Enfield Town 0 Athletic Newham 1
Report by Andrew Warshaw
Enfield Town reached arguably the low point of a challenging season when we were knocked out of the London Senior Cup at the first hurdle by Step 5 Athletic Newham.
Town may have made numerous changes but almost all the starting line-up were first-team squad members yet still went down to a side three divisions lower.
Well organised going forward and defending in numbers when they needed too, Newham’s victory was no fluke and served only to highlight how much work is still needed to turn our season round.
It may not have been the FA Cup or FA Trophy in terms of importance but it was a competition we aspired to win and the truth is that those hoping to send a message to Gavin Macpherson that they should be in the regular starting eleven came up woefully short.
To add to salt to our wounds, Newham’s winner was scored by on-loan Town academy prospect Abdul Khamis whilst their leading scorer this season was not even included in their squad.
Town survived a couple of early let-offs when Jack Smith had to clear off the line and Alex Kozak gobbled up a poor back header and rattled the underside of our bar.
Although we started to gain a modicum of composure, Newham continued to look comfortable. Until, that is, Lewis Taaffe – making a rare appearance following his loan move – rifled a 30-yard freekick against the bar just after halftime.
It prompted a couple of Town near-misses, including from Ollie Knight (pictured) but without us ever taking control. And on 74 minutes our visitors delivered the killer blow as Kozak found himself free in the box and fired home.
Right at the death, we came agonisingly close to taking the game to penalties, only for the woodwork to come to Newham’s rescue a second time, substitute Lennon Peake’s curling left-foot drive deserving better. All in all, however, we were well off the pace, a chastening evening for those involved.
With Gavin seating himself in the stands as a trial run for his forthcoming likely ban, John Nurse took over the chief role in the dugout.
“Credit to the opposition but from our perspective it wasn’t good enough from those wearing the Enfield shirt to put in that type of performance,” said John.
“Gavin’s had lots of choices to make this season and now he has some more. It was a great opportunity for many of them to show him what they could do.”
The one positive, perhaps, was an eye-catching display from academy defender Jay Lambert.
“Jay should be proud of the way he conducted himself but generally the team performance was unacceptable, especially for the fans,” added John.
Town
Forster: Oyenuga (Oliveria, 87), Parcell, Lambert, Payne; Adjei-Hersey, Leonard, Smith, Taaffe (Opuku, 65), Knight; Beckles-Richards (Peake, 87)