Enfield Town 1 Worthing 5
Report By Andrew Warshaw
Never mind the result, feel the emotion. It may not be quite how we envisaged our survival to unfold but in the scheme of things, who cares?
The party atmosphere after our final game of the season said everything about the massive achievement of Enfield Town staying in National League South, a credit to the players and management team alike.
It isn’t every day you celebrate a 5-1 thumping with wild enthusiasm and a pitch invasion but having pulled off the Great Escape after being rock bottom at New Year, it was only natural that emotions ran high.
Town’s Step 2 survival after gaining promotion a year ago always seemed probable going into the final round of fixtures but you could nevertheless touch the tension in front of another bumper 2,000-plus crowd. Both St Albans and Salisbury had to win if Town were to slip but in the end neither did.
In a somewhat surreal scenario, news filtered through quickly that Truro were on their way in Cornwall and that St Albans were doomed for the drop, rendering whatever happened at the Dave Bryant stadium redundant.
But despite home nerves being eased, Worthing were too strong a nut to crack as they dominated proceedings.
An early challenge by Mickey Parcell on the returning Mo Faal was a crunching “welcome back” gesture though Mo went on to gain his revenge – and then some.
If the visitors showed exactly why their passing game is praised across the league, Town had the first couple of chances, a corner cleared off the line and a Sam Youngs chip not achieving quite enough elevation after a mistake by keeper Chris Haigh.
From then on, Worthing practically took over. Two smart saves from Joe Wright thwarted Nicky Wheeler while Parcell stuck out a leg in the nick of time to prevent Jack Spong’s effort from nestling in the top corner.
But on the stroke of halftime, having just had a goal disallowed for a clear push on Henry Hawkins, the Rebels went in front as Wheeler’s corner was headed home by Glen Rea.
H-T 0-1
Gavin Macpherson exhorted his players to show more energy but with Truro coasting, the pressure was off.
Cue a Rebels second-half goal blitz. Spong doubled their lead from the penalty spot after a needless challenge by Parcell and before you knew it, Worthing had added another two courtesy of the Mo Faal show.
First he picked his spot for 3-0, then produced a sensational Van Basten-esque first-time volley from an acute angle to put the result beyond doubt.
Joel Colbran proceeded to plant a free header straight into the grateful arms of Wright but at last Town got some joy as substitute Anointed Chukwu fed Billy Leonard whose cross was squeezed home by the outstretched leg of Cian Dillon.
Bouyed by getting on the scoresheet, Town enjoyed their best period and twice almost reduced the deficit further, first after more excellent link-up play between Leonard and Dillon, then when Hawkins rose like a salmon to head Charlie Stallard’s centre against the woodwork.
But Worthing were to have the final say in stoppage time. Liam Nash, off the bench, crashed home a direct freekick that Joe arguably should have done better with.
“I’m caught in two footballing worlds at the moment,” admitted Gav after what some might consider a pyrrhic victory. “Obviously very disappointed with the performance. But I have to look at the bigger picture which is that we were dead and buried at New Year.”
“We were everyone’s tip to go down so it’s an unbelievable feat by the players for all their hard work and they deserve all the plaudits.”
“We’re a long way from teams like Worthing and Boreham Wood but we’ve done the business against sides we had a better chance against. The last two games were always going to be very difficult and so it proved. The fact of the matter is we stayed up four of five games ago during that unbeaten run.”
Town
Wright; Benjamin, Thompson, Hawkins; Stallard, Parcell (Knight 65), Sidwell, Youngs (Kasimu, 79), Peake (Chukwu, 65), Leonard (Oyenuga, 85); Dillon