With no league fixture this Saturday, we have organised a friendly match at home to Beaconsfield Town FC. Beaconsfield also play at Step 3, in the Southern League Premier South, so it should be a competitive game.
Kickoff is at a slightly earlier time of 2pm – so supporters will be able to catch neighbours Spurs in their match at 5:30. Admission prices are £5 adults, £3 concessions, £1 under 16.
Brightlingsea Regent 0 Enfield Town 4
Report by Martin Bentley
Now that’s better. A dominant Enfield Town performance resulted in four goals and an emphatic win over a Brightlingsea side who started the evening one point above Town in mid-table.
Andy Leese shuffled his pack following the heavy FA Cup loss at Canvey Island, reverting to a flat back four with Juevan Spencer given a first start at right back and Joe Payne making a second, indeed arguably a third, debut following his recent move back to the Town from Cheshunt. There were also starts for Andre Coker and James Dayton, giving the Town line-up a radically different look.
The Town were into their stride from the first whistle, with Coker fizzing a shot over, Lyle Della-Verde hitting the side netting and Sam Youngs heading against the top of the bar, all in the opening 20 minutes. The first goal arrived after 27 minutes, with Adam Cunnington’s shot being deflected past home keeper Charlie Turner. Payne then had a shot well saved, and Della-Verde curled a free kick just wide as Town concluded the half well on top.
The home side enjoyed a spell of possession early in the second half, and fired a warning shot across Town’s bows nine minutes into the half, Luke Woodward heading powerfully against Nathan McDonald’s cross bar from a right wing cross. Within a minute, however, Town doubled their lead; McDonald’s long kick caused confusion in the home defence, and Coker ran on to the loose ball to beat Turner with a powerful finish. Coker repeated the dose six minutes later with an equally emphatic effort from the other flank, and Town were out of sight.
Still Town pressed for more goals, with substitute Jake Cass hitting the foot of Turner’s post before Della-Verde added a fourth with a curling effort from Sam Youngs’ lay-off. Unfortunately, the game ended on a sour note for Della-Verde when he received a straight red card for a late tackle on the home side’s Zack Littlejohn. The decision seemed harsh, with referee Hursey seemingly making no allowances for the greasy surface, and having previously punished a similar-looking offence at the other end by Regent’s Dominic Locke with only a yellow card. Town comfortably played out the remaining ten minutes without alarm, however, and completed an excellent win that saw them jump to eighth place in the table.
Town: McDonald; Spencer, Bray, Wilson-Braithwaite, Payne; Thomas, Youngs, Dayton (Sayoud 85); Coker (Wyllie 74), Della-Verde, Cunnington (Cass 64).
Unused subs: McLean, Shulton.
Before tonight’s league game at Brightlingsea, Town are very pleased to announce two returning faces to the squad, as defenders Joe Payne and Alex Solomon have signed on at Donkey Lane.
“We decided to bring Joe back to the club to give us competition in the left back position”, said manager Andy Leese.
“Joe can also play centrally. We didn’t want to lose him when he moved , on but he comes back more experienced. Alex is in the same position. He went off to play professionally in Sweden and comes back with some games under his belt. He’s versatile for a young player and we will see how he gets on when we have international clearance for him.” Welcome back both!
In light of recent events, there will be no football this weekend as a mark of respect to HM Queen Elizabeth II.
All Isthmian League matches have been postponed. Our match with Horsham, originally scheduled for Saturday, will be played at a later date.
Canvey Island 5 Enfield Town 1
Report by Martin Bentley
Enfield Town’s FA Cup campaign lasted for only 90 painful minutes as they were dumped out of the competition in the first qualifying round.
Town were strangely lifeless for much of the game, only succeeding in competing meaningfully in the final half hour.
Ex-Towner Evans Kouassi enjoyed himself more than most, bagging a hat-trick against his former employers.
With Marcus Wyllie replacing Adam Cunnington in the only change from last Monday’s loss at Potters Bar, Town were forced onto the back foot from the opening salvo.
Nathan McDonald had already made two decent saves before the first goal arrived on 19 minutes, Kouassi converting Danny Parish’s astute pass from close range.
Four minutes later it was 2-0 when Parish ran onto Reiss Chandler’s long ball as Town’s defence failed to react.
