Enfield Town v Cray Wanderers

[Albury_Walker]

17 hours ago, The Crowing Cockerel said:

Don't think goal difference is going to determine anything.

The spectre of Cheshunt going up via the play-offs is now looming large!

We ain't there yet . As you know Stortford are a class act . But we did knock them out of the trophy so you never know .  Lewes shot themselves in the foot yesterday and I'm looking for highlights of that seems like an interesting match . We still need something against Stortford tomorrow and hope Folkestone slip up one more time if we get nothing v Stortford  ,It seems Folkestone  signed four recruits from Gillingham recently  so they are giving it a final push. It would be interesting to have you Townies in the P/O final as unlikely as it looks . I fancy our chances against you lot . Especially with your bobbly pitch , Long ball Andy tactics, and out of touch Mo ?

Your excuses always brighten my day's ?

[Raingod]

A better performance than the previous week .. but we certainly aren't firing on all cylinders ... play offs mathematically secured - congrats to all at the club for a tremendous effort this year ,,

Whenever I think back to that mauling by Spurs U23 in pre season, you realise how far we have come!

The positives for me - Jake back into spectacular form - I think his second should be counted in our goal of the season comp! And his all round play was great too!

And we did give it a real push team wise at the end to pile the pressure on ...

 

On the down side .... Mo is not his usual self at present, the defence continues to leak goals - Harold was our best defender at the time of his injury against Horsham back in January - if he is now fit he should be given a chance in my view.. 

So play off combinations are taking shape - Hornchurch could still pip Stortford to 2nd -  I would prefer to play Hornchurch in the semi of the 2 of them - as we have the psychological advantage of the double over them ..

And looking ahead to  a final - maybe away from home is better for us after all - the home side will attack more as at home and perhaps us playing on the counter will work better?

If we want to avoid Stortford then I think Lewes or Folkestone would be more likely to beat them in the semi than Cheshunt .. but as suggested elsewhere, anything can happen in one off games ... so all speculation!

 

I would also like us to consider moving to a back 3 .. given the recent defensive mistakes, would this give us more security there? Controversial and maybe we don't have the time to do this, but I think it would improve us defensively, could allow us to play an extra attacking player, would encourage us to use the wings more ... 

 

 

[The Crowing Cockerel]

4 hours ago, Albury_Walker said:

We ain't there yet . As you know Stortford are a class act . But we did knock them out of the trophy so you never know .  Lewes shot themselves in the foot yesterday and I'm looking for highlights of that seems like an interesting match . We still need something against Stortford tomorrow and hope Folkestone slip up one more time if we get nothing v Stortford  ,It seems Folkestone  signed four recruits from Gillingham recently  so they are giving it a final push. It would be interesting to have you Townies in the P/O final as unlikely as it looks . I fancy our chances against you lot . Especially with your bobbly pitch , Long ball Andy tactics, and out of touch Mo ?

Your excuses always brighten my day's ?

There's something to be said for having a tough run in getting into the play-offs. While Cheshunt have a very tough assignment against Bishops Stortford on Monday, Folkestone have Margate which is by no means a gimme. I can see a couple of score draws on Monday which might just open the door again for Lewes.

 

[Benjrider10]

Looks like Hornchurch away for the play-off semi-final. We'll go in as underdogs and I think that will suit us ......

Premier Table

Filter By Division

#	Team	Pl	HW	HD	HL	AW	AD	AL	W	D	L	F	A	Diff	Pts	Adj
1.	Worthing	40	17	1	2	13	3	4	30	4	6	98	42	56	94	0
2.	Bishop's Stortford	40	13	6	1	11	6	3	24	12	4	86	31	55	84	0
3.	Hornchurch	40	13	3	4	12	3	5	25	6	9	87	38	49	81	0
4.	Enfield Town	40	15	2	3	9	4	7	24	6	10	88	57	31	78	0
5.	Cheshunt	40	8	5	7	13	4	3	21	9	10	69	39	30	72	0
6.	Folkestone Invicta	40	11	7	2	9	4	7	20	11	9	81	57	24	71	0
7.	Lewes	40	10	4	6	10	5	5	20	9	11	87	60	27	69	0

[andyetfc]

I noted that some people have expressed concern over the condition of the pitch. I’m sure those volunteers who have worked on the pitch have tried their best. However, look at the number of games played on the pitch since last September! You reap what you sow.

