esteemed Enfield Town director Les Gold before the Boxing Day derby with Potters Bar.

Our home game with Billericay, due to be played on Tuesday January 10, has now been replaced with the Northwood Middx Senior Cup QuarterFinal at Northwood. Kick off  7:45pm

The Billericay game has been rescheduled for Tuesday 24th January 7:45 pm KO.

Enfield Town 4 Potters Bar Town 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

What a way to end the year!

Despite missing a string of players through suspension and unavailability, Enfield Town treated a bumper 600-plus Boxing Day crowd to one of our best performances of the season as we swept aside our near-neighbours.

From one to 11, Andy Leese’s men were superb, negating Bar’s renowned strengths to move up to fifth in the table, capped by a Sam Youngs hat-trick.

Before the game Nathan McDonald was presented with a pair of gloves for winning the AB1 Golden Gloves Awards for November. Well done, Nathan!

Potters Bar arrived five points ahead of us having played a game more. But apart a decent spell either side of their equaliser, the Scholars were second best, especially throughout the second half when we looked like scoring every time we went forward.

The addition of new signing Chez Isaac in midfield had an instant impact in terms of composure, reading the game and picking a pass. The combination of Chez, skipper Scott Thomas and James Dayton across midfield worked a treat, allowing Sam to take up an advanced role in which he flourished.

His first goal, with supporters still coming through the turnstiles,  came with only two minutes on the clock, a close-range swivel and shot after Adam Cunnington — a handful all afternoon for the visitors’ defence — had dummied Marcus Wyllie’s cross.

Stunned into a reaction, the visitors carved  out a couple of freekicks in dangerous positions, both of which were blocked, whilst Town were indebted to Dequane Wilson-Braithwaite for a timely clearance to thwart Nick Dembele.

At the other end, Marcus Wyllie latched on to a terrific long ball by Youngs, only for his shot to be cleared for one of a string of Town corners over the 90 minutes while Isaac and Cunnington also went close to doubling our lead.

For the most part, we denied Bar space to play but on 32 minutes we paid the price for backing off their much-touted skipper Mo Kamara who rifled a 20-yard effort into the corner for 1-1.

Kasim Aidoo then cut through our defence but fortunately lost control at the vital moment before a pivotal passage of play ensued.

Right on the stroke of half time, former Towner Wraynel Hercules, who otherwise had a quiet game and was given trademark stick by the Town faithful behind the goal, saw his looping effort come back off the woodwork with McDonald beaten.

Straight from the restart and in stoppage time,  a four-man Town move ended with Isaac scoring on his debut via a wicked deflection – off Hercules!

H-T 2-1

In the first attack of the second period, Dembele might have equalised with a toe poke but Town were brimming with confidence and quickly crushed any hope of a Bar recovery.

On 54 minutes, Youngs, who hardly trained while he recovered from his ankle injury,  crashed home a penalty after Cunnington was bundled to the ground. Two minutes later he completed his hattrick, sneaking into the box to head home the cross of the game from Jueven Spencer.

Town weren’t done yet and might well have ended up with at least a couple more.  Cunnington sent a header against the bar before we were awarded a second spot kick.

With Youngs (pictured alongside former Towner Wraynel Hercules) already substituted, his replacement Lyle Della-Verde, having been taken out by Joe Russel, stepped up to take the penalty only for Dante Baptiste to pull off a terrific save.

There was still time for Baptiste to make  another flying stop, again from Della-Verde, to round off a thoroughly satisfying afternoon masterminded by the management team and carried out to the letter by the players.

“We decided on a flatter, tighter midfield three and allowed Sam to get forward,” explained Andy. “The first half was a bit passive but second half we took off and dominated them. I know what Sam is capable of. He keeps himself in fantastic shape, recovered from injury quicker than we expected and loves being here.”

“There were five starters missing from that team today and we had to adapt. So what we did was doubling pleasing.”

“We’ve hardly been out of the top five for the whole of 2022 and I’d like to pay credit to the board for their support.”

Credit goes to Andy, too, as well as the rest of the management team. Onwards and upwards, with our visit to Haringey Borough up next on Jan 2.

