Sat 26 Mar 15:00 - The Ryman League Premier Division
No, not THAT “Three of a Kind”! ... and, by the
way, whatever did happen to David Copperfield, while Tracey Ullman and Lenny
Henry were carving out two mega-careers AND one knighthood, between them?
We're talking here about three all-important fixtures at the tail-end of Enfield Town’s Ryman Premier League season. Catching up on these three games will bring you right up to date with all the complicated mathematics of Enfield's latest end-of-season challenge. Last year, the challenge was fighting off unfair FA interventions and points deductions ("Booo!"). This season, it was all about recovering from a poor run of early results (“Boo, Hoo!”).
Despite the tricky maths, ETFC fans remained optimistic; and took up every vantage point to follow proceedings against the league's wealthiest club.
On the back of three previous disappointing away games and prospect-damaging
results (two draws and a defeat) and, finally, a tasty 4-0 home win against
fellow play-off hopefuls, Kingstonian, Enfield probably needed to deliver maximum points from their final seven games, in order to keep their slim
play-off hopes alive. As was the case last year, Enfield had started the season
poorly, with three straight defeats and only one win in the first ten games. Giving
opponents a ten-game head start is normally considered a poor strategy. In
hindsight, though, perhaps the fixture ‘computer’ was not entirely kind to us;
although that was far from clear at the time. A look at those early defeats now
makes it clear that we were playing a lot of the tougher teams early; and it
took a little while for management to settle the ship and gain a series of
improved results.
First up in our latest trio of opponents
were Dulwich Hamlet. This would be first of four league fixtures to be played in just 8 days. When the Ryman Premier League’s best-supported side came
a-visiting, they were sitting in 4th place, to Enfield's 9th. Four valuable points and a lot of
goal-difference ahead of The Towners. This was to be a real “six-pointer” for
both teams. Anything less than an Enfield win would leave the hosts struggling to
make up that four point gap, in the few remaining games. Then there was the
small matter of those other clubs above us, with better points totals, goal
differences and/or ‘games in hand’.
Dulwich is a famous non-league name. The club’s credentials and 123 year history are impeccable. One of their claims to fame is to have fielded the last amateur footballer to have played as a full England international, whilst still solely with an amateur club: Edgar Kail (played 1915–1933). Other, more recent, famous players include: Carl Asaba; Peter Crouch; Albert Jarrett; Marlon King; Alan Pardew and Ian Wright. Even today, Dulwich’s squad boasts two players on loan from Football League sides; albeit from Stevenage and Dagenham & Redbridge. Enfield manager Brad Quinton is rightly jealous of the wealth of resources available to his opposite number. We would be expecting a stern test of our promotion credentials.
Enfield's best home crowd of the season; but Hamlet's contribution (above) was 'under-whelming'; not least, given their play-off position and massive home gates.
They had brought a comparatively decent away crowd with them; though nothing that would hint at their impressive league-best average home gate of 1,343. To be fair, they did help deliver Enfield’s highest home crowd of the season, a healthy 614; but one was left feeling their following must be mostly restricted to home games only. Their average away gate so far this season (398) is barely more than Enfield’s 370 (which, somewhat oddly, is higher even than our average home crowd) despite Hamlet's average home gate being nearly four times higher than ours. Some additional, complicated and unexpected maths for you, there. Sorry! I have recently seen Dulwich referred to as "London's most hipster football club". I guess hipsters just don't travel. Perhaps all that transportation is simply not green enough for them? Perhaps too bourgeois? ‘Nuff respect to the commitment of The Towners’ travelling Ultras, then, by contrast. If Dulwich’s unimpressive away following was a shock, so was their taste in first team kits (that fetching pink).
Played in a swirling, driving, early-Spring wind, this was always going to be a game for keeping the ball on the ground. Enfield had the lions' share of early possession and threat; but without enough cutting edge. In one of the few early Dulwich attacks, Enfield ‘keeper Nathan McDonald was lucky not to be penalised for taking out Dipo Akinyemi in the penalty area, in smothering a goal-threat. Mostly, however, Dulwich looked happy to sit back, soak up pressure and look for opportunities to counter swiftly. Something they did to great effect after 26 minutes. Following a break and low cross from the right, Hamlet’s Roman Michael-Percil could only get minimal contact; but the deflected ball fell kindly to Jack Dixon, who steered a low, left-footed drive back in from the edge of Enfield’s 6-yard box, across McDonald into the far corner of the net. Against the run of play, Town were 0-1 down and their play-off hopes looked down and out. Having been booked (perhaps a little harshly?) for a deliberate handball, after 7 minutes, Hamlet's Matt Drage, however, then threw the game wide open. He saw a second yellow card and then a red one, just a few minutes after that opening goal, stretching to bring down Enfield's flying Mickey Parcell.
"Chee- ryo, Chee- ryo, Chee- ryo!" Grage's inevitable, early 'walk of shame'.
Consequently, the visitors’ Manager, Gavin Rose, shuffled his pack – introducing Mitchell Nelson for Kevin James – and Dulwich saw out the half without much further incident, despite their numerical disadvantage. He had clearly switched to a well-rehearsed 'Plan B'; and Hamlet continued to look very well organised.
Enfield select half-time brass, to try and help break down their visitors' resolve.
Mark Kirby (extreme left in the photo above) had recently rejoined Enfield as club captain. Despite the recent hiatus of his brief return to Hendon FC, Kirby remains the most capped Enfield player in the squad, after 260 club appearances. This was just his second fixture since returning; and he set a proper Captain’s example by finishing off a scrappy corner (the move pictured above) early in the second half, to draw the teams level. A period of consistent Enfield pressure saw no further scoring. That was until the 56th minute. Which is when Dulwich’s Nyren Clunis dispossessed Alfred Mugabo near the half-way line and set off down the right at speed, before sending in an accurate cross to the far post, which debutant Dipo Akinyemi (on loan from Stevenage) headed home, to the left of the flailing McDonald. Hamlet's ten men were 1-2 up, once again against the run of play; but they still had more than half an hour to survive, defensively, against numerically superior home opponents.
In the Hamlet goal, the busy Edwards made a series of decent saves. Though Enfield were guilty of finding him unerringly with far too many of their efforts, including Harry Ottaway’s spectacular overhead strike from near the penalty spot; and of firing high and wide too often. In the 81st minute, however, Corey Whitely out-accelerated two defenders and latched onto a loose ball, just inside the edge of the Dulwich area. He rounded the keeper and remained composed, scoring neatly from a tight angle, to make the score 2-2. The remainder of the game would, unsurprisingly, be all Enfield pressure, as they searched for that "6-point" goal; but with no reward and to no avail. That brass band had worn down Dulwich a little; but not enough.
Whiteley celebrates scoring Enfield's second equaliser, near the corner flag.
A score draw, after playing against 10 men for an hour, felt more like a defeat; and did nothing to help Town close the points (and GD) gap on Dulwich. After the game, Town’s manager, Brad Quinton, summed things up neatly: “we deserved to get the victory, but we didn’t take our chances”. He also confirmed that it felt like two points lost, rather than one gained. In truth it was an important missed opportunity to improve the mathematics of the final weeks; and it would remain to be seen whether Town could now make up for that miss in their remaining 6 games. Or, rather, whether other clubs would slip up and let Enfield in. "It" was no longer in our own hands. "We need to win all six games", said Quinton. Surely, that's going to be a big ask? Indeed, an ask that starts with Brentwood away on Monday; and continues with Bognor Regis at home on Thursday. Come On, You Towners!
Late action in Dulwich's goal area, as the gloom descends ... on Enfield's many newly-qualified maths professors.
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