Enfield Town versus Wingate and FinchleyRyman League Premier DivisionMonday 25th August, 2014 – 3pm kick-off
The already distant memory of this summer's FIFA World Cup Finals (Trade Mark) in Brazil may have left England fans with little residual excitement beyond the introduction of a new shaving foam, with which some very lucky referees are now permitted to clean the boots of billionaire footballers - and also, of course, beyond the traditional guessing-game of predicting Luis Suarez's next menu selection - but it had also left many of us mere mortals hungry simply for the resumption of domestic football action. Incidentally, my Suarez snack suggestion is Epaule Paella.
Enfield Town F. C. were already five games into their latest season in English football’s seventh tier, before I finally found myself available and able to get along to watch them, on Monday, in the Isthmian Ryman Premier League. "We" hosted Wingate & Finchley F.C. at the QEII stadium; a club who were reprieved from ignominious relegation at the end of last season only by good fortune - and Worksop Town’s resignation from the Northern Premier Division. After a poor run of early season results, Enfield started the day in a familiar position: 7th from bottom, in a league of 24 teams. Meanwhile, Wingate found themselves in a surprisingly high-flying 6th place. The Enfield Advertiser’s sports section carried a headline which read “Manager backs Town to keep on improving following first victory”; but Saturday’s first result of the weekend had been another narrow defeat, 2-1 away to Canvey Island - so I was left hoping he hadn’t backed them with too much of his own cash.
Monday was a Public Holiday in England & Wales (although in Scotland it was just yet another regular day of Independence Referendum sparring) and it featured a home game for Enfield Town. It was also the main day of the Notting Hill Carnival weekend - so, naturally, it precipitated persistently (and heavily) all day. No shaving foam would be required to clean anyone's boots. Some may have been ‘tearing it up at Carnival’; most were probably just tearing up pizza and staying home, out of the rain. So the attendance of 305 brave souls, who had swum across Donkey Lane to help make up the league’s 4th largest crowd of the day, was fairly creditable. I originally over-estimated the crowd's true size, since fans were mostly crammed into the limited covered areas available, in order to avoid shrinking.
I had a curry planned for later that evening, so perhaps the wearisome weather was just mimicking monsoon season in the sub-Continent, to help get me in the right mood. Suitably, Wingate and Finchley ('W&F', nicknamed “The Blues”) also appeared to have got into the curry-night spirit, sporting away colours which one home fan described spontaneously as ‘Chicken Korma Yellow’.
That 'Chicken Korma Yellow' kit puts Enfield right off, during an early attack.
Pre-season, W&F’s captain, Marc Weatherstone had claimed: “We’re not quite ready for the play-offs but with the talent we’ve got in our squad we should be finishing in mid-table.” That seemed like fairly big talk, for a ‘relegated’ club. Today we would find out whether it was all just talk.
The QEII pitch now sports exciting, if somewhat confusing, blue chalk markings for rugby league, as well as the more traditional white football pitch lines. After 12 hours of rain, rugby league might well be the preferred style of play, on the weekend of the Challenge Cup Final. Although Donkey Lane had become a temporary home for the London Skolars RL club, the day’s football was unlikely to be either educated or gentlemanly. In the first 10 minutes, both teams struggled to get to terms with the tricky conditions; but the visitors had the better of what little possession and passing play there was. After that, Enfield started to take more control and exerted a decent period of pressure. Sure enough, a goal followed. After a poor interchange in attack, Enfield gave away the ball. As the visitors launched a counter-attack down their left-hand side, three consecutive weak, defensive challenges allowed them to move the ball inside, leaving The Blues’ Karl Oliyide with the simplest of finishes, to put the visitor’s 0-1 up.
After 23 minutes, Enfield’s skipper Mark Kirby gave an excellent demonstration of the difficult conditions, looking left, as his attempted clearance skewed high and out of play to the right. On 26 minutes, Enfield’s defensive blushes were only saved by good covering work from #7, Corey Whiteley. I’ll give Town’s Stanley Muguo the benefit of the doubt, which the referee didn’t do, for his uncontrolled 32nd minute challenge which led to the first yellow card of the game. A home fan mumbled something about his ‘tackle’ being just “a fraction late”. The injured visiting midfielder probably muttered something somewhat different, as he checked to see if both of his knees were still attached to the rest of his legs.
The visitors’ confidence had been greatly boosted by their early goal, broadly against the run of play, and by Enfield’s toothless attacks to-date. Town were losing possession too easily and sending far too many balls high down the middle, to skid on safely into the hands of Bobby Smith, in the W&F goal. While Enfield’s diminutive attack posed little aerial threat to the visitors’ dominant defence.
On 43 minutes, the Enfield midfield appeared to go to sleep at a set piece. From an unpromising position near the half-way line, the visitors broke to the left with a free kick. Initially unchallenged, Wingate’s left-back, #3 Ronayne Marsh-Brown, drove on and put in an excellent cross too easily from wide on the left, as the belated defensive challenge finally arrived. His ball fell to #6 James Kaloizi, who drove home sweetly from the edge of the box, beyond Nathan McDonald’s despairing dive. Marsh-Brown didn’t make it back to his own half for the re-start, though; and Wingate were forced to send on their first sub, after a delay for treatment. Given the amount of water on the pitch, it was only a surprise that this was the first warship sent into action.
