|
|
|
 History About Reports Forum Southbury Gazette Trust Chat Dave Jones Links Wallpapers 
Green LightsRoom 101 Fanzine Ballboy Celebs Sid Blunderhill Quiz Shamed Fruitbat! Archives
|
Enfield fixtures and match reports for 1998/1999 March 1999[Friendlies] [Aug] [Sep] [Oct] [Nov] [Dec] [Jan] [Feb] [Apr] [May](Ryman Premier League) 6th March 1999 Enfield (2) 5 Tomlinson 19; Dunwell 21, 80 ; Darlington 53; Jones 76 Enfield gained retribution for two poor performances last season with the best bunch of goals I can remember in one game. Whilst both TGTLS News and TOTE put out new editions of their fanzine to keep their readers occupied, the talk in the social club concerned recent boardroom activities. Sadly, no update was forthcoming, regarding Jacques van Vlymen and his interest in buying the club. Andy Hall's good form in goal continued as he kept the opposition at bay again. At our end of the ground the opposition keeper was hard pressed to keep the score down, once Tomlinson had started the festivities. It was just a shame that the departure of Lawrence Hughes to Aldershot Town has meant no video cam was present to record the excellence of the goals in this match. (Ryman Premier League) 9th March 1999 Enfield (2) 3 Darlington 4, 30; Annon 71 My match report comes from other sources tonight. Enfield had to battle for these latest three points against an impressive Basingstoke Town side with ex Nationwide Leaguers in their ranks. Steve Darlington continued his fine form by opening the scoring in the first few moments of the match. His goal from a tight angle gave Enfield just the right start. The defence was breached for the first time in absolutely ages by first, Mancy for an equaliser and then, once Darlington had added a second in off the underside of the bar, Xavier pulled the visitors level again before half time. In an exciting second half, Enfield continued to press forward for a winner. And just when it appeared that Darlington had been denied a vital goal and his hat trick, Annon was there to apply the finishing touch over the line. Now for a series of games away from Southbury Road... (Ryman Premier League) 13th March 1999 Heybridge Swifts (1) 2 Wall 2, 89 (both pens) Remarkably, the Enfield supporters club coach did not get lost on the way to deepest darkest Essex. The previous visits made to this ground have seen the driver take a wrong turning on the approach to Heybridge, leading to a ten mile round extra journey. Some things never change though - bloomin' refreshment hut opened thirty minutes before kick off (on such trivial matters does a non league fan's life depend on). Carrying on from last year's disaster against Swifts, once more we were delighted to play
guests to the kiddies from Essex. At least - only when they were out of earshot of their parents.
The little brats were delighted when their No.7 Wall did a belly flop that would have
earned a 5.9 mark at the Winter Olympics, but in this sport it was good enough to fool the
referee into awarding a penalty. Wall converted for the opening goal as we finally made it
to our end of the ground. It was at this stage that the catcalling to the Swifts keeper really picked up. The ex Enfield keeper hardly endeared himself last season after the 4-1 win for his side. Banks could hardly have been all that surprised at his greeting at Southbury Road earlier this season and the abuse he got today. The pleasure from the equaliser in the final minutes of the half were of course, filled with plenty of comments towards Banks, who had fumbled the ball into the path of Grant Cooper who scored to the delight of the Enfield fan who had been quoted 5,000-1 against the player scoring first in the match. This had all come from the corner conceeded by Wall, who did not take too kindly to his "Shaggy" nickname, gesticulating that one-hand shandies were available to all inside the bar after the match. Hall pulled off (steady on there, Neil) two vital saves to keep out Heybridge at 1-0 and, after Darlington had added a second from a corner, another to keep it at 2-1. However the best clearance of all fell to Grant Cooper, who had to resort to punching the ball over on his goal line to conceed another penalty and of course, get sent off. That man Wall added his second to set up a nasty five minutes of injury time in which Heybrige Swifts came mighty close to snatching an unlikely winner. The final word went to Kingsley Banks at the final whistle. His tirade of abuse at the Enfield section behind the goal was quite astonishing, offering everyone out for a fight afterwards. His eyeball confrontation was quite uncalled for, though the sequence of players running the gauntlet of boos down the steel tunnel from opposing supporters to the dressing rooms made me feel that at last, here is a rivalry to replace the Woking sagas that have been sadly lacking as of late. (Ryman Premier League) 16th March 1999 Hampton (0) 0 Off to Hampton's *interesting* ground. This was the first meeting between the sides in a league match; previous meetings being for Middlesex Senior or F.A.Cups. A camera crew were there to film the proceedings - though for what or for whom it was not quite clear, for after filming in the Hampton club shop they proceeded to take shots of the refreshment hut and turnstiles before moving off on a tour of the ground. On the pitch, Enfield were rarely troubled by Hampton's innefectual front line. With Enfield's end of the ground having a net fence to keep the balls inside the ground, there were plenty of opportunities for Fantasy Ball Boy points. Beardsley got two - with one scrumdown between Enfield supporters for a third point being frowned on by a rather impatient keeper. When the ball was finally returned to the field of play, Bentley made a number of positive contributions to the first half. After curling a shot just wide, his assist led to Darlington steering the ball in at the far post as the camera crew were busy filming us behind the goal - and did they look miffed! Dunwell and Darlington also amused us as they fell over each other in their haste to get a shot on goal. Spotted at the ground during the break was our ex keeper - Andy Pape. Andy was not in the mood for acknowledgements though, so we left him pondering tax returns and the like with the aforementioned Beardsley and took residence in the fabulous goal stand. Now this happens to be one of my favourite places to watch football in all Ryman grounds. The acoustics from this seated stand are just brilliant. Can we have one of these please? The first stirrings of life at the other end of the ground in turn bought some extra life to our attack. Dunwell mussed up a decent chance, Bentley too, before Darren Annon found the perfect pass to Bentley on the right. His angled shot found the far corner for the clincher. (Ryman Premier League) 20th March 1999 Boreham Wood (0) 3 Dixon (pen)50; bloke with funny name 64; Brown 76 What can I say? A stirring comeback that was almost completed, but for a few minutes extra play that was not forthcoming... and that was the whole problem. Referee G.R. Young made too many annoying decisions and played to the home crowd too often. Following on from last weekend, today I can only assume that Heybridge Swifts sold our hosts a job lot of 100 kids for the day, just to irritate the hell out of us. Must have been get the kids in for a quid day I guess. The first half was a quiet enough affair, though Dixon tested Hall low to the keepers left and our woodwork was tested on 16 minutes. Alleyne - making a rare appearance in the first team - went close after a surging run from Danny Jones. Darren Annon had an excellent match. His cross/shot towards the end of the half came close to opening the scoring but for a vital one handed save from Wood's keeper. Terry headed just wide from Southgate's inswinging corner. The goal action began soon into the second half. The debate over the merits of Wood's penalty award ranged from 'lucky' to 'quite just' to 'I was just giving them kids a piece of my mind after knocking my cuppa flying out of my hand'. Whatever, Dixon stepped up to beat Hall quite easily for the opener. This was soon followed by a second, which was hotly disputed at our end of the ground because Jones was pulled down quite unfairly in the build up to the goal. Incidentally, I asked Enfield's ace reporter Dave "Bambi" Bromage who scored it, and his only response was that he did not know, but it sounded funny... so now you know. The hosts third came via the two posts. Spectacular when it goes in at your end, but bloody annoying when it happens in front of opponents Enfield staged a spirited response as these goals were flying in. Southgate came mighty close from a free kick, whist Calden was foiled as he closed in for the kill. Penn (goal frame) and Terry (just over the bar) had excellent chances. Annon deserved some reward for his efforts, finally scoring with a angled shot from the edge of the box that gave keeper no chance. Calden provided the miss of the game by shooting for goal when he could have squared across the box for an interesting finish. As it was, Grant Cooper's 25 yarder for 2-3 proved to be the last kick of the match. Little injury time for time wasting or breaks for treatment. Most annoying. (Ryman Premier League) 23rd March 1999 Aylesbury United (1) 1 Butler 16 Yes - well - the Aylesbury band do make a hell of a racket from the sidelines, of that there is little doubt. After reading the Ducks on the Web site for most of this season I was quite prepared for the trumpet, drum and cowbells. Good side too, for Enfield's defence were under pressure for the opening stages of the half. In that time they took the lead and Enfield were quite unable to get out of their half, let alone mount some pressure of their own. John Morgan made a welcome return to the side after being put on loan recently. His jinking run