Anthony Wordsworth

We are delighted to welcome midfielder Anthony Wordsworth to Enfield Town. Anthony started out at Colchester, before embarking on a professional career which has taken him to the likes of Ipswich Town, Southend United, and AFC Wimbledon. He spent last season with League of Ireland side Waterford.

“We have taken the chance to sign Anthony after he has been training with us”, said manager Andy Leese. “A fantastic professional career means he brings quality and very high standards to the group, along with a winning mentality which will all help the younger players especially. Anthony gives us another option in midfield where we are stretched with the current schedule of games. He’s a local boy as well which we like. Please welcome Anthony to the club when you see him today.”

Rian Bray

We would also like to thank central defender Rian Bray for his efforts as he departs the club in search of regular football. Rian (pictured) made 53 appearances for the Town, scoring once, and was an important part of last-season’s squad which reached the playoffs.

“We have agreed to part company with Rian Bray. Rian didn’t feel he would get the opportunities he wants with our recent signings so we agreed he can look elsewhere to play his football”, added Andy. “I understand Rian’s desire to play as he’s been a regular here for us. We part on good terms and I’d like to personally thank Rian for his contribution last season especially.”

Once again we are holding a New Year’s Eve party in Butler’s Bar with live  music from Ray Macfarland

Tickets £10 (£5 under-16s and under-5s free)

To book please contact:

Christine Hamilton:  07949 071 587 –  ianchrisham@hotmail.com

Alan Medlock: 07963 196 224

Please book your tickets in advance as soon as possible so we can make an informed decision regarding numbers. 

Uxbridge 2 Enfield Town 2 (Town win 7-6 on penalties)

Report by Martin Bentley  

Well it wasn’t pretty at times, but Enfield Town squeezed into the third round of the Middlesex Senior Cup with a penalty shoot-out victory over Step 4 Uxbridge on Tuesday.

In truth, though, a lifeless second half performance saw Town come within two minutes of an embarrassing defeat to a second string Uxbridge side and were only rescued by yet another superb free kick goal from Andre Coker. Town controlled much of the first half with new signing Hamilton Antonio looking a useful addition to the midfield. The home side’s only shot of note was a snap shot that kissed the outside of Adi Connolly’s post on the half hour. By then Town were a goal up courtesy of a howler from home keeper Matty Bonnett, who managed to punch Lyle Della-Verde’s corner into his own net after 20 minutes.

The second half saw the home side enjoy long periods of possession in midfield, though their efforts on goal were all from distance and off target. Town managed a couple of off-target efforts too, though the closest they came to scoring was from a Della-Verde cross that was parried out for a corner by a startled Bonnett. Uxbridge were slowly taking control, and two quick-fire goals from Gareth Chendlik (79) and Presley Evans (85) looked to have sent Town to a highly embarrassing defeat. However, Town suddenly flicked the ‘on’ switch, forcing a string of corners and free kicks, and it was from one of the latter that they levelled two minutes from time. The kick was, once again, in ‘Lyle’s Office’ but he had already been substituted, so up stepped Andre Coker to curl a perfect shot to Bonnett’s left. Phew.

The shoot-out was a tale of 13 perfect penalties and one disaster for the home side. For the record, Town’s seven successful kicks came from Youngs, Taaffe, Cass, Dayton, Coker, Payne and Hercules. Home right-back Maurice Nugent then stepped up to take Uxbridge’s seventh, and fired his kick into the car park to see Town through to the next round.

Town: Connolly; Wilson-Braithwaite, Payne, Knight, Richmond (Spencer 45); Thomas (Youngs 45), Antonio (Taaffe 75), Dayton; Hercules, Della-Verde (Coker 64), Cass Unused: Cunnington

We are happy to announce two new faces to our squad as of this week. The first is defender Lewis Knight (pictured), whom you may have seen feature – and score on his debut – in our 4-2 win over Herne Bay on Saturday afternoon. Lewis joins on a month’s loan deal from Margate, and brings with him prior experience at Step 2 with St Albans, Concord Rangers and Maidstone United.