Well into first-half added time, things got even worse for the home side. Wingate probed down the left yet again. McDonald came out too far, trying to narrow the angle of attack, against the advice of the home supporters. He got only a soft palm to the resultant driven cross. The ball fell into the path of Enfield’s #3, Phil Kane, who managed to tangle his own legs, whilst attempting a defensive fly-kick, and fell over in a heap – leaving another simple tap-in for the visitors and a half-time score line of 0-3, which wasn’t flattering for either side. Perhaps depth charges could be deployed in the second half?
Still two goals adrift, Enfield probe down their left, during a soaking second half.
For the remainder of the game, Enfield possession and pressure dominated proceedings. After 60 mins., substitute Hastings struck narrowly over from the edge of the 6-yard box, leaning back instead of forwards. Enfield were pressing ever harder. The visitors resorted to shabby delaying tactics of the worst order; picking up several yellow cards and losing all self-respect, in the process. The worst offender was their #5, Kieron Street. Arguably the best defender on the pitch in the first half, he left his footballing brain in the dressing room at half-time and proceeded to feign a series of injuries, in order to break up play - and to frustrate both Enfield’s improved attack and the boisterous home crowd. It never appeared to surprise the referee that Street was able, repeatedly, to recover from near-death to total fitness in a matter of seconds, once he had blown his whistle to stop play and allow emergency medical assistance. Street was even able to share the odd crafty wink and playful smile with the enraged support behind the away goal.
Enfield dominate 2nd-half action; but rely too heavily on delivering high balls, against a "muscular" defence.
Regular readers of this occasional blog will be well aware that the standard of officiating in England’s 7th tier is, at times, let’s say, errrm … “idiosyncratic”. In this match it was, at times, plain idiotic. After 72 minutes, as two Enfield attackers latched intelligently onto a long, mis-timed back-pass, yards clear of any covering defenders and with only the ‘keeper to beat, the linesman raised his flag to indicate a clearly-incorrect off-side decision. The home crowd howled with indignation and insults. Home players threw up their hands in exaggerated horror; but to no avail. The referee had backed his idiot assistant and given the last-ditch defenders yet another play-disrupting free kick. Ah, what might have been! Three minutes later, a poor cross from the left by Whiteley (too high and too deep, even for the now aerially-dominant and more advanced Captain Kirby, up from his centre-back duties) seemed to signal and reflect the waning hopes of the home side. But wait: lo and behold! With just 4 minutes of normal time remaining, Enfield struck again. An effort driven desperately in through a crowded box bounced out off a Wingate goalpost to the lurking Cousins, who drove the ball home for his second, from just left of the goal.
This would have been the perfect timing for the justice of a red card for one of the time-wasting away side. Surprisingly, referee Elliott Kaye obliged. Perhaps he was aware, after all, of Street’s earlier antics; since, when the #5 slid in studs up in the 90th minute, he appeared to be shown a straight red for his troubles, despite the sensibly evasive actions of the Enfield attacker he had been targeting.
The visitors finish with 10 men, as Street (hidden) sees red late on - to their captain's apparent / feigned disbelief.
The home fans clearly felt that one last, concerted effort might yet see Enfield secure a valuable point. It would have been much-deserved, if only on the basis of their exemplary second-half performance; but, alas, it was not to be. Fickle fate and the hands of time were against the inept home side, as the visitors pumped the ball deep down field, to break up each of Enfield’s desperate, late attacks.
Reacting to an alleged 'racist incident' towards the end of Enfield’s previous match, manager George Borg had told local news reporters “I’ve never been called a white c*** in my life; but I was by one of the [Canvey Island] players. The way they reacted after the game was disgusting – they were embarrassing to non-league football, really”. In their own sweet way, Enfield Town were an embarrassment to non-league football for most of this first half. Their second-half recovery was dominant and admirable, showing great character, resilience and team spirit; but, ultimately, it proved to be too little, too late. Much like the referee’s grasp of the laws of the game of Association Football.
Monday's result puts Wingate & Finchley 4th in the table, after 6 games, so perhaps their skippers expectations are justified after all; while Enfield Town languish 5th from bottom, in a league where 4 go down. The Towners now face 4 games in the space of 2 weeks; all against teams well above them in the league. George Borg has already gone on the offensive; advising those local reporters that he will “walk away from Enfield Town if I can't take the club forward”, in a barely-disguised attempt to secure improved funding from the club board with which to strengthen his misfiring squad. At least it was clear to him that the squad hadn't "kept on improving following their first victory". Certainly, the wearing of thinking caps in the boardroom, along with wellington boots and raincoats, might be of benefit over the next few days and weeks.
Meanwhile, tonight, Fulham FC must take on local rivals Brentford in a sorry and soggy West London League Cup clash, after their own dismal start to a season which has registered four straight defeats and just 2 goals scored. Fulham can currently only DREAM of being as high as 5 places off the bottom of their (Championship) table. Things are not looking too promising, as yet, for either of "my" two clubs. Although the curry was excellent; so, arguably, things are already looking on the up.
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