Enfield Town 2-1 Chelmsford City

[dwhe]

Youngs again

[Tally Ho]

2-1 full-time.

Come On Town.

Edited Saturday at 16:59 by Tally Ho

[ETFC2001]

A couple of thoughts:

The first 60 minutes was terrible viewing. Atmosphere was flat, football was dreadful from both sides. 

Using 2 forwards and bringing on Kauda was a great change from Gavin in the middle of the game. Albeit we’ve all been suggesting that he should of done that quite a while back.

The new signing Kauda was great when he came on. Instant impact, and a great handful for defenders. A couple of shots straight at the keeper, maybe should of done better but in the limited time he had, he was great.

Thompson and Peake once again amazing. Both don’t put a foot wrong ever.

We’re going to miss Tuck massively I think and we’re probably going to have to try and bring in another loanee of that same class.

All in all, not the prettiest game but a great win that I PRAY we can use to keep momentum. Only 6 points now but that’s baring in mind, Welling do have a game in hand against Weymouth.

[TULACH ARD]

Surprised at crowd size? Expected far fewer. Good Chelmsford turn out...but still very flat and quiet! 🤫 

Gotta love a last-gasp winner though eh? Glad I chanced the weather!

COYT ✊🏻✊🏻✊🏻

[Towningaround]

1 hour ago, ETFC2001 said:

The new signing Kauda was great when he came on. Instant impact, and a great handful for defenders. A couple of shots straight at the keeper, maybe should of done better but in the limited time he had, he was great.

For once I am in complete agreement with you. 👍😱🤣

The twenty mins of him and Hutchinson together were as good as I’ve seen from us as a front two this season. We pinned them into their half and were by far the better side.

Youngs first goal was more evidence of him arriving late in the box unmarked and this simply HAS to be the way forward for Gavin now, especially without Tuck, if we are to stand any chance. That means sucking it up when we play a top 6 team as a free hit and working towards games we identify as winnable. 

Personally I don’t think we will miss Alfie. I rate him and he’s technically excellent and I hope he goes on to have a career in the game but we will be better with two ball winners in there and allowing Youngs, Peake and Leonard more freedom to work with a front two…and we will get forward a little quicker too.

[andyetfc]

Father Jack’s earlier posting whilst others were wondering what the manager has done.

Whether we've signed another dud or the best thing since sliced Wyllie, we won't know until we see him on the field. At least give the poor bloke a chance!

Looks like he took his chance.

[ETFC2001]

 

24 minutes ago, Towningaround said:

For once I am in complete agreement with you. 👍😱🤣

The twenty mins of him and Hutchinson together were as good as I’ve seen from us as a front two this season. We pinned them into their half and were by far the better side.

Youngs first goal was more evidence of him arriving late in the box unmarked and this simply HAS to be the way forward for Gavin now, especially without Tuck, if we are to stand any chance. That means sucking it up when we play a top 6 team as a free hit and working towards games we identify as winnable. 

Personally I don’t think we will miss Alfie. I rate him and he’s technically excellent and I hope he goes on to have a career in the game but we will be better with two ball winners in there and allowing Youngs, Peake and Leonard more freedom to work with a front two…and we will get forward a little quicker too.

Well, it was bound to happen at some point🤣🤣🤣

Anywho, my biggest worry is that he doesn’t stick with two forwards against Maidstone and just starts the same 11 with one striker, just replacing Tuck with Jack Smith or Christian Scott.

I really hope he moves forward with two strikers. And I think Kaunda has to be one of those strikers, for the time he is here. He completely changed the game today and he looked electric every time he got on the ball. 

Youngs today is the Youngs we saw of last season. He was great today. Worked tirelessly. Brown was great today too, completely everywhere.

I am praying Thompson can stay injury free for the rest of the season. He is Rolls Royce for this level and our most important player for staying up in my opinion.

Peake once again just brilliant, my player of the season so far from around the 60 we’ve seen😅.

[The Crowing Cockerel]

Two up front and we scored 2 goals. This, of course, means that Gavin will revert to his 'one up top strategy' from now on! The only reason he had two up front was because he HAD to! He didn't have many defensive options when Benjamin went off through injury, so Mickey had to go back to the right of the back three and Sam then had to drop a little deeper. Immediately we were putting the Chelmsford defence under pressure, winning the ball higher up the pitch and making things happen. It was precisely what we should have been doing since August! Thompson added some quality, composure and instruction from the back and Hawkins is rapidly growing into a Step 2 defender. 

We are now very light in the centre of midfield. You can't fault Bayley Brown's effort for the cause, however he certainly isn't a player you would describe as 'having a great touch for a big man' - its a close run thing between him and Chukwu as to who has the worst first touch. So, we need reinforcements in midfield - plus Christian Scott back from injury.

Next for another 3 points away at Maidstone!

[Towningaround]

I think Scott is gone….

It does worry me that he may be conservative v Maidstone and stay with one up top.

Kaunda was sharp when he came on. I won’t go too overboard on it as I have a steadfast rule that says “your first game is your easiest one” so il preserve full judgement over a period of time, but he looked very lively and just what we need and very much just what Hutchinson needed alongside him. 

Gav should now accept some games are free hits and stick to a line up that offers him the best chance of match practice for the games we really can win.