The second is Hamilton Antonio, who joins having last featured for Herne Bay. He is a central midfielder whose other previous sides include Corinthian-Casuals and Walton Casuals.

“Lewis has joined us on loan from Margate to strengthen our defensive options and is a player we have liked for a while”, said gaffer Andy Leese. “We have also added Hamilton Antonio to the squad this week. He was playing at Herne Bay this season and last year helped them to promotion. We need to bolster the midfield area with our demanding schedule at the moment and Hamilton will do that with his energy and physicality. We hope to see him in action tonight when supporters will get a chance to welcome him into the club.”

Welcome to Town!

Enfield Town 4 Herne Bay 2

Report by Martin Bentley

In front of a bumper crowd of 678 celebrating our annual Whole Club Day, Enfield Town and Herne Bay served up a highly entertaining end-to-end game that could easily have ended with twice the number of goals scored.

From the Town’s point of view, the game saw a welcome return to winning ways –their first victory in five.

The action exploded into life with two goals in the first quarter-hour. Just five minutes had passed when Town were awarded a freekick in that area of the pitch that should really be known as ‘Lyle’s Office’ – 25 yards from goal and just right of centre.

Mr Della Verde curled the kick deliciously into keeper Josh Strizovic’s top left hand corner – we were up and running.

The visitors attacked boldly in search of an equaliser, with Tashaun Walters firing a shot wide and Keiron Campbell stinging Nathan McDonald’s palms after cutting in from the left. They found their equaliser after 15 minutes, the outstanding Marcel Barrington latching onto a poor defensive header and belting the ball past McDonald.

The game continued at a lively pace. Sam Youngs missed badly from 12 yards and Barrington had a shot well saved at the other end before Town went back in front on the half hour, Della-Verde’s right-wing cross being turned into his own net by right-back Che Krabbendam.

Four minutes later Town were awarded a penalty following a foul on debutant centreback Lewis Knight. Unfortunately and rarely for him, Jake Cass’s spot kick flew wide.

A frantic half concluded with Campbell forcing another decent save from Mc Donald.

H-T 2-1

The second half continued in much the same vein, and Town extended their lead on 56 minutes. Once again it was a Della-Verde special, this time low to Strizovic’s right – wonderful to watch.

Three minutes later Barrington forced an error from James Richmond to reduce the arrears, and the Town faithful were once again feeling a little concerned.

But after seven more minutes, we were all breathing a little easier. Della-Verde had a shot deflected wide, and from the resulting corner, Richmond headed down at the far post for Knight to turn the ball over the line.

The pace of the game slowed a little after that, as Town were able to see out matters for a much-needed three points.

Town: McDonald, Spencer, Payne, Thomas, Knight, Richmond, Taaffe (Hercules 80), Youngs, Cass, Coker (Dayton 72), Della Verde (Braithwaite 86) Unused: Bray, Cunnington

“We have had to find game time for a number of players recently as they have come back to fitness. A number have gone across to Walthamstow to help Nick Ironton as he builds a new team. We are grateful to Nick as it helps us as well. The players have dual registered which allows us to call them back at any time.

Josh Urquhart needs games now he is fit and we will monitor how he does in the next few games. Te Wihongi, Ryan Kirwan and Kian Wilkes have all done the same. Alex Solomon has also done the same with St Neots. Graham Dodd will be watching them and keeping an eye on progress for us.

Rian McLean has gone to Witham where he played last season. He wasn’t getting the game time he wanted. We have agreed we will keep in touch. Wynford Marfo has joined Cray and Gucci’s loan has ended now so he is back with Sutton Utd.

It’s the hardest part of management keeping all your players happy and these moves allow us try to do that. The squad is under constant review as we seek to get the right balance and quality to push us on. We also have to balance the books which is a challenge we face every year.

