We are delighted to announce we have a new link for online advance ticket sales, starting with Corinthian Casuals this Saturday.

https://enfieldtownfc.ktckts.com/

We will be collecting to help the people of Ukraine this Saturday and every remaining home league game of the season.

Items needed include the following: Tinned/Dried Food, First Aid kits, Blankets, sleeping bags.

Any other items you can assist with are listed below.

Collection point will be underneath the stairs leading to Butlers Bar.

binoculars

metal cups

backpacks

raincoats

socks

thermal underwear

painkillers

bandages

antiseptics

Used smartphones with internet access

Enfield Town FC Proudly stands with the people of Ukraine during these difficult times.

Hornchurch 1 Enfield Town 2

Report from Andrew Warshaw

Forget about the few chances to either side. Forget about lack of entertainment value.

Make no mistake, this was a potentially landmark victory against a side who had gone 16 games without defeat – including 13 wins – and was reward for an all-round team performance which, without getting carried away, represents a huge confidence boost going into our final eight league games.

The fact that our top-five rivals hadn’t lost since November – against us, no less, in the corresponding fixture – says everything about the result in what was a tight, often physical game which, for long periods, we managed to slow down and control at our own pace.

Wearing our yellow and blue strip, which seemed somewhat appropriate given events unfolding in Ukraine, we were without the unavailable Lyle Della-Verde but were otherwise close to full strength with Manny Maja especially eye-catching in midfield with a series of timely interceptions.

After a cautious opening by both sides we took the lead with one of the strangest goals you will ever see.

Lee Chappell decided to go short with a throw-in and Maja’s 40-yard floated cross totally deceived former Towner Joe Wright, who for some reason declined to wear a cap despite having the sun in his eyes and didn’t even move.  He apparently didn’t even see it.

Lewis Taaffe needed lengthy treatment after a strong challenge from Tom Wraight who then did the same to Sam Youngs without being booked.

As halftime approached, Wraight curled an effort wide but the hosts, last season’s FA Trophy winners,  had hardly had a first-half shot on target.

H-T 0-1

The Urchins were almost back in it straight after the break as Charlie Ruff brought a superb save from Nathan McDonald and headed the resultant corner over.

Ryan Kirwin and Mo Faal were the next two victims of rough play with no action taken by the referee and right on the hour Hornchurch broke through to equalise.  Micky Parcell, another former Towner, was given too much space on the right-hand side and his cross was headed home by Wraight.

Despite the disappointment there was no sense of panic as we continued to execute our game plan. Taaffe almost squeezed the ball home at the near post and on 66 minutes we restored our lead as Adam Cunnington (pictured) headed a Taaffe corner low and hard into the corner through a ruck of players.

This time, there was no Hornchurch comeback as we held firm at the back and cleared our lines at every opportunity. The only downside was a straight red card in stoppage time for substitute Jack Cass who had come off the bench to replace Mo and now misses three crucial fixtures.

Whilst Jake’s challenge on Parcell was late, the Hornchurch defender was ever so quickly up his feet and given what had gone before to our own players, the referee’s decision seemed questionable to say the least.

However, onwards and upwards. Eight games to go and the playoffs loom ever closer.

“A proper team performance against a strong Hornchurch team” was how Andy Leese summed up matters. “We had a plan which the players executed. We had to defend under pressure late the game  but we do that better with Manny back in the team. The result keeps us in the mix but that’s all it does at this stage.”

Town

McDonald; Chappell, Bray, Gyebi, Kirwan; Youngs, Maja, Thomas, Taaffe (Kiangebeni, 84); Faal (Cass, 75) , Cunnington

The anticipation is mounting. There is only one place to be at 3pm tomorrow and that’s at Hornchurch for a mouth-watering six-pointer in the race to make the playoffs.

Since we beat last season’s surprise FA Trophy winners back in November, they have not lost in the league and are arguably the form team of the division.

Most recently the Urchins – featuring a good number of former Towners — came from behind to win 2-1 at Potters Bar on Tuesday with goals from Tom Wraight and Liam Nash.

Nothing will be decided of course  tomorrow but who knows, this could well be a rehearsal for a play-off clash at the end of the season.

Town expect to be close to full strength against opponents who are level on points with us with a game in hand and, on paper at least, represent the toughest challenge of our remaining nine games of the regular season.