[djwilf]

No concerns over the pitch....it s had huge amount of wear this season.   Id never question the volunteers just our abiliry to get the ball down and our style of play.   Not the ideal time of year to start inconsistent performances.

Is Harold out injured?

[Crusty Lee]

Assuming that Lewes and Folkestone miss out, that leaves us as the best supported team in the playoffs. Another straw clutched.

I'm more concerned about going to penalties. Get practicing.

[lovely stuff]

4 hours ago, djwilf said:

No concerns over the pitch....it s had huge amount of wear this season.   Id never question the volunteers just our abiliry to get the ball down and our style of play.   Not the ideal time of year to start inconsistent performances.

Is Harold out injured?

The pitch was good apart from a few bald patches.The concern is the lack of watering the pitch gets, making the surface bone hard with pronounced bounce.This makes getting the ball under control before being shut down very difficult and results in the ball being above waste height for half of the game..We are not alone with this problem at this level as most teams find it hard to get enough water on the pitches..One of the reasons we normally suffer in late season play-off's and finals, where more physical more direct teams tend to prosper.

Edited April 17, 2022 by lovely stuff

[andyetfc]

27 minutes ago, lovely stuff said:

The pitch was good apart from a few bald patches.The concern is the lack of watering the pitch gets, making the surface bone hard with pronounced bounce.This makes getting the ball under control before being shut down very difficult and results in the ball being above waste height for half of the game..We are not alone with this problem at this level as most teams find it hard to get enough water on the pitches..One of the reasons we normally suffer in late season play-off's and finals, where more physical more direct teams tend to prosper.

I don’t think Cray were more physical or more direct on Friday. It’s just that they were very good at set pieces and hitting us on the break.

[Wildlife rescue]

Even mo was saying the pitch is not allowing him to play his dribble style as its so bobbly the ball is going all over the place.

Not sure why they can't get any water on it.

On that basis a semi final away will probably be better for the team.

[andyetfc]

14 hours ago, Wildlife rescue said:

Even mo was saying the pitch is not allowing him to play his dribble style as its so bobbly the ball is going all over the place.

Not sure why they can't get any water on it.

On that basis a semi final away will probably be better for the team.

Same for both sides. 

[old towner]

1 hour ago, andyetfc said:

Same for both sides. 

Totally agree other teams play well on our pitch why can’t we. Don’t blame the pitch when both sides play on it 

[lovely stuff]

2 hours ago, old towner said:

Totally agree other teams play well on our pitch why can’t we. Don’t blame the pitch when both sides play on it 

It might be that certain teams are less effected by a hard bobbly surface than others.The sort of teams that like to play a pressing game.The sort of teams that don't have players that dribble with the ball much ,or play a short passing game.Big strong teams that play direct percentage football tend to thrive.A bad pitch tends to become a leveler and the lesser sides become harder to beat.

 

[andyetfc]

24 minutes ago, lovely stuff said:

It might be that certain teams are less effected by a hard bobbly surface than others.The sort of teams that like to play a pressing game.The sort of teams that don't have players that dribble with the ball much ,or play a short passing game.Big strong teams that play direct percentage football tend to thrive.A bad pitch tends to become a leveler and the lesser sides become harder to beat.

 

So what are we?

[lovely stuff]

1 hour ago, andyetfc said:

So what are we?

The way we play on hard grounds compared to our mid season form,i would say hopefully the former.

[Tiger]

Unfortunately its not a case of just turning on the tap and the whole pitch will get watered in one go, this will only happen with with a full pop up sprinkler system. There is only enough water pressure to have  4/5 sprinklers on at a time and every 2-3 hours these need to be moved. As you need to do the whole pitch, otherwise it could be dangerous, it takes a minimum of 16 hours to do the entire pitch and it cant be done whilst the pitch is being prepared for the match and needs someone to keep going over the ground to move the sprinklers.

Saving the water from when we have too much rain has been considered but you then need a method of deploying it under pressure and you cant have hoses across the running track when its being used.