As regards Bilal Sayoud, he  has also gone to Walthamstow so he can get regular football as we could not guarantee the game time he wants. We wish Bilal the very best and thank him for his contribution in his second spell with us.”

Andy Leese

This Saturday is a very special occasion when all sections of the club come together for our annual Whole Club Day.

All the teams – men’s, ladies, youth and disability – will gather for a mass photoshoot before the game against Herne Bay

At the end of the game everyone will be asked to stay on for a Hallowe’en Party in the bar until around 9pm.

Feel free to invite all your friends and work colleagues to what should be a memorable day for everybody – and hopefully three points!

Gates will open at 12.30 for what will we anticipate will be a bumper crowd.

Nightingale Cancer support will be attending the game and will set up a stand to give out leaflets and also will carry out a bucket collection during the afternoon.

Cray Wanderers 1 Enfield Town 1

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Frustration seemed to be the byword amongst the Town players after a fast-paced encounter which, on another day, we might have won.

The celebration among the Cray team at the final whistle said much about how they felt about sharing the points in a tight game that saw us drop to fifth.

With the teams in and around us – most of whom have played fewer games — picking up three points, there was a sense of disappointment after we had taken the lead through Marcus Wyllie’s first competitive goal for the club, only to be pegged back shortly afterwards.

But this was a big improvement following the Lewes debacle, particularly in terms of players covering each other all over the pitch and the amount of the possession we carved out.

The management team made three changes from the Lewes game but kept the defence in tact and to be fair, for large periods of the game we were relatively untroubled.

This fixture so often produces a goal fest but not this time, with defences on top for much of the game.

On 19 minutes, Jake Cass, who chased lost causes all afternoon and was a constant threat, let fly from 25 yards, narrowly missing the target.

Cray almost took advantage of a rare James Richmond slipup, only for Nathan McDonald to save with his legs.

Nathan produced an even bigger stop to keep out a point-blank Jalen Jones header from a freekick but in a half of few clearcut chances, Sam Youngs almost broke the deadlock on the stroke of halftime as he held off two defenders before swivelling and shooting just wide.

H-T 0-0

Four minutes into the second period, we took the lead as Wyllie pounced on a weak defensive header just outside the Cray box and strode forward to fire a delicious right-foot effort into the corner sparking huge celebrations (pictured).

Cass almost made it 2-0 but couldn’t quite keep control before Cray hit back.

Nyren Clunis had already gone close to an equaliser after being put through by skillful teenager Ben Krauhaus when the ball was played into the path of Dan Bassett and his low shot seemed to squirm under Nathan’s body.

The home side briefly threatened to turn things round as they upped their game but we held firm and finished the stronger with three pairs of fresh legs on the pitch.

Cass and Wyllie combined to set up ex-Wand Andre Coker down the left but his shot lacked sufficient power. And in the dying moments, Cass so nearly won it with an audacious piece of skill and strength that was kept out by Rowley.

Neutral observers will feel the outcome was just about right but perhaps looking back it was a game from which we might easily have come out on top.

“Much, much better performance from us today… a much different performance than we’d given the previous two Saturdays”, said Andy Leese. “We had to deal with Cray and the way they play, which I felt we did really well… just a little bit disappointed we didn’t capitalise – we created lots of chances.”

Town: McDonald; Spencer, Wilson-Braithwaite, Richmond, Payne; Thomas (Dayton, 64); Hercules (Della-Verde, 72), Youngs, Taaffe (Coker, 72), Wyllie; Cass.

This Saturday we visit Cray Wanderers in need of a positive result after a disappointing outcome to our last league game.

 Cray are currently fourth in the table on the same points and games as Town, separated only by goal difference. A game therefore between two playoff contenders?

Cray’s most recent result was a 4-0 win against Brightlingsea on Tuesday which included a hat trick from Ben Krauhaus.

