Enfield Town v Margate

[seemgee]

Forster, Parcell, Payne, Thomas, Okotcha, Richmond, Youngs, Adjei-Hersey, Knight, Wyllie, Beckels-Richards

Taaffe, Donnellan, Onyeagwara, Bailey, Birch

[seemgee]

1-0 Youngs 13 mins

[seemgee]

2-0 Beckles-Richards 25 mins

[seemgee]

FT 2-0 

att 503

[No bull Towner]

3 more points on the board and a clean sheet so a good day today. Back up to 3rd so feeling good

[Benjrider10]

A bit of a nothing game really. The manager has a pretty settled starting 11 these days (when everybody is fit and available) and we did what we needed to do. First half we had two chances and took them both. Terrible defending for each to be honest, Margate supporters must be tearing their hair out. Second half not much to write about except for Wyllie’s disallowed goal (offside in the build up). I enjoyed the behind the goal chant to poor Lewis Knight when he trudged past after being subbed: “Lewis Knight, you used to be good”!! Not sure he appreciated it 🤭 A good attendance on a bitterly cold day.

Does anybody know if Josh Keeya has left for good? I know he went on dual registration but with the squad so thin, I’m amazed he hasn’t been called back. I liked the look of him and think he would be pushing for a spot in this current starting 11.

[djwilf]

Not the hardest fixture we'll have this year....can see why Margate are where they are and going on their facebook page they're not having a good time of it at all.   Think that first half they had the better of the opening exchanges......Sam did really well for his goal to adjust his body and flick it in at the far post, and Reece seemed to avoid many poor challenges when their keeper should have done better but was probably unsighted.

Marcus finished well 2nd half only for it to be given offside.    Rhys made one very good save at the end of the first half and really that was as much as happened.   Good to see we're keeping up pressure at the top of the table.  Carshalton seem to have gone into freefall, and our next league game should be an interesting one with it being H to Dulwich.    Agree about Josh, but then as is said, with the team being quite settled is going to take some very good consistent performances to disturb that starting 11 and if everyone can stay fit then Gavin probably won't change much.....but as he's said we do need a couple more players to come in, as long as they don't mind some time on the sideline.

Oh, and pity that Mickey's winding run didn't result in our 3rd but appeared to be a very good stop by their keeper down to his left.   I'm sure the clean sheet would have been very welcome.

Edited December 3, 2023 by djwilf

[Barney]

Another welcome 3 points, and a decent (albeit not spectacular) performance to boot, I think both the two posts above sum it up pretty well. Margate started the better, and exposed our high line a couple of times with their pacy forward (I was quite pleased to see him substituted as they looked much less of a threat without him), but we grew into the game, and by the 2nd half there only looked like one winner as we managed the game well in the most part. Having watched the highlights, I couldn't obviously see who was offside in the build up to Marcus' goal that was ruled out, and it was a really nice finish - Parcell's would have been an excellent goal had he put it away (clever play from Youngs to put him through on goal).

Youngs was given MoM, but in reality it could have been one of several - there were some big shifts put in across the pitch, and I think it's worth calling out the forwards and wide players work ethic - I lost count of the number of times Dylan and Ollie tracked back and helped out the full backs, and said full backs also had very solid games. Shout out to Rhys too, who made a couple of really good claims, kicked well and made one very smart save in the first half when their forward was through on goal. I've been so impressed with Youngs this season, he's always had bags of ability, but I don't think we ever found his best position under Andy (wasted out wide, not really a genuine forward). Gavin seems to have found a role for him where he's much more involved, and he has the discipline to play CM, but is also getting into forward positions at the right time to be a real goal threat.

I'm all for playing a settled site when we are doing well, as players know their roles and are match fit, but I do worry about our depth should we have a couple of injuries or suspensions. It makes sense to dual register players to get them match time, as it should mean they hit the ground running if they are called on, but it's a balancing act - we need a strong 11 and substitutes that are either going to change the game, or are decent injury replacements, but it's not easy to keep everyone happy and match sharp when they're only getting 15 minutes or less off the bench. Who'd be a manager?

[4wembleyfinals]

Once again very informative B. Also your pun at the beginning, whether intended or not.

Also thanks to all the other posts which keeps me in touch with how the supporters see it.