at the Aylesbury defence signalled a change of fortune for the side. Simon Brown - well loved for his comedy performance in goal for Gravesend & Northfleet this season, saved comfortably at the base of his post on that occasion, but he was soon picking the ball out of the net on 25 minutes from Steve Terry's header. Calden just failed to equalise after a spot of farce in the Aylesbury defence, and the half ended with Hall seeing the ball off his post in another tester for the defence. Should United make the Conference, I wonder what will be done to relieve the bottleneck that builds at both ends opposite the main stand. Still, there was not the tensions from previous years between sets of fans. Surely the departure of both Bailey and Pape cannot have made our rivals a little soft towards us? Well no actually, because before long came the polite enquiries towards the state of Enfield's current ground-sharing saga, plus a suggestion that they would be departing the Ryman for something a little better. Bearing in mind that we very nearly relegated Aylesbury United last season, this was quite a bitter pill to swallow! And the band... hell... if there is one fault with the set up I would have to say SACK THAT BLOODY DRUMMER. It's a good job this is no marching band; trying keeping in step to that!!! The second half was a lot more Enfield. Darlington should have marked his return with a goal on the hour as his shot blazed over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Though not a dirty match there were occasions where the ref would have been better advised to brandish an extra card or two on both sides. Aylesbury's best chance to seal the game came in the final ten minutes when Hall had to go full length to save low to his left, whilst Darlington and Calden tested Brown still. A point each did look to be the final outcome until Bentley's run through the homesters defence fell to Darlington with the obvious conclusion. Right here I have to admit that my balance got the better of me because I was already launched into the air before the ball had crossed the line. So... it is quite possible that my memory fails me! There was still time for a couple of straightforward chances for a clinching goal, but Brown forgot himself and made excellent saves from Calder and Darlington. The game ended to silence from the Chicken Run. So are Aylesbury United or Sutton United going to win the Rymans League? The a lot will depend on the clash between the two sides in little over a fortnight. With Sutton due at Southbury Road on the penultimate Saturday of the season there is little doubt that Enfield will have a big say in the matter. Personally, I still fancy the Ducks. P.S. Ducks on the Web report that Bentley was booked for OTT celebrating of the winner. I think everyone was wound up after that goal! (Ryman Premier League) 27th March 1999 Enfield (0) 1 Morgan 54 Shame on Carshalton Athletic for refusing to reschedule this game for a morning kick off with the England-Poland Euro Qualifier kicking off at the same time. So while many supporters put their feet up and watched the game from Wembley on the TV (Sky permitting of course), Enfield were trotting out to play the spoilsports from South London and their wandering fans who numbered at least six. Making his debut for Enfield in goal was Jason White. Now - it appears that White comes fresh from Sawbridgeworth Town and stepped in to replace Andy Hall. As to the absence of Hall is unclear, though it would be surely unfair to relegate him to the reserves after recent performances. Athletic came to Southbury Road with the clear intention of pinching a point. Ex Woking keeper Searle led by example, slowing the play down at breaks in play and generally boring the pants off everyone present. Morgan provided the skills on the left wing, meanwhile, with Terry and Darlington having chances as those with radios informed us that England were two goals ahead. Yes... ok... and your point is? The second half bought about a new urgency. Bentley (fresh from annoying all those Aylesbury supporters last Tuesday night) was involved in the move that bought about the only goal of the game. Bentley's pass infield towards Darlington was hooked across in turn to Morgan. Really, Searle was quite at fault as Morgan squeezed the ball in between player and near post. Cheers, mate! The introduction of Sammy Cooper bought fresh ideas in attack. His cross/shot that flew across the face of goal had Searle flapping wildly at thin air once more. A snap shot by Cooper from a hopeless back pass from a defender thudded against the post with Darlington just unable to turn the ball in as it came back into his path. Searle at least provided the save of the game to tip away a goalbound effort late on. The final moments of the game provided the biggest laugh, with Cooper and Darlington getting in each others way as each took it upon himself to put the game beyond our visitors. |
