Enfield FC 0 Enfield Town 3
By Andrew Warshaw
Bragging rights went comprehensively to Enfield Town in the first meeting between these two historic rivals for 14 years.
“One team in Enfield” was the chant from the hundreds of visiting Towners fans who turned Hertford Town’s ground shared by Enfield FC into a virtual home fixture.
The talk before the game from the nomadic hosts was all about a possible cup upset. But two divisions separate these sides and the gulf in class was evident from first whistle to last as the E’s barely laid a glove on us, with hardly a shot on target.
Before kickoff we had rain, hail and sun and a rainbow, over which there was a pot of gold in the shape of a place in the next round.
For all the ground’s Step 4 status, it has to be said that the artificial pitch was among the best we have played on and there were no excuses for a poor performance by Gavin Macpherson’s men.
Luckily no excuses were needed as we dominated the game and should actually have won by more.
In a cup-tie atmosphere that rewarded the winners with £3,375, Gavin made one change from the West-super-mare game, Ruaridh Donaldson drafted into the back three to replace the injured Henry Hawkins.
Sam Youngs had our first decent chance when his driven volley was pushed away and a Lamar Reynolds effort was deflected for a corner.
“Your not Enfield any more” was the refrain as we pushed Enfield FC back and on 13 minutes, great play by Tosh Gallimore culminated in a vintage Youngs goal, cutting inside and shooting low into the corner.
Four minutes later we doubled our lead in the quest to take the sting out the opposition and get the job done early doors. Adam Thompson’s header came back off the bar and Reynolds managed to control a bouncing ball to volley home.
Lamar’s pace and skill, coupled with his combination play with Sam, troubled the hosts all afternoon and Sam almost made it three when George Edgeworth palmed away his header. Then a gorgeous four-man move through midfield culminated in Lamar chesting the ball down, only to see his shot blocked.
Further chances came and went and right on halftime, Lamar had the ball in the net again, only for the offside flag to be raised – wrongly according to Town players — after a fine delivery from Billy Leonard.
H-T 2-0
The hosts had enjoyed their first spell of possession in the latter stages of the half and 2-0 can be a dangerous scoreline.
They came out with more purpose but again couldn’t trouble Rhys Forster who continued to be a virtual spectator.
There was only one team that looked like continuing the scoring as Gallimore and Hayden Bullas controlled midfield. And so it proved on 68 minutes as Town guaranteed their place in the 3rd qualifying round draw at lunchtime on Monday.
Reynolds was again the architect in some terrific build-up play that ended with Ollie Knight, who had missed a decent chance moments earlier, making amends with a low side-foot drive (pictured) that killed the game and avoided a possible banana skin.
Enfield’s response was to get over-physical with some meaty challenges that fortunately didn’t result in any injuries and in the end we could have had five or six, the best of the late chances falling to substitute Harry Lodovica who was unable to make clear contact from two yards out and fellow sub Avan Jones who thrashed the ball against the woodwork in stoppage time.
The only downside to a dominant display was the idiot who let off a couple of flares but he is believed to have been escorted from the ground.
The home side’s misery was compounded late on by what looked like a serious ACL injury to substitute Kieran Southgate who went down in the corner screaming with pain after an innocuous coming together with Xavier Benjamin and was stretchered off.
Afterwards Gavin Macpherson gratiously visited the stricken Southgate in the dressing room before giving his verdict on a disciplined, professional performance and some outstanding individual displays.
“We probably should have scored a few more but the most pleasing thing is that I’m seeing the team doing the types of things we want them to do,” he said.
“Putting the ball in the net has been our nemesis but hopefully we’ve turned the corner. Even though we were the Step 2 side it was tough game for a multitude of well-chronicled reasons but we detached ourselves from the emotion of the occasion and I’m delighted to be in the hat.”
Town: Forster. Benjamin, Thompson, Donaldson; Leonard (Macarthur 60), Gallimore, Bullas (Jones 85), Knight (Parcell, 75), Adom-Malaki; Youngs (Wood 71), Reynolds (Lodovica 70)