Ticket information and directions to the ground can be found here

https://www.hornchurchfc.com/club-information/

Enfield Town 3 East Thurrock 0

Report by Andrew Warshaw

That’s more like it! After three straight defeats, Enfield Town rekindled their play-off hopes by sweeping aside relegation-threatened East Thurrock on Saturday to move into fourth spot.

The visitors have radically changed management and playing staff since being dealt an 8-0 drubbing in the corresponding fixture back in October but were still largely second best.

Manny Maja was restored to our starting line-up after a lengthy injury layoff while Percy Kiangebeni was suspended.

On a day when girls and ladies were let in for free to mark International Women’s Day, boosting the attendance to almost 500, we were on the scoresheet after just six minutes with a textbook goal straight from the training ground.

Lee Chappell’s long throw was flicked on by Adam Cunnington and Sam Youngs buried the loose ball.

A strong wind and muddy pitch rendered conditions far from ideal but Town, playing a flat back four, were hardly troubled in a dominant first half.

Lyle Della Verde was particularly eye-catching with several inswinging corners but it was from open play that he almost created a second goal as he sent Mo Faal away down the left, only for Mo to miss the target by whisker. Two minutes later we went close again as the Thurrock keeper just managed to prevent the ball trickling over the line.

In their only threat of the opening half, Johnny Ashman failed to take advantage of Jerry Gyebi’s weak back-header but on 31 minutes we extended our lead as  Cunnington, showing commendable persistence, wrested possession from the opposition and squared for Mo to finish with precision (pictured).

Gyebi almost made it 3-0 with a bullet header from another Chappell throw and the only blemish of the first half was a booking for otherwise excellent Sam Youngs for kicking the ball away.

H-T 2-0

The Towners could have been out of sight by halftime but the Rocks re-emerged with a far more positive mindset and decided to have a go, Martins Dantas-Carvalhi particularly prominent as he twice weaved his way dangerously into our box.

With the visitors pushing forward, Nathan McDonald was finally called into action with a couple of decent saves while Gyebi was cautioned for a late challenge.

Nevertheless, the better chances still went our way as Thurrock had precious little end product.  Scott Thomas drove wide, Sam Youngs brought a flying save from  Arthur Janata and with the next goal always likely to prove crucial, we wrapped the game up on 69 minutes.

Cunnington was fouled 25 yards out and, not for the first time this season, Della-Verde’s sublime left-foot strike flew into the net.

There was still time, in a 4 v 2 Town counter-attack, to make it even more comfortable, only for Mo’s final shot to be smothered by the keeper.

“A much better day at the office” is how Andy Leese summed up proceedings ahead the all-important showdown at Hornchurch next Saturday.

“Getting the points was all that mattered and we did that without being troubled too much. We gave East Thurrock a couple of opportunities but dealt with what they had to offer.

“We have more games like this to come in the next six weeks. We need to focus on ourselves and on getting as many points as we can to guarantee a playoff spot. That was our objective at the start of the season and it hasn’t changed.”

Town

McDonald; Chappell, Bray, Gyebi, Kirwan; Thomas, Youngs, Maja (sayoud, 78), Della Verde (Taaffe, 73); Cunnington (Cass, 69), Faal

A must-win game lies ahead for The Towners against East Thurrock tomorrow afternoon following setbacks in our last three games and all our female fans will have free entry.

The gesture is being made to mark International Women’s Day which officially falls on March 8.

We look forward to welcoming as many regular and/or first-time visiting women and girls to our Borough’s iconic Queen Elizabeth II Stadium.

Kickoff is at the usual time of 3pm and weather permitting there will be a display by Empire Cheerleading Academy beforehand and again at halftime while representatives of our women’s and girls teams will be assisting with a number of match-day tasks.

East Thurrock are in a desperate battle to avoid relegation and are currently 21st in the table seven points from safety.

Back in October we won 8-0 at Rookery Hill , with four goals from Muhammadu Faal, two from Lyle Della-Verde, and one each from Adam Cunnington, and Nathan Smith.

However, this will be no formality. Last Saturday East Thurrock beat Carshalton Athletic 1-0 and on Tuesday caused Folkestone a few problems before going down 1-3.

The Cinelli Brothers gig at Butler’s Bar tomorrow, March 4, is now officially sold out.

Doors open at 7.30

One of the UK’s most electrifying and dynamic blues bands, who wowed the audience at last year’s Livestock festival at Forty Hall farm, are back in Enfield – at our own Butler’s Bar this Friday March 4, with all proceeds going to the club.

Tickets for the Cinelli Brothers, who recently sold out the legendary 100 Club in central London with their unique infectious style of blues and rhythm and blues, are selling like hot cakes so get in quick.

