What's in a name? Saturday league football returns to the QEII ... and about time, too!

Enfield Town versus Harrow Borough

Saturday 29th November, 2014 – 3pm kick-off

THE RYMAN ISTHMIAN PREMIER LEAGUE

There is an old racist 'joke' (which, for so many good reasons, I won’t re-tell in detail here) much beloved of traditional, old school, working men's club comedian dinosaurs. It's about how so many cheery Chinese migrants arriving at Heathrow airport used to end up inadvertently taking taxis to Harrow. Hardly hilarious; but I was unexpectedly reminded of it, recently, only because Enfield Town were scheduled to play Harrow Borough again this Saturday at Donkey Lane. That crusty old gag is more or less the sum total of my knowledge of Harrow, other than its famous public school. Oh, and a good friend's posh wedding I was (surely mistakenly?) once invited to (though not twice) on The Hill, back in the late '80's. Thanks, Emma! If Saturday's match actually went ahead, as scheduled, it would be the third game between the two sides in just 15 weeks. After the postponement of Enfield’s Tuesday night home game due to a water-logged pitch, however, there was some residual doubt as to whether that third match up between the two sides would, indeed, be played at all. Hopefully, there wouldn’t prove to be too much residual water. There has been a typical, late-November mixture of more rain and some dry spells since Tuesday; but why my sudden interest in matters meteorological, you might be wondering? Not only had I spent the morning finally starting a delayed DIY decorating task (I’m re-painting all of the stairways, landings and halls of a 3-storey town-house) with an eye on the sky - and a number of open windows - but I was also suffering from soccer-withdrawal symptoms, after so many weekends without home league football fixtures at The Donkey-Drome. The Beautiful Game, you see, is one of a very select number of drugs of which I do need a fix on a regular basis; but I digress.

Given that this was the last match-day of November - and there has only been one home league game at the QEII since Saturday 18th October (the 3-0 win over Lewes which, coincidentally, had really kick-started Brad Quinton’s and the Towners’ season) - another postponement would not be well received. At least, certainly not by me – and perhaps not by regular readers of my occasional blog, who might have been left wondering if I had departed to that football ground in the sky for an early bath. The previous home game before that had been a narrow 1-0 mid-week League Cup win over today’s opponents. For a detailed reminder and the usual colourful match report, go to http://des-desh.blogspot.co.uk/2014_10_01_archive.html

To find “improving” Enfield’s last defeat in the league, you’d have to rewind all the way back to 23rd September, away at another “Borough” side … when Hampton & Richmond Borough were the narrow 1-0 mid-week winners.

What's in a name? 
… as Shakespeare’s Juliet asked us, rhetorically. Luckily, she avoided an embarrassing silence by providing the answer herself: “ That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet”. Aha!

Wiki tells us that Saturday's visitors were originally formed in 1933 under the name Roxonian F.C.  The next season saw them move into a new ground, the Earlsmead Stadium in South Harrow, where they still play, to this day. In the 1938-’39 season, they won the Spartan League Division Two West, under the changed name of Harrow Town F.C. In 1967, the club revised its name once again; this time to Harrow Borough F.C. – after which they were relegated to Athenian League Division Two and faced extinction. Perhaps that was just too many name changes, then? The eventual sale of their second pitch to the local council enabled the club to redevelop their stadium, survive off the pitch and continue to “smell as sweet”. Still on the subject of names, the Ryman Premier is not a league in which too much energy gets wasted over the matter of club nicknames. Harrow’s brace of them reconfirms this fact: “The Boro” and “The Reds”. Guess what colour shirts they wear.