Town: McDonald; Spencer, Wilson-Braithwaite, Hill, Payne; Dayton (Taaffe, 72), Thomas, Isaac; Youngs (Della-Verde 79), Cunnington, Wyllie (Okotcha, 85).

We are delighted to announce the signing of experienced midfielder Chez Isaac who has been at St Albans City this season and played most of his career in the National League.

Hatfield-born Chez, who began his youth career at Watford and has represented a string of Step I and Step 2 clubs, is available for selection for Monday’s Boxing Day fixture against Potters Bar.

“I tried to sign Chez in the summer but it didn’t work out so I’m delighted to get him in now,” said Andy Leese. “He will give us options in the middle of the park and brings huge experience with him.”

“Going the other way to Hendon on a dual registration arrangement is Hamilton Antonio. Ham needs to play and will get game time at Hendon. We wish him well.”

In other news, we now have a rescheduled date for our postponed home fixture with Hornchurch.

The match will take place on Tuesday, Jan 31, so please make a note of it.

Merry Christmas and COYT

Potters Bar are our visitors on Boxing Day for what should be a tasty derby against our local rivals, 3pm KO.

To add spice to our final game of 2022, The Scholars may well field Wraynel Hercules who they recently signed from Town.

This is a potentially pivotal six-pointer and not to be missed.

While you’re at the game, why not grab a ticket for our New Year’s Eve party in Butler’s Bar featuring live music. Tickets are just £10 for adults and £5 for under-16s and can be purchased from the club shop.

Merry Christmas everyone and COYT

Following an early pitch inspection, tomorrow’s game with Hornchurch is off due to a frozen pitch.

Details of the rescheduled fixture will be announced in due course.

 The Club Shop will be open on Saturday morning between 10am and 12 noon for all your Christmas gifts.

Aveley 1 Enfield Town 1

Report by Martin Bentley

Town returned from Parkside with a nasty case of Friday night frostbite and a useful late point gained from a hard-fought encounter.

Unfortunately, the game provided very little in the way of entertainment, leaving the hardy 203 in attendance more concerned about the sub-zero temperatures than events on the field.

The quality of the first half oscillated between tedious and unwatchable, with the teams managing to conjure up one decent chance each, Aveley’s being comfortably held by Nathan McDonald and Town’s effort, from Adam Cunnington, being deflected narrowly wide.

After the break, the ugly mess of midfield scuffling and overhit long balls continued.

The home side were gaining territorial advantage however, bombarding the Town defence with a string of corners and free kicks that were competently dealt with by Lewis Knight and debutant Josh Hill.

Aveley succeeded in getting their noses in front after 62 minutes with a rare moment of quality, George Sykes finding room on the edge of the box to curl a shot beyond McDonald.

Despite introducing three substitutes, Town were still struggling to make any meaningful headway, until coming up with an equaliser five minutes from time, with Scott Thomas’ cross from the right being converted by Cunnington with a looping far-post header.

Both sides chased a winner to little effect, despite a late appeal for a penalty when Lyle Della-Verde went down in the box.

Ultimately, a draw was a fair outcome though, with both sets of fans happy to head for a warmer place to scrape the icicles off their extremities.

Town: McDonald, Spencer (Dayton 81), Payne, Thomas, Knight, Hill, Wordsworth, Youngs, Cunnington, Wyllie (Cass 72), Hercules (Della Verde 72). Unused: Taaffe, Braithwaite

We are delighted to announce the loan signing of Dulwich Hamlet central defender Josh Hill.

Josh, 31, will be with us until Jan 3 and will be available for several key games over over the next few weeks, providing vital cover in a position where we have lost two suspended players.

Although Dulwich signed Josh from Dartford in the summer, he hadn’t been able to play until recently as he recovered from knee surgery.

He finally made his debut for The Hamlet on Nov 26 in a friendly with Chelsea U21s and made his competitive debut for the club four days later in the London Senior Cup against Cray Wanderers, both times as a second-half substitute.

Despite his relative lack of game time, Josh brings a wealth of experience having played more than 200 National League and National League South games for Dartford (two spells), Boreham Wood, Hemel Hempstead Town, Havant & Waterlooville, St Albans City, Chelmsford City, Wealdstone, Braintree Town and Welling United.

Welcome, Josh!

(photo courtesy of Rob Avis)