One Golden Day in the Sun?

Enfield Town vs. Harrow Borough - 3pm k-o

Mon. 28th August, 2016 - Ryman Premier League

It has been yet another slow start to a season, at Enfield Town F. C. - our third in a row - and I have not been along to witness events unfold since the final pre-season friendly at Harringay Borough (see elsewhere on this blog page). I will not blame it (my absence) “on the boogie”; but on my daughter’s hastily-arranged, last-minute 19th birthday garden party - and my own bad, mid-week memory. I must try harder. Last season, we lost our first three league games; the previous year we took just one point from the first 9 available; and yet, in both of those seasons, Enfield were very much “in the mix” at the end of each campaign. So a similarly slow start, this time out, has not left Town's long-suffering fans feeling too concerned or disconcerted.

After scraping just one point from their possible first 9 again, this time, Enfield went into Monday’s game with only 4 points “on the board” (none of them earned on the road) from their first 5 matches. So it was probably with some relief that fans realised their Bank Holiday opposition would be a side whom we had thrashed 5-0 in our last meeting (also at home) back in late November, 2015. A week is, famously, a long time in politics, though; and 9 months are an even longer time in non-league football. Many soccer clichés have flowed under the bridge, since the last visit of Harrow Borough FC; and key players have left Donkey Lane for pastures newer and richer.

The club website advertised this match-up as “the last game of the summer”. The big question was whether it would prove to be a good harvest – or a bitter vintage. There was also some familiar advice on the web page: “Get along to this afternoon's game and say farewell to summer with a drink in the bar”. Though the last of the summer wine was not on offer “Ales from Redemption and Colchester Breweries” were. Certainly some sort of redemption would also be required on the pitch, in order to kick-start Enfield’s already mis-firing season.

A glorious, hot, sunny, English late-Summer Bank Holiday afternoon welcomed a decent attendance of 405 to The QE II Stadium (the 5th-largest of the day in the Ryman Premier League). One might have expected a bigger crowd on such a lovely day; but there were only 18 fans in the away end. Of the home fans, son Callum may well have been the only Bajan amongst them. You can (eventually) read all the gory details, as ever, on the club’s website (http://www.enfieldtownfootballclub.co.uk/teams/65370/match-reports); but let me cut straight to the chase, here. There was simply very little of note to write up, for your delight and delectation. Suffice to say that one of the highlights of the game was when the Enfield Ultras tried to liven up affairs, deep into the second half, from the home end, to the tune of “Bread of Heaven”: “Let’s - Pre-Tend - We’ve - Scored - A - Goal …” The ensuing mock celebrations were to prove the only ones on offer, in what was mostly a very dull affair. SOOOOOO dull was it, in fact, that your reporter was reduced to playing “Spot the (secret) Towners celebrity fan”. 

 

Be honest, now; did any of you spot “The Messiah” straight away? Or Willie Nelson (“American musician, singer, songwriter, author, poet, actor, and activist”)? Both were sporting VERY good disguises, indeed!

Town's Parcell weeps tears of shame and frustration; while the visitors' management team look on, unable to believe they've got away with this one.

Back on the pitch, Enfield dominated possession; but lacked the necessary cutting edge in the final third of the pitch and failed to capitalise on their territorial advantage. They managed only a couple of on-target efforts all afternoon, for which the visitors’ ‘keeper, Luke Williams, was at his agile best. As is often the case, under such circumstances, the home side were, eventually, almost made to pay for their profligacy. Nathan McDonald was called upon to make a number of sharp saves; one of them very late in the game, when Harrow finally realised they were in a football match, rather than a bus-park. Ultimately, this was very much a case of two points dropped; leaving Town languishing in a lowly 19^th place (of 24). As Borough's website pithily summed things up in a Twitter feed: “A point earned at a ground where we usually do not perform all in all a good #bankholidayweekend”. Not if you were a fan of The Beautiful Game, it wasn't.

The second half gets under way – still in the absence of goals and away fans.

If there was any good news at all, it may have come in the shape of some wise words from one of the club's most famous (secret celebrity) fans, Mr. Nelson: "Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results". Let's just hope the old boy's right in this case.

Photo by Larry Philpot

Mind you, he did also once say "I believe that all roads lead to the same place - and that is wherever all roads lead to" ... which wasn't very helpful at all. Not least since Enfield Town FC's road leads them next to Hanwell Town and then Folkestone Invicta - which are very definitely NOT in the same place. For now, we'd better just hope he doesn't volunteer to drive the team bus.