Roxonian Harrow Town Harrow Borough (in red) defend an aerial attack from Enfield skipper Mark Kirby (white #5, centre) as the setting sun makes everything seem suddenly, topically(?), Turner-esque

The visitors’ manager, Dave Anderson, is an interesting character. A former goalkeeper who played for his home nation’s B-side, the Ulsterman had a youth career which took in Wolverhampton Wanderers and Sheffield United (both ‘status’ clubs, at that time); but his brief senior career was played out back home, at Glentoran & Bangor. In fact, his playing career was prematurely ended by injury, at the age of just 23. A long back-room and management career in non-league football ensued; and has seen him take in Enfield (the club from whose ‘ashes’ Enfield Town arose), Aylesbury United, St Albans City (twice), Harrow Borough (twice), Southall, North Greenford United, Hendon, AFC Wimbledon, Windsor and Eton, Northwood - and Slough Town. It would be fair to say that he knows his way around; but also fair to say that he has not exactly hit the highest heights, yet.

Before the game, Enfield Town found themselves in the unaccustomed surroundings of 10th place in the Ryman Premier League. At last they were looking UP the table more than DOWN it; being the league’s form team, with 4 wins and a draw in their last 5 league games – and with games ‘in hand’ over most of the teams above them. By comparison, Harrow Borough’s record in their last 5 games is 2 wins and 3 defeats; leaving them in 20th place, just one point above the dreaded drop-zone, so familiar in recent seasons to the Towners and their fans. Harrow have also played 2 more games than the team below them (Lewes) and have a worse GD. One could argue, then, that they are ideal opponents with whom Enfield should be asked to get their much-disrupted league season back on track. Although, to be fair to Harrow, they did also have a strong FA Cup run distraction, that saw them progress to the final qualifying round of matches -  before finally being beaten in extra time by Basingstoke Town of the league above them, the Conference South.

October saw Enfield harvest three wins and two draws in the league, including their impressive 3-1 home victory over title-chasing Margate. On the back of such form, it should come as little surprise to discover that Towners’ boss Bradley Quinton had won the Ryman Premier League's Manager of the Month award. As well as being presented with a framed certificate to mark the achievement, Brad will be 'measured up' for a bespoke new suit by the Surrey-based tailors who are sponsors of the awards. “Suits you, sir!”

Since October, Town have only managed to play just one league fixture – which they also won, breaking the normal MotM jinx - away at Kingstonian. So their return to home league action could really not have come quickly enough. The bookies had clearly followed those recent form statistics, regardless of any intervening delays. They were offering just 9/10 for a home win, 13/5 for a surprise away win and 14/5 the draw. I had suggested to my occasional match buddy, Glenn, that this would be a good game for him to get ‘back in the saddle’ with. He hasn't been along to the QEII for some time. I told him I was expecting a high-scoring home win; but that wasn't quite enough incentive to tempt him along – and who knew if I was going to be proved right, anyway?

Just over a month ago, Town's 3rd goal against Margate in that famous victory was scored by crowd favourite (CF) Liam Hope. With that strike, Hope overtook club stalwart Rudi Hall to become the Towners’ leading scorer, with 107 goals. Rudi's tally had included 56 penalties and taken him 351 games – but, in his defence, Hall did play in midfield rather than ‘up front’. Liam took just 230 games, less than two-thirds of Hall’s total - and his tally includes only 34 penalties... in doing so Hope has, incidentally, maintained a perfect, 100% penalty-taking record for the club. Naturally, as club record scorer and super-reliable "Mr. Penalties", for today’s match Hope was dropped to the bench. Joining him there from the starting line-up of that previous meeting between the two clubs was Ryan Doyle; while Ade Cole was out of the side entirely. Muscling their way in from that day’s bench were Stanley Muguo & Michael Kalu, along with striker Jon Constant (who has since joined from Maidenhead United) with fellow recent joiner Leon Antoine (from Witham Town) on the bench.

For their part, Harrow Borough’s line-up was drastically different from that October Cup game. Only the goal keeper (Jupp) plus Hall and Smith were retained, with Charles-Smith (that’s actually only one player) and Bryan stepping up from the bench. Latest signing Greg Ngoyi would also join them, along with 5 other new names. Meanwhile the club captain from that previous tie, Danny May, was nowhere to be seen. Proof that the beautiful game really does attract all sorts might be found in the fact that May’s brief Wiki profile carries a link to a 2009 news article in the Watford Observer: http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/4451192.Sex_treatment_for_flashing_footballer/

This covers details of a sex-pest case: Wood Green Crown Court “imposed a three-year order on May. During that time May will be supervised by probation and must attend a sex offenders' treatment programme”. I won’t go further into the sordid details of the story. A former professional player with Northampton Town (before being axed by then Cobblers boss, Stuart Gray) May’s non-league career has included a spell with Enfield Town.

With seven others missing from Harrow’s cup match starting line-up, the visitors began the game looking very much like a group of strangers who might have been found straggling in the car park before the game; and been hastily cobbled together into something approaching a team. It is not a good sign when your club’s away support can be counted individually, from the far end of the ground – and using less than the sum of one person’s fingers and thumbs. So the presence of just nine (yes, 9!) Boro fans in the away end suggested there might be something awry at Harrow Borough FC, despite their excellent FA Cup run. For the record, there were no obvious signs of Chinese infiltration, amongst either the team or the fans. The total attendance of 330 was not a particularly large one; but it did consist almost exclusively of home fans. This number was marginally higher than Enfield’s lowest gate of the season to date (303). By way of a comparative benchmark, Enfield boasts the 7th highest average home attendance in the league (400) out of 24 clubs. That’s a +3.9% increase so far on last season. Harrow’s average is just 181 (up +1.1% YoY).

Enfield's Nathan Livings (#8, extreme right) floats a free-kick over the two-man Boro wall, with the main stand as an elegant, Art Deco backdrop.

On the pitch, Enfield enjoyed the majority of early possession and made the most of the Harrow players’ apparent lack of familiarity with each other. The match report on Harrow’s own website observed that “John Sonuga got away with a first minute challenge that many other referees would have awarded a penalty for”; but that was pretty much where the visitors’ luck began and ended. After Enfield had launched wave upon wave of early attacks, in the fourth minute Nathan Livings reacted first to reach a loose ball from a blocked shot, to score the game’s first goal, with a low drive. Within 4 minutes Tyler Campbell played a ball across the six-yard box for Jon Constant to finish from close range. Worryingly for Liam Hope, Constant seems to be finding the surroundings at Enfield Town to his liking. He would go on to win the Man-Of-The Match award.

Buoyed by their team’s uncharacteristically feisty and successful start, after 15 minutes the home fans had switched from goading the limited numbers of the away support (“Is – that all – you take - a way?”; “Shall – we sing – a song – for you?”) to commenting on the apparent gulf in class between the two sides (“We’re – just – too good – for you!”). In truth, though, despite continued dominance of possession and territory, Enfield were struggling to make their advantage pay off further. Towners supporters switched their focus to celebrate their attendance in numbers, despite the Xmas shopping season, with: “You can stick your Christmas shopping up you’re a*se!” (to the tune of “She’ll be coming round the mountain) and a ribald variation on “Away in a Manger”. Plenty of toil and huff and puff produced no more Enfield goals; but a string of fine saves by Harrow’s Jupp. As the whistle went for half-time, it was difficult to believe that Enfield had not built further upon their excellent start; something they might well rue by the end of the next 45 minutes.

Among the musical selections played over the public address system during the break was Chubby Checker’s “The Twist”. Harrow’s boss, Dave Anderson, took the hint and made a couple of substitutions at the interval; but with little resultant impact on the balance of play. Enfield carried on where they had left off and repeated the early pressure of the first period. Brad’s half-time analysis must have been stinging their ears. In the 50th minute, a quickly-taken Town free kick inside their own half was sent long. Tyler Campbell raced onto the through-ball, neatly side-stepped the rapidly advancing ‘keeper, went left and tapped in from close-range.

Almost faster than the human eye (or camera lens) could blink: Campbell (extreme right) rounds the advancing Jupp, before slotting home Town's 3rd.

In the next minute Campbell turned provider, when he cut back a low ball from the left for Constant to notch his second, from 4 yards out, sending Jupp the wrong way. It made the score 4-0; and the game was, effectively, over as a competition. Harrow had only pride left to play for; and even that soon proved a fruitless task.

The back of the Harrow net ripples to signify completion of Jon Constant's 'brace' in the bottom corner (as he watches on, centre): 4-0.

In the 64th minute, Michael Kalu seemed to select a sand-wedge to flight a tempting, floated ball into the box. Phil Kane accepted the kind invitation and majestically headed home Enfield’s fifth, with power.Shortly afterwards, Liam Hope and then Neil Cousins joined the fray (for Corey Whitely and Jon Constant) hoping to get in the goal-scoring action. Finally, Livings made way for another new recruit up front, Leon Antoine, after 80 minutes.

Phil Kane's powerful header from distance, en route above a crowd of players to the top right corner of Jupp's goal. Enfield Town go "nap": 5-0. 

There were to be no further goals, however. That's sometimes the trouble with having a "nap". Towners fans would have to make do with just the five. Until Tuesday night, at least, when they entertain Peacehaven & Telscombe - who have managed just one win on their travels this season, in nine attempts. Crazy club name: crazy away form – and, whilst still on the subject of names: can you guess what colours “The Magpies” play in?

Enfield survived their seventh consecutive league game without defeat and climbed up to 8th place in the table, leaving Brad Quinton to talk down their chances of a play-off place. Harrow remained in 20th; but they will need to improve rapidly, if they are to avoid a relegation dogfight, after Christmas. I was right about the high-scoring home win; and Glenn had missed out on what turned out to be a humdinger. For Enfield fans, at least.

Long after the final whistle had gone, Harrow Borough’s club web site carried a scathing attack on its own team, masquerading as a match report: “this performance, totally pitiful and even more abysmal … than those September shockers against Wingate, Hampton and Hornchurch”. Maybe someone should tell the report's author that most of September’s team has disappeared; evaporated into thin air; to be replaced by a strangers XI … or maybe they were body-snatchers? In which case, perhaps, we should perhaps not be too surprised, after all, by the meagre away support following them.

Twins? Harrow Borough in "Possible body-snatchers" shock: the evidence is in their not-FA-approved 'alien' mirror-numbering system? Is it a sign "they" are among us?

By contrast, Enfield’s website carried a tweet that could boast “as comfortable a victory as we've ever had at this level” – which spoke volumes both for the opposition and for the tremendous job award-winning Brad Quinton has done since taking over the reins of a struggling side from former manager George Borg. The league table format shows each club’s last five results. Enfield’s form record now shows a row of five green boxes, each one containing a gleaming, white, capital “W” for "Win". Bootiful! Which suggests that this may not be the best time for The Magpies to have to fly North from the South Coast, to Donkey Lane.  I'll be there to bring you all the latest club news; so Come on, You Towners!

ENFIELD TOWN: Nathan McDonald, Jordan Lockie, Phil Kane, Taylor Hastings, Mark Kirby, Stanley Muguo (booked, 84 mins), Tyler Campbell, Nathan Livings (sub Leon Antoine, 77 mins), Corey Whiteley (sub Liam Hope, 62 mins), Jonathan Constant (sub Neil Cousins, 69 mins), Michael Kalu. Unused subs: Jamie Smyth, Ryan Doyle.
HARROW BOROUGH: Nick Jupp, Howard Hall (booked, 53 mins), Julian Smith, Anthony Maissiat (sub Sekou Kaba, h-t), Michael Peacock, John Sonuga, Jerome Walker (sub Kamaron English, h-t), Harold Odametey, Marc Charles-Smith, Greg Ngoyi (sub Daniel Dyer, 72 mins), Michael Bryan. Unused subs: Jake Gilbert, David Taylor

The Magic of YET ANOTHER Cup: Tuesday night at the QEII

Enfield Town versus Harrow Borough
Tuesday 7th October, 2014 – 7.45pm kick-off

THE ROBERT DYAS LEAGUE CUP - ROUND ONE

After all the recent glamour, excitement and allure of the qualifying FA Cup rounds (no, seriously!) this Enfield Town game was likely to be an anti-climax for Towners fans, wasn’t it? Certainly the small size of the crowd indicated so. At the time of writing there has been no confirmation of the attendance; but I’d be surprised if it even reached 200 - compared with our normal c.350. Of the 23 other fixtures in the tournament played on the same evening, only 3 crowds managed to beat the 200 mark. So it is clear that club fans are not convinced about the importance or appeal of this non-league tournament. It didn’t seem as though the club were too convinced, either; issuing just a four-page programme for the match – but still charging a quid for it, of course. Luckily, I was able to negotiate the inclusion of a team sheet for that price. There were still plenty of copies available for purchase at kick-off.
  

Question: Why is this trophy even called the ROBERT DYAS League Cup, anyway, if it’s a tournament of the RYMAN Isthmian League? That little mystery is easily resolved. British-Greek Cypriot “retail magnate and entrepreneur”, Dragons' Den inhabitant, TV business celebrity and former chairman of Millwall Football Club, Theo Paphitis, owns both businesses, as 'sister' UK high street retail brands. It seems he likes to spread the sponsorship love around his empire. Incidentally, Paphitis is director and part-owner of fellow Isthmian League side Walton & Hersham, which may help to explain his ongoing interest in non-league football. But enough of the commercials – back to the business of football ON the pitch!

After drawing twice with Eastbourne Borough in the FA Cup, the Towners collected their third draw in a week at home to Grays Athletic in the league, on Saturday. Not the best of recent records, then, ahead of this contest, perhaps; but Harrow Borough’s was worse. They arrived on the back of three straight league defeats, while Town were unlucky to have given up a 2-1 lead in the EIGHTH minute of injury time, at the weekend, in their latest game, against high-flying visitors Grays Athletic. It was very much to be hoped they wouldn’t suffer a similar fate this evening. The two teams’ first meeting of the season ended with a home win for Harrow, after a dubious ball-to-hand penalty was awarded in their favour. It was a game marked by comedy officiating which, you may be starting to gather, is pretty much the norm. This particular referee decided the ball had gone too soft and held up the match … because he couldn’t find a suitable replacement. Would you call that a lack of balls? Now, almost two months later, the two sides sat in 19th and 20th places in the league – immediately above the relegation zone – although the scheduling of Enfield’s recent FA Cup exploits meant that they have games in hand on the teams around them. Harrow, meanwhile, have continued FA Cup interests of their own, with a home tie against relative minnows, Waltham Abbey.

Perhaps it was with half an eye on that forthcoming FA Cup game, and on the prospect of bigger future opponents and potentially more Cup revenue, that manager Dave Anderson had shuffled his deck of cards for today’s starting line-up. My team sheet would come in right handy. His side featured seven changes from Saturday’s league starting eleven; but all those ‘dropped’ (with the exception of 'keeper Charlie Horlock) remained available on the bench, should tonight’s game prove still to be there for the taking, late on. It was a bold move, against an improving Enfield side which featured just three changes of its own, all for returning players: right-back Jordan Lockie, winger Ade Cole and CF (Centre Forward and Crowd Favourite) Liam Hope; but would it prove a shrewd one? There was little doubt which side was taking the contest the more seriously.

      

Harrow's notable former players include: mathematically-challenged penalty-miss maestro, Middlesbrough's Albert Adomah; "Crazy Gang" mastermind, Dave Bassett; much-travelled TV pundit Steve Claridge (who, of course, has played for just about EVERYONE); Robert Rosario (of Norwich City, Coventry City & Nottingham Forest) and Graham Westley (QPR, Gillingham, Barnet, Wycombe Wanderers; manager of Stevenage and Preston North End). Would any of tonight's second-string side show signs of an ability which could help them follow in those pro-footsteps? Frankly, the answer to that was no - with the possible exception of returning former GK hero, Nicky Jupp (who has recently been playing at  a higher level, with Conference South side St. Albans City and current Conference Premier table-topping outfit Barnet FC).

A bracing, cool wind and a falling temperature were signs that Autumn had finally arrived in Enfield. Evidence, if any were needed, of Vivaldi's (or ‎Frankie Valli's?) Four Seasons. Perhaps in part to keep themselves warm, all the early pressure was applied by Enfield. Borough at first seemed happy to sit back and contain the home side's initial control, looking to cause trouble 'on the break'. That soon seemed an optimistic strategy. As early as the 4th minute, and from a tight angle on the right, Town's Hope hit the underside of the bar, only to see his effort inexplicably rebound OUT to safety. After 8 minutes, Cole collected a nicely threaded through-ball on the left and shot across Jupp, narrowly missing to the right. To call the away support "desultory" would be an insult to desults everywhere. About 7 or 8 fans, gathered in the away end, failed miserably to get behind their team. Even when an unexpected flurry of corners might have seemed to give them something to cheer. Soon it was business as usual: Town piling on the pressure; just failing with their final pass or goal-bound touch. In the 26th minute, Whitely raced into the far right corner with the ball and cut it back ... to the invisible support player. Home groans intensified and midfielders began to try their luck from range; shooting on sight; but Jupp was equal to everything they had - which, to be truthful, was not very much, beyond the odd loose, star-gazey, moon-ward effort.

Mid-way through the half, a firmly-struck Enfield effort appeared for all the world to have been cleared from well behind the line - yeah, even off the netting at the back of the goal - by a Borough defender. Such was the eyesight of the officials (and the luck shadowing Town, of late) that the referee saw nothing untoward. He also failed to see a defender standing by the post, and playing everybody ONside withe the help of the Harrow 'keeper, when he later gave what may rate as the world's worst ever OFFside decision, during a threatening Enfield attack. Groans! "You don;t know what you're doing". With half an hour gone, there was a brief, and somewhat surprising, spell of Harrow possession; at the end of which, a misplaced Enfield back-pass had McDonald scurrying back across his six-yard box to clear a potential own goal off his line. The next Red attack saw a chipped through-ball collected by Harrow CF Vickers; but his poorly-judged, attempted lob was comfortably collected by the 'keeper. After 41 minutes, the referee was clearly getting bored and decided to lend a hand, playing a one-two early in an Enfield attack, which resulted in a run and shot over by Whitely. Soon afterwards, we'd all seen quite enough; and there were no complaints at the seemingly early half-time whistle. The break brought a desperate search, via the public address system, for a qualified referee from amongst the small crowd, to replace one of the linesmen. They were lucky to find one; and the game restarted only a little late, after some hurried rummaging around for spare kit - and a second warm-up.

"Getting to Know You": the B-team of officials gets acquainted - and warm - while Town's finest await the restart and discuss their plans for the weekend.

The second half began as the first one had ended: with poor refereeing and total Enfield dominance, in terms of possession, territory and intent; but still no goal. The greatest danger to the home side appeared to be the risk of boredom from their visitors' negative tactics. Fortunately, just 6 minutes after the re-start, the scoreboard finally got moving. Borough's #4, Sheriff, seemed unaware there was a posse on his trail, as he dallied with a ball on the right, bringing it back towards his 'keeper. Whitely pursued and harried him, knocking the erstwhile law-enforcer off the ball, before striking a sweet, curling right-footed shot beyond the diving Jupp, into the inside netting at the far post, to produce a deserved 1-0 lead ... at last! It was so sudden and exciting, I forget to press the camera shutter in time.

Enfield's possession and pressure continued . "Come on, Town; they're rubbish, this lot!". It was no lie. The home side remained the vastly dominant team. Seven may have been "A Change Too Far" after all; but, as Anderson finally started to bring on his first-string players as replacements, their goal-ward threat increased. After 62 minutes, McDonald had to be quick off his line to smother a threaded ball, deep into his area on Harrow's left. After 65 minutes the replacement referee fluffed his lines badly, after which the hostile responses of the crowd amplified. Town's lively Cole was quickly onto a through ball, down the centre. He was unceremoniously stopped in his tracks by a combination of keeper and defender taking him high and low in a crunching player-sandwich. Neither of them had got the ball. Not only was there, amazingly, no red card - when there could have been two! - but the deluded official also waved play on, having seen no infringement. Cole stayed down for some time and was soon replaced. The home crowd started to mutter about conspiracies and the possibility of a fixed result looming. An equaliser was widely anticipated, as decisions went ever-more-erroneously against the home side. "You'll be back in your local park next week, ref!" There was, indeed, an official referee's assessor on duty in the crowd, though his views are not recorded here. One old hand observed to some of those around him: "We all know the referees are poor; but you shouting at him won't help". It was sensible but unwelcome advice.

Jupp took an easy collect, after a Whitely shot was half-blocked. He then made a good save from a shot across him by the same player. Enfield laboured to stretch their lead. The next good opportunity was squandered at the other end, as substitute striker Michael Brian (in white boots, no less!) skewed probably Borough's best chance of the game wide and high of goal. The image of him with his head in his hands spoke volumes. That 'pony' he'd apparently given the ref earlier had obviously been wasted.

Enfield nerves jangled, both on and off the pitch, as the final minutes ticked away. The spectre of that late-late equaliser in their previous game at the Donkey-Drome hung heavy in the air. Nobody on the home side wanted extra time or penalties - again. At times, Town resorted to tactics perhaps suggested by the name of one of the club's sponsors (see floodlight post, below) as the ball was sent deep behind the visiting defence, into the corners of opposition territory, to kill time (also below).

  

At the final whistle, we'd all seen enough. This was not a classic cup win. Not even a repeat of Town's FA Cup draw 'heroics', exactly; but it did represent a dominant performance, a clean sheet, a lead retained and an ordeal survived. It was also a welcome first win in five attempts for the home side. The draw for the second round now pitted Enfield at home to either Hendon or Wingate. Both are currently in the top 6 of Enfield's league table and either will likely be a sterner test than Harrow proved. We will have high hopes, however, of harnessing the home advantage. With only a small crowd in the ground, the Western exit gates, unusually, remained locked at the end of the game, requiring a long trudge around the ground by all the exiting home fans. That is, after the intervening security gates to the players' 'tunnel' had finally been re-opened. It only remained for Bradley Quinton (furthest right, in black, facing his players) to hold a post-match inquiry on the pitch as to exactly how his side had skillfully managed not to secure a greater winning margin. I hope he found the answer. Most home fans will probably be content to be left hoping that the missing luck quotient will return in a future fixture. CO,YT!

Theo Jones (#15, standing) scratches his head, when asked the $64,000 question.

Post Script: The official match attendance was eventually declared as 112 brave souls - which sounds light compared with the numbers of home fans, at least, I thought I'd seen. It also later turned out that James Keane, one of the starting assistant referees, had received sad news of a family bereavement at half-time and, understandably, left the ground. Everything football-related then falls back into proper perspective. For a while.

Enfield Town: Nathan McDonald, Jordan Lockie, Phil Kane, Ryan Doyle, Mark Kirby (Theo Jones 89), Taylor Hastings (Stanley Mugou 68), Tyler Campbell, Nathan Livings, Liam Hope, Corey Whitely, Ade Cole (Michael Kalu 72). Unused subs: Jamie Smyth, Anthony Page.

Harrow Borough: Nick Jupp, Daniel May, Amadou Barry (Ryan Hope 55), Romil Sheriff, Howard Hall, Jake Gilbert, Nik Salapatas (Marc Charles-Smith 89), Julian Smith, Michael Vickers (Michael Bryan 60), Spencer Bellotti, Ryan Debattista. Unused subs: Michael Barima, Ben Long.