This is a veritable coup as well as an extraordinary gesture by the four-piece band formed by Italian brothers Marco and Alessandro Cinelli who have already performed once at our club but have since developed a fanatical nationwide fan base.

The band have released several albums – tasty originals as well as finely crafted covers — and have been nominated for a number of awards.

Doors open at 7.30 and tickets, priced £10, can be purchased in advance by contacting Christine Hamilton on ianchrisham@hotmail.com.  Please state how many you would like.

Tickets may still be obtainable on the night but only pending availability.

Worthing 3 Enfield Town 0

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and admit you were beaten by the better side.

So it was on Saturday when, despite a formation designed to match our high-flying opponents, we were well beaten by the runaway league leaders on the south coast.

A healthy Town following in a bumper crowd of over 1,500 did their best to spur the team on but in truth we were never really in the game.

Yet despite having now lost three in a row and played more games than most of our playoff rivals, we are still very much in the hunt for a top-5 spot, with many of the other contenders having to play each other before the end of the season.

Basically nothing is settled as of now but we do need to bounce back next Saturday against East Thurrock, who are fighting to stay up,  to regain momentum before the mother of all six-pointers against Hornchurch the following weekend.

Worthing flew out of the blocks and caught us napping after just eight minutes when a quick throw found man-of—the-match Davide Rodari and his volleyed cross was headed home by Jasper Pattenden.

The game was billed as a clash between the league’s two top scorers, Oliver Pearce and our own Mo Faal with 60 goals between them.

But both had a quiet afternoon by their own high standards and instead it was Rodari, on loan from Crawley, who stole the show.

Jake Cass had our best chance of the opening half when he skimmed the top of the bar from 30 yards.

But Worthing always looked the more threatening side and had two more golden chances to extend their lead, one of which was cut out by a last-ditch Rian Bray interception.

H-T 0-1

Although we re-emerged with more urgency, we continued to struggle to deal with Worthing’s pass-and-move style in contrast to our more direct approach and on 54 minutes we fell further behind.

A quick break down our right ended with Rodari arriving at the back post to rifle the ball home from James Beresford’s pinpoint  cross.

And it was Rodari again who finished off the scoring with the goal of the game, a side-foot finish off the post on 65 minutes.

A hugely disappointing afternoon in the sunshine was complete when Percy Kiangebeni, who had already been booked, was shown what appeared to be a straight red for a body challenge on the edge of the box. Because it was not deemed as violent conduct, Percy is expected to only miss one game.

All in all not many positives to take away but let’s not get too downhearted.

 There will still be several twists and turns and victory against East Thurrock, when girls and ladies will have free entry to celebrate International women’s day, will keep us very much in the mix.

Town

McDonald; Bray, Chappell, Smith; Sayoud (della Verde 69), Thomas, Youngs, Kiangebeni; Faal, Cass (Taaffe, 74), Cunnington (Kirwan 82)

Following the postponement of our home game with Leatherhead last Saturday, the action returns tomorrow with our eagerly awaited trip to Worthing who are expecting a huge gate for what promises to be a mouth-watering occasion between two free-scoring sides.

Having drawn 2-2 in the corresponding fixture back in October when goals from Percy Kiangebeni and Muhammadu Faal cancelled out strikes from Jasper Pattenden and Reece Myles Meekums.  we are hoping for another positive result against the league leaders in what should be a cracking atmosphere in front of possibly close to 2,000 fans – including a healthy Town travelling support

A much-changed Worthing team made up primarily of youth-team players crashed out of the Velocity Trophy to Haywards Heath in midweek but in the league they have only slipped up twice at home all season and in their last two home games scored 10 goals without reply.

The fixture is  likely to feature the league’s top two goalscorers with Worthing’s Oliver Pearce on 31 up against Mo who has 29.

Match tickets are still  available on line at https://worthingfc.ktckts.com/event/wor2122h17/worthing-fc-vs-enfield-fc

You can also book your coach ticket now.  Payments can be made directly to our Bank account.

The details are:

Barclays Bank

ETFC Ltd

Sort Code: 20-45-45

Account Number: 43222942

Departure Point: QE II Stadium, Donkey Lane, Enfield, Middx

Departure Time: Leave 10.30.p.m. PROMPT

Cost: £16.00.

Please confirm your booking by contacting Les Gold on 07979 727563 or lesgold@enfieldtownfootballclub.co.uk

COYT!