President's Cup last night

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A STRONG Hornchurch side beat Enfield (1893) 3-1 at Brimsdown last night in the first round of the Capital League President’s Cup last night.

The game was switched from the Stadium at short notice because of work on the pitch and Enfield were welcoming hosts. They are rebuilding the ground after Enfield Town decamped during the summer, taking most of the spectator facilities with them (in fairness, they had bought them), and it was amusing to see the turnstiles labelled ‘Property of Enfield 1893 FC: Not To Be Removed’.

We fielded Tommy Black, Les Thompson, Donny Barnard and Dave Collis alongside seven youngsters, among whom tall midfielder Max Bradford impressed with some powerful tackling.

The first real action came when Enfield keeper Christiaan Beau-Pierre was ruled to have carried the ball out of the penalty area. Rashly, he dropped it when the whistle went and Thompson promptly grabbed it, aimed a quick free-kick at the empty net . . . and missed.

We took the lead in the 22^nd minute when Black burst down the middle (I suppose you could misinterpret that), executed a quick 1-2 with Billy Pearce and tucked his shot away.

Enfield replied on 35 minutes when their full-back Jonathan Munze went on a storming run and two of our lads, possibly Bobby Moorton and Joe Bilton though I wouldn’t be sure, tackled him at the same time. Naturally, one got the ball, one didn’t, and Matt Hodges buried the penalty. Judging by remarks from the touchline, he had been less successful with his previous spot-kick attempt.

We regained the lead within a minute. Collis lifted the ball over the defence and Pearce lobbed it neatly over the keeper.

Enfield’s Jordan Fisher hit the bar from 25 yards just before half-time and, just after the restart, Beau-Pierre let a Black shot slip through his fingers only to be rescued by his right-hand post.

Not sure what happened after that as I was on the phone for most of the second half but I saw Pearce finished off a quick exchange of passes to score our third in the 76^th minute. Four goals in four Capital League games, only two of which he’s started: the new Ross Wall?

We visit Cheshunt in the next round; it’s supposed to be on Wednesday but, unless the league force us, it won’t be played then because we have an FA Youth Cup tie at home to Tilbury on Thursday.

Hornchurch: Sid Miller, Bobby Moorton, Billy Cahill, Joe Bilton, Donny Barnard, Dave Collis, Cameron St Prix-Mitchell, Max Bradford, Les Thompson, Billy Pearce, Tommy Black. Subs: Sam Bantick (Moorton 65), Curtly Yates (Black 60), Ryan Smith, Lew Moore (Thompson 72).