Maidstone is a free hit so go for it!! I think 8-10 wins is within our grasp and if we make the last 6 games needing 3 wins I’d fancy us.

[ETFC2001]

4 minutes ago, The Crowing Cockerel said:

Two up front and we scored 2 goals. This, of course, means that Gavin will revert to his 'one up top strategy' from now on! The only reason he had two up front was because he HAD to! He didn't have many defensive options when Benjamin went off through injury, so Mickey had to go back to the right of the back three and Sam then had to drop a little deeper.

This is the most worrying part. I think he made the change to two upfront due to the fact we didn’t have amazing defensive depth on the bench. I don’t think he went off his own back and made that change for the greater good of the game

I pray he did though.

[ETFC2001]

3 minutes ago, Towningaround said:

I think Scott is gone….

It does worry me that he may be conservative v Maidstone and stay with one up top.

Kaunda was sharp when he came on. I won’t go too overboard on it as I have a steadfast rule that says “your first game is your easiest one” so il preserve full judgement over a period of time, but he looked very lively and just what we need and very much just what Hutchinson needed alongside him. 

Gav should now accept some games are free hits and stick to a line up that offers him the best chance of match practice for the games we really can win.

Maidstone is a free hit so go for it!! I think 8-10 wins is within our grasp and if we make the last 6 games needing 3 wins I’d fancy us.

I think Scott is injured at the moment, or just not involved much. Either way, personally I haven’t been too impressed with Jack Smith this season, but we don’t have many other options.

I don’t want to go too overboard with Kaunda either, although my praises have been sung high of him. I understand we have seen the same from Shakpoke this season in his first debut. But honestly, I can see him becoming very good in the short time here.

I’ve been really disappointed with Chukwu to be honest and he wasn’t very impressive so to say in the last 10 minutes even in a 2 striker formation. I still think he will become good because I’ve seen him play with my own two eyes before he came to Enfield, but he isn’t really setting anything too alight.

We need around 9 more wins to stay up, I think.

 

[The Crowing Cockerel]

I agree that Alfie Tuck is a great little footballer. However, he's not suited to a dogfight in NLS. I struggle to remember him playing a defence-splitting pass all season - although perhaps thats due to the lack of runners in front of him. Gavin needs to source a midfield maestro who can pull the strings with 2 up front. Do that, and then I might have some hope that we could secure 9 wins from the remaining 21 games.

[ETFC2001]

Now I did say we was guaranteed to get relegated about 3 days ago against St Albans, but with today, the optimism is back and flowing again 🤣🤣. 2 striker formation, Thompson back etc. It’s the hope that kills you in football.

The 9 wins that are possible, in my opinion:

Bath (H), Weymouth (A), Farnborough (H), Welling (H), Aveley (A), Tonbridge (H), St Albans (H), Hemel (A), Chesham (A).

There’s some ones in there that could go either way, but I think they would end up being draws/losses: Hornchurch (A), H&R (H), Chelmsford (A) and Salisbury (A).

I’ve based this off their current away and home records. 

[The Crowing Cockerel]

8 minutes ago, ETFC2001 said:

Now I did say we was guaranteed to get relegated about 3 days ago against St Albans, but with today, the optimism is back and flowing again 🤣🤣. 2 striker formation, Thompson back etc. It’s the hope that kills you in football.

The 9 wins that are possible, in my opinion:

Bath (H), Weymouth (A), Farnborough (H), Welling (H), Aveley (A), Tonbridge (H), St Albans (H), Hemel (A), Chesham (A).

There’s some ones in there that could go either way, but I think they would end up being draws/losses: Hornchurch (A), H&R (H), Chelmsford (A) and Salisbury (A).

I’ve based this off their current away and home records. 

I admire your optimism, but I'm not yet confident that we can go to the likes of Weymouth, Aveley, Hemel and Chesham (who we have never beaten) and come away with 3 points. Particularly given the fact that the previous 25 games tell us that Gavin is going to play all of them with a lone striker!

[No bull Towner]

Decent result that after St Albans. Maidstone will be on another level though so hoping people stay realistic and not get all doom and gloom if we come away without anything. Bath and Weymouth we stand a chance of max points and even Eastbourne we could get something from. I'm going for 8pts from next 4 games COYT

[ETFC2001]

1 hour ago, The Crowing Cockerel said:

I admire your optimism, but I'm not yet confident that we can go to the likes of Weymouth, Aveley, Hemel and Chesham (who we have never beaten) and come away with 3 points. Particularly given the fact that the previous 25 games tell us that Gavin is going to play all of them with a lone striker!

I wasn’t saying that we are going to win these games but those 9 games I listed look like the easiest games we COULD get wins from. I’ll give some reasoning though for some:

Chesham's away form is one of the worst, and we could of beat them earlier in the season if a few decisions went our way. They have struggled this season massively.

Same point for Hemel, one of the worst away forms in the league, and they haven’t exactly hit ground running under their new manager. Granted it is in a while, and both teams could look much different from then.

Weymouth/Aveley we should be looking to get max points from. Albans/Weymouth/Enfield/Aveley are all in the same basket at the moment. I think they could all beat eachother..

This is also based off the fact Gavin sees how well we played in the last 30 and makes the change to 2 strikers. If he doesn’t, I don’t really think we have any chance of staying up in honesty.

 

[The Crowing Cockerel]

48 minