We are delighted to announce that we have re-signed Billy Bricknell, a huge tonic for the squad, management staff and fans.

Billy has obviously missed a lot of training during his absence and will available for selection as soon as he is fit.

Report by Andrew Warshaw

A bad day at the office resulted in us being held 1-1 by Step 5 Hadley in the FA Cup 2^nd qualifying round on Saturday but the main thing is we are still in the hat.

Our visitors from Arkley in Barnet may have been two levels lower but they certainly didn’t play like that and had the best player on the pitch in Solomon Ofori who troubled us throughout with his pace and trickery.

After the euphoric last-gasp win over Haringey, it looked rather like a case of after the Lord mayor’s show as we huffed and puffed against opponents who are unbeaten in all competitions but who, on paper at least, we should have dealt with comfortably.

But cup football is full of surprises and as so often in the past, we struggled against a team from a lower division and will need to up our game in Tuesday’s replay to stay in the competition.

Unusually given our decent start to the season, our passing was sloppy both in our own half and in trying to break down the Bricks.

Too many of our players were off the pace. By contrast, Hadley, who knocked out our near-neighbours Enfield FC (formerly Enfield 1893) in the previous round, had nothing to lose.

Well organised and compact, they had had the best chance of the opening half when Nnamdi Harold-Egole bore down on goal but somehow blazed over.

The closest we came in the opening 45 minutes was when Adam Cunnington’s fierce volley cannoned off a defender for a corner but considerable praise has to go to Hadley keeper Luke Ward who dived bravely at the feet of our forward players whenever we got a sniff.

Halftime 0-0

Town needed a reaction after being too one-dimensional but it was Hadley who struck first.

Four minutes into the second period Ofori, showing fantastic control, pounced on a throw-in to give his team a shock lead.

Frustratingly for Cunnington, just when we most needed his aerial threat he had to be replaced having earlier been pole-axed by Ward, albeit fairly, when running on to a Lee Chappell pass.

We so nearly got back on level terms when Percy Kiangebeni struck the post, only to put the rebound agonisingly wide.

As the minutes ticked away and we looked like crashing out of the much-prized competition, the management team turned to the bench in an effort to save the day.

 And it was the last of those subs, the unlikely beanpole figure of the previously little used Matt Walsh who set up the equaliser with 16 minutes left of regular time.

Receiving the ball from Mo Faal, Walsh burst through on goal with virtually his first touch, bringing a superb stop from Ward. Fortunately for Town, Mo (pictured) was first on hand to lash home the rebound.

Instead of us taking the game by the throat, it was Hadley who posed the greater threat late on. Twice Ofori nearly won it for them, first thwarted by Nathan McDonald when one on one with our keeper, then seeing his chip go narrowly wide with Nathan caught off his line.

There was a collective sigh of relief from the majority of the 421-strong crowd at the final whistle – and no doubt among the players too.

Below-par performances happen to every team and we eagerly await Monday’s 3^rd qualifying round draw, hoping for an improved display in the replay with Hadley 24 hours later.

Town:

McDonald; Chappell, Bray, Gyebi, Smith; Maja, Youngs, Kiangebeni (Walsh, 72), Coker (Della-Verde, 65); Cunnington (Taafe, 56), Faal

This Friday, 10th Town Youth travel to Aveley’s Parkside stadium for the first qualifying round of the FA Youth cup where they face the Millers youth side.

This follows their recent win against Brentwood Town in the last round.

Admission is:

Adults £4, U16’s £2.

The last round saw a hard fought 2-2 draw before the young Towners held their nerve to win the penalty shoot out. Why not get along and cheer them on.

Park Lane, Aveley, South Ockendon RM15 4PX

This Saturday we make the trip to the Dripping Pan to play fellow supporters-owned club Lewes. Please note if travelling by Club Coach that the departure time from the QEII Stadium is 11AM, not 11:45 as previously stated elsewhere. To book a seat on the coach, call Les Gold on 07979 727563 or email lesgold@enfieldtownfootballclub.co.uk.

Lewes FC’s admissions prices are:

• Adults – £12
• Concessions – £7
• Under 16s go free (Under 12s must be accompanied by an adult)

If you’re making your own way to the game the ground address is Mountfield Road, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 2XA.

The ground is only a short walk from Lewes Station which can be reached by regular trains from Victoria.

The Dripping Pan is one of the most popular grounds in the Isthmian League for many and is always a popular away game for Town Supporters. Lewes have had a mixed start to the season with 5 points from four games and were knocked out of the FA Cup by the Metropolitan Police 1-2 at home last Saturday. Many still expect them to be play-off contenders come the end of the season.

We will host Barnet-based near neighbours Hadley FC in the FA Cup Second Qualifying Round on Saturday 18 September.

Hadley won their first qualifying round replay at Enfield FC (formerly Enfield 1893) 3-2 after extra time on Wednesday evening.

Congratulations to the Bricks who play in Step 5 and will have nothing to lose when they visit us.

The fixture will replace our scheduled League fixture with Kingstonian. A new date will be found for that game.

You could hardly make it up. A potentially mouth-watering local derby awaits Enfield Town following the draw today for the 2nd qualifying round of the FA Cup.

Provided they win their replay against Hadley, Enfield FC – originally known as Enfield 1893 —  will be our visitors on September 18.

The match provides us with a fantastic chance of progressing further in the tournament but the management team will be taking nothing for granted against which ever of the two Step 5 teams we play.

If Enfield FC are our opponents, we are likely to see the return to the QE11 of the much-travelled Jamie Cureton, now player-manager at the Essex Senior League club, as well as former Spurs defender Razor Ruddock who is also involved with our neighbours.

Should Hadley win the first qualifying round replay, the Spartan South Midlands League side will travel the short distance from their home in Arkley, Barnet.

Ticket information will follow in the build-up to the game.

Match Report by Andrew Warshaw

Two goals from Andre Coker sent us into the 2^nd qualifying round of the FA Cup on Saturday at the expense of Step 4 Dereham Town but we had to survive an anxious last few minutes.

All eyes will be on Monday’s draw after we prevailed 2-1 against spirited opponents who never gave up after being given a late lifeline.

For once, Mo Faal’s display  was overshadowed by that of Andre who put in a scintillating man-of-the-match performance to fully justify his selection and on another day might have had a hat-trick

Our visitors from one level below started on the front foot with half-chances from Adam Hipperson and David Hinton, the first effort held by Nathan McDonald at the second attempt, the second fired over the bar.

It wasn’t long, however, before we pushed Dereham back as we imposed our superior skill and fitness.

Mo’s dipping volley on nine minutes was brilliantly tipped over by Elliot Pride and moments later, Mo turned inside an opponent and drove just wide as Dereham’s defenders backed off.

Dereham, with Andrew Fisk anchoring their midfield, still looked threatening on the counter-attack and Nathan McDonald got down low to save from Rhys Logan.

But Town’s superiority finally told four minutes before the break. Long throw specialist Lee Chappell mixed it up and went short and Coker was on hand to volley in Percy Kiangenbeni’s cross.

A melee in first-half stoppage time showed just what the tie meant to both sides with the prize of being in the hat for the next round at stake.

Halftime 1-0

Just after halftime another Coker effort was cleared off the line, the Dereham keeper palming away Sam Young’s goalbound follow-up.

Town were now well on top but it seemed that every time we went forward we were caught offside by a canny defence.

Coker was not to be denied, however,  and notched his second on 62 minutes, rifling the ball home after great link-up play with Adam Cunnington.

Six minutes later,  Towners fans got their first glimpse of the returning Lyle Della-Verde when he came off the bench to replace the tiring Cunnington.

But shortly afterwards, against the run of play, the visitors from Norfolk halved the deficit as Toby Hilliard finished off their best move of the game.

Goals do wonders for confidence and suddenly Dereham sensed they could force a replay and upped the tempo. As a result, Ryan Kirwan was introduced to stiffen the defence as Coker was replaced, gaining a warm and deserved ovation in the process.

Faal almost made it 3-1 in a stoppage time counter-attack, only to shoot over. But with almost the last action of the game and with McDonald off his line, a speculative Dereham lob was thankfully off target — much to the anguish of our opponents.

Town

McDonald; Chappell, Bray, Gyebi, Smith; Thomas, Kiangebeni (Taafe, 90) , Youngs, Coker (Kirwan 82), ; Cunnington (Della-Verde, 68), Faal

Attendance: 405

Exciting news ahead of our FA Cup 1^st qualifying round home game tomorrow.

We are delighted to announce that Lyle Della-Verde has re-signed for the club from Welling United  and will be available for selection against Dereham Town.

Lyle made 22 appearances for us during two truncated Covid-hit seasons, becoming a firm favourite with the fans.

“We’re delighted to have him back at the club, we know that he will add great quality to the squad. Lyle trained with us on Thursday and can’t wait to get back in a Town shirt again,” said chairman Paul Reed.

With no Premier League or Championship football being played due to the international programme, we are hoping for another bumper gate to get our FA Cup journey under way after the magnificent recent attendance against  Cheshunt.

Enfield Town beat Brentwood 4-3 on penalties after an entertaining 2-2 draw at the QEII Stadium in the Preliminary Round of the FA Youth Cup on Wednesday.

Our goals were scored by Thomas Horniak and Bogdan Brinzanuic.

Town are away to West Essex or Aveley in the First Qualifying Round.

Enfield Town 1 Cheshunt 0

Match Report by Andrew Warshaw

In front of 686 spectators, our biggest league gate for several years, Bank Holiday Monday brought another battling victory for the Towners as we narrowly overcame neighbours Cheshunt to make it 10 points out of 12.

Like us, our visitors were protecting an unbeaten start to the season but they were undone by the game’s one moment of quality as Mo Faal produced a spectacular finish on 38 minutes to round off the best move of the game featuring Sam Youngs, Scott Thomas and Adam Cunnington.

Special praise should go to Adam who perhaps had a point to prove against his old club. Despite precious little game time and being booked late on for dissent, he worked tirelessly for the team especially when using all his experience to hold the ball up in the last 15 minutes as his teammates tired after two games in 48 hours.

Adam wasn’t the only player trying to impress against his former club. Ken Charles, who enjoyed a lengthy spell with us, was lively up front for Cheshunt throughout and on another day might have found the net.

Both sides had early chances – Mo for us and Joe Re for the Ambers – before the visitors were inches away from taking the lead on 20 minutes. Reece Beckles-Richards’ curling screamer came back off the woodwork and somehow bounced out.

A double save from Nathan McDonald moments later kept us in the game before the most worrying aspect of the first half —  an injury to Josh Urquhart.

Having hurt his ankle whilst producing a superb tackle on Charles earlier in the game,  Josh had to be stretchered off just before the interval after damaging his knee and we had to re-organise.

By then, fortunately, we had taken the lead through Mo’s brilliant first-time volley in a wonderful four-man move.

Halftime: 1-0

Apart from a spell early in the second half when Charles, showing quick feet, twice almost levelled, Nathan was largely untroubled in our goal.

By contrast, substitute Andre Coker, on for the injured Lewis Taafe at halftime, had two excellent chances to put us further ahead while only a saving tackle Adam Crowther prevented Mo notching his second of the game.

Before the finish, our walking wounded list got worse as  Scott Thomas limped off following a tussle with Zubayr Brodie. We can only hope he recovers ahead of the all-important FA Cup first qualifying round game against Dereham on Saturday.

At least the influential Percy Kiangebeni should return, having been away on other business and conspicuous by his absence in our midfield.

In all, another spirited display of teamwork and togetherness. Hats off to the management team as well as the players.

Town line-up:

Mcdonald; Urquhart (Chappell 45), Bray, Gyebi, Smith; Thomas (Kirwan 77), Youngs, Maja, Taafe (Coker 46), Cunnington, Faal.

Subs not used: Walsh, Nzembela