As the half progressed, Canvey continued to find vast amounts of space on both flanks while Town struggled to get a foothold in the game.
We did manage a couple of shots on target, with both Lyle Della Verde and the industrious Wyllie having efforts well saved by Rhys Byrne in the home goal.
Two minutes before half time, however, the game was over as a contest when Canvey added a third, Jamie Salmon flicking in a near post header from a left-wing freekick.
Town made two substitutions at half time, but things did not get any better, Kouassi adding a fourth after 50 minutes. Two minutes later, Conor Hubble rolled a shot against McDonald’s left-hand post, leaving the disbelieving travelling support fearful of the eventual final score.
Town succeeded in mustering a few attacks, with Wyllie having another shot saved by Byrne, and Jake Cass having a header tipped over from Bilal Sayoud’s free kick.
After 70 minutes though, Kouassi completed his hat trick with a rebound from McDonald’s parry to compound Town’s misery.
To their credit, Town managed a consolation goal within two minutes, Cass converting substitute Juevan Spencer’s low cross.
Unforunately even the goal carried a sting in the tail for Town, as Cass collided with Byrne and had to be helped off in obvious pain from what looked like a knee injury.
With Town down to ten men having made their subs, Canvey promptly replaced both their strikers, and the remainder of the game was largely uneventful.
Not a lot of positives to be gained here. Truly a dreadful day to be a Town supporter.
Town line-up: McDonald, McLean, Braithwaite, Shulton, Bray, Taaffe (Spencer 45), Youngs, Cass, Wyllie (Cunnington 58), Della Verde (Dayton 45), Sayoud. Unused subs: Thomas, Connolly, Marfo, Coker
We may not have a game on Saturday Oct 8 but don’t miss out on our latest fundraising gig the night before in Butlers Bar.
On Friday, Oct 7, the five-piece Blues Chapter bring their unique brand of driving Texas hotshot blues to the club with a mixture of their own compositions and covers of the likes of Gary Moore, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Joe Bonamassa.
Tickets priced £10 can be purchased in advance by emailing Christine Hamilton at ianchrisham@hotmail.com. The bar opens at 7.30 and tickets will also be available on the door depending on how many are left.
These guys really know how to tear up a stage, led by the rasping vocals of charismatic front man Sky Wood and the brilliant guitar playing of Jesse Thomas.
It might be best to book early for this one since people have been known to have been turned away in the past for Blues Chapter gigs. They are, quite frankly, probably the finest young blues band in London – and all left-handed to boot!
Save the date!
We enter the world’s oldest domestic knockout tournament on Saturday with a tough fixture away at Canvey Island
With the winners receiving £2,250 in prize money, both teams would probably have hoped for an easier draw but this promises to be a fascinating cup tie.
Canvey were promoted via the play offs to the Isthmian Premier Division last season.
Their opening fixture was a 1-3 home defeat to Horsham but since then they have won 5-1 at Brightlingsea, lost 0-1 at Cray Wanderers, beat Hornchurch 2-1 at home and most recently drawn 1-1 at Bowers and Pitsea.
These results suggest Canvey will more than hold their own in the Isthmian Premier and may even be one of perhaps a dozen teams who could challenge for a play off spot.
Address on Saturday is the Movie Starr Stadium, Park Lane, Canvey Island, SS8 7PX, kickoff 3pm
If a replay is necessary it will be at the QEII Stadium on Tuesday 6 September.
Potters Bar 2 Enfield Town 1
Report by Andrew Warshaw
There sometimes ain’t no justice. Despite our best performance of the season to date, we came away with no points on Bank Holiday Monday and scant reward against our local rivals after dominating the second half.
Potters Bar may be top of the league but got lucky with a late winner on a day when our approach play and running off the ball deserved more.
The Scholars may argue they hit the post but with a 3-4-1-2 system that for large parts negated their physicality, we were left ruing what might have been and now have to pick ourselves up for the all-important FA Cup clash at Canvey Island on Saturday.
In the first meaningful attack of the game, the skillfull Quentin Monville, who will be a handful for most opposition teams this season, burst through and saw his shot flash wide of our goal. Then Bar’s Kasim Aidoo was booked for diving when claiming a spotkick.
Once we absorbed early pressure, we settled down and grabbed the lead on 13 minutes with, yet again, another peach of a freekick from specialist Lyle Della-Verde.
If Saturday’s strike against Bowers was a thing of beauty, this was 30 yards out and even more sweetly struck (pictured). The keeper got a hand to it but only succeeded in pushing it on to a post and into the net.
Unfortunately the lead lasted a mere seven minutes as Mo Kamara, Bar’s midfield dangerman, was given space to line up a shot and unleashed an unstoppable drive into the top right corner.
As the action began to get tasty, as happens in derby games, it all went off in front of the dugouts as players on both teams waded in. Luckily the referee gained control of the situation.
As the half progressed, a great freekick by Bilal Sayoud, who enjoyed a fine afternoon, almost produced dividends as Adam Cunnington connected at the back post but only succeeded in sending the ball across goal.
Just before the interval, Rian Bray handled whilst struggling to deal with a hanging ball but the result was rightly yellow rather than red despite howls of Potters Bar protests.
H-T 1-1
On 55 minutes we got into something of mess defensively and were fortunate to see Joe Boachie’s angled shot come back of a post.
But from then on, it was one-way traffic as we pushed the hosts back and carved out a string of corners and half-chances.
A sweeping Town move ended with Scholars defence just getting in a block. Then a 35-yard Della-Verde freekick cannoned off the wall.
Our one big chance of the half came on 73 minutes when Cunnington dived full length to meet a Lewis Taaffe cross but steered his header narrowly wide.
The introduction of Marcus Wyllie and Andre Coker provided further hope of a Town breakthrough only for the hosts, who had defended stoutly, to snatch victory with two minutes left, much to the disappointment of Town fans who made up the majority of the 531 attendance.
Town failed to adequately clear a throw-in and when the ball fell to Monville on the edge of the box, he took a touch and fired a shot into the bottom right hand corner via a deflection to undo all our good work.
“A sucker punch really,” said manager Andy Leese. “I thought we set up really well and defended really well in an even first half..”
“But I thought second half we came out and dominated proceedings. There may have been few clearcut chances but what chances there were fell for us.”
“It’s massively disappointing, we certainly didn’t deserve to lose. We were missing one or two but I’m not going to complain about that – we’ve good a squad with plenty of depth. We’ve got to dust ourselves down now, focus on the FA Cup on Saturday and then start getting some points on the board as quickly as we can. If we play like we did against Potters Bar, I think we’ll be fine.”
Town
McDonald; McLean, Bray, Wilson-Braithwaite; Taafe, Youngs, Shulton, Sayoud (Coker, 80); Della-Verde (Wyllie, 76); Cass, Cunnington
Enfield Town 2 Bowers and Pitsea 0
Report by Andrew Warshaw
A much-needed first win of the season was achieved courtesy of two set pieces – one in each half – and some solid defending against a Bowers team who have changed their entire playing squad this season.
Town may be some way off last season’s playoff form but this was the ideal boost ahead of Monday’s local derby at table-topping Potters Bar.
Despite plenty of endeavour, some neat interplay and a couple of spells of pressure, Bowers didn’t unnecessarily trouble us and had more bookings, six in all, than they did shots.
Nevertheless we hardly set the world alight as an attacking force either in what was often a scrappy game.
Town lined up without Marcus Wyllie who was rested as a result of slight hamstring issue.
Jake Cass, who worked tirelessly all game, led the line and was almost on the end of a Lyle Della-Verde pass early doors, the ball just running on to the keeper.
Twice in the first 20 minutes, Della-Verde whipped in dangerous freekicks to the back post, both of them eluding Town’s forwards.
But it was third time lucky on 28 minutes from a slightly more favourable position outside the box. Cass was bundled over and Lyle produced another of those trademark left-foot beauties that flew past Kie Plumley (pictured)
Bowers tried to respond and Freddy Moncur had a goalbound shot blocked but with James Richmond putting in another eye-catching display in central defence, the visitors’ moves came to nothing.
In fact only a timely interception to thwart Cass prevented Town doubling their lead on the stroke of halftime.
H-T 1-0
Bilal Sayoud’s header forced a low save from Plumley who minutes later produced an even better stop, also from Bilal, saving with his legs after Town’s best move of the afternoon.
In between, Bowers had two decent chances but Nathan McDonald generally had little work to do such was the protection he received from the defence, who switched to a back three for the final period of the game.
Bowers never looked out of contention, however, and it was with some relief when the game was made safe on 85 minutes as Cass lost his marker at a Lewis Taaffe corner and guided his header into the ground and up into the net.
The one disappointment for Town was having fullback Ryan Kirwan sent off for a second yellow literally seconds from the end, theoretically meaning he will miss Saturday’s tricky FA cup tie at Canvey Island.
Yet it is a game Ryan was unavailable for anyway.
“I’m pleased with a clean sheet following on from last Sunday but in attacking sense we weren’t at our best today, not at our most fluid,” said Andy Leese.
“Really pleased with the outcome and our defending, such as it was, just a little disappointed with our attacking play. But then whatever way the goals come, I’d take another 20 of those results today.”
Town: McDonald; McLean, Bray, Richmond, Kirwan; Sayoud (Cunnington, 66) , Shulton, Youngs, Dayton, Della-Verde (Taaffe, 83); Cass
Kingstonian 0-0 Enfield Town
Enfield Town are still searching for their first league win of the campaign after slugging out a forgettable goalless draw with Kingstonian on a stiflingly warm Sunday afternoon.
With the conditions and unusual scheduling impacting the quality of football on display, in truth neither side threatened seriously to break the deadlock; Ks enjoying large but ultimately ineffective spells of possession, and Town taking a particularly direct approach that paid very few dividends.
After a ragged start from both sides, the hosts had the first shot in anger on 8 minutes as Kenny Beaney drove a long shot over the crossbar, before Jake Cass centred for Marcus Wyllie to head into the grasp of Ks custodian Rob Tolfrey at the other end. The game’s flashpoint – if ever there was one – arrived two minutes later as Cass collected a flighted through ball down the inside-left channel, skipping past his marker and around Tolfrey before falling under contact from defender Jack Strange. Referee Paul Stratton whistled, only to signal for a Kingston free kick; an incredulous Cass booked for perceived theatrics.
Lee O’Leary’s side were starting to grow into the game, working space out wide and afforded time to pick out some neat passes, if ultimately coming to nothing. With 26 gone, Korrey Henry’s well-struck effort across Nathan McDonald from the edge of the Enfield box was smartly tipped away; Henry again unable to force a loose ball beyond the goalie from a floated cross a few minutes later. Town themselves struggled to find any real rhythm to their build-up play. Nonetheless, they threatened just shy of half time as Wyllie’s persistence in the press won possession in the final third, yet neither he nor Cass could muster a final product as their goalward efforts were crowded out.
Half Time: 0-0
Town arguably had the better of the second period, although the visitors continued to lack any real cutting edge. Ten minutes after the restart, they were almost gifted a bizarre opener as a relieved Tolfrey watched his clearance ricochet against Jake Cass but fly narrowly wide of goal. A series of crosses were overhit or collected by the Kingston goalkeeper, and several hopeful long forward passes were returned with interest by the Ks defence. The home side’s best chance of the half came on 68 minutes, with McDonald remaining sharp to thwart Gabriel Ajuchi’s deflected shot at the end of a buccaneering run. With time ticking away, Lyle Della-Verde twice went close from carbon-copy chances; cutting in from the right and producing a couple of low, driven efforts which were well repelled by Tolfrey’s outstretched left boot.
“A point is a fair result”, said Andy Leese. “It was a bit of a nothing game. We didn’t do enough to win it, likewise we didn’t deserve to lose. I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t get to grips with Kingstonian’s style of play, and we lacked a bit of composure when we had the ball.”
“I’m pleased with a clean sheet away from home but we could and should do better.”
__________
Kingstonian: Tolfrey; Pascal (Jones 81’), Skura, Strange, Ogundega; Gogo (Shomotun 80’), Owen, Beaney; Collins, Cadogan, Henry (Ajuchi 63’).
Unused: Bonnett-Johnson, Maragh
Town: McDonald; McLean, Bray, Richmond, Kirwan; Riley-Snow (Soulya-Osekanongo 75’), Youngs, Cunnington (Taaffe 80’); Della-Verde, Wyllie (Sayoud 70’), Cass.
Unused: Spencer, Dayton
Attendance: 275