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Enfield Town 2 Lewes 4

Report by Andrew Warshaw

Another four goals shipped, a shellshocked manager yet still third in the league and more than handily placed so it’s certainly not all doom and gloom.

But it’s undoubtedly been a rollercoaster few weeks for the Town after Saturday’s latest debacle.

Lewes have become something of a bogey team as they followed up last season’s convincing double over us with another dominant display that belied their lowly league position.

That we managed to pull two goals  back after going 0-4 down restored a certain amount of pride and respectability, especially after the rare sound of being booed off at halftime, albeit by a tiny minority of supporters.

But this shouldn’t hide the fact, as Andy Leese admitted afterwards, that there were worrying deficiencies that need rectifying to keep us on track in the upper echelons of the league.

After Tuesday’s improved display against Bognor following the Chesham humiliation in the Trophy, what unfolded was as alarming as it was unexpected, leading to an unusually flat atmosphere.

Lewes hadn’t won in the league since August but were slicker on the ball, more cohesive as a unit and in Razz Coleman De-Graft had a player who ran the show.

The Rooks were almost ahead within the first minute when Coleman De-Graft curled a cross-shot just over the bar from the edge of the box and it was no surprise when they took the lead six minutes later. Michael Klass played a one-two with Coleman De-Graft and Deon Moore lashed the loose ball into the roof of the net.

Lewes’ game plan was clearly to try and pull us out of shape, making it hard for us to keep the ball especially against their five in midfield and forcing our wide players to sit too deep.

It wasn’t until the 22^nd minute that we had our first real chance as James Dayton almost made Jack Cass’ backheel count. Cass came  even closer, only to find goalkeeper Lewis Carey in Lewes’ goal before Carey just held on to Joe Payne’s 30-yard piledriver.

Lewes continued to look the more threatening side, however, and Jamie Mascoll doubled the lead on 35 minutes when the wall failed to deal with his direct freekick.

Lewes’ third just before halftime was criminal from a home point of view. Marcel Elva-Fountaine was allowed to run unchallenged for 25 yards before firing into the far corner.

H-T 0-3

The management team decided to keep faith with the starting eleven and we almost reduced the deficit within two minutes as Lewes kept out a Cass header and Bilal Sayoud’s follow-up.  But it soon went from bad to worse as Coleman De-Graft curled a beauty into the corner of the net at the other end.

Even though it seemed there was no way back, we at last started to get in Lewes’ faces as the management made a triple substitution.

Cass’ superb header on 57 minutes from Sayoud’s sublime cross brought it back to 1-4. Then James Richmond rose to head a rebounded corner into the net to half the deficit (pictured).

The damage may have already been done but it made for an exciting finish as our support play improved and we stopped giving the ball away.

Lyle Della-Verde hit a golden opportunity down the keeper’s throat and both Sam Youngs and Scott Thomas had further chances to pull off a miracle.

Ultimately, however, it was too big a gap to bridge.

A clearly shell-shocked manager didn’t mince his words afterwards. “Absolutely horrendous first half, men against boys,” said Andy. “We simple weren’t good enough from one to 11 and let them do what they wanted.”

“I can only apologise again to the fans. I could hear all the barracking which I understand. Most of it’s aimed at me which I also understand. It was totally unacceptable and there are obviously going to have to be some changes.”

“Strangely we probably created 10 to 12 chances. But they didn’t really have to get out of second gear. It was a very chastening afternoon and lots of worrying signs which we have to address. We need people who will run for the cause and die for the cause. Today again, some players didn’t want to do that. We’ve got some very good footballers but some of them just seem to be lacking the basics.”

Town

McDonald, Spencer, Payne, Thomas, Wilson-Braithwaite, Richmond, Sayoud (Coker 74 mins), Youngs, Cass (Cunnington, 75 mins), Dayton (Wyllie 74 mins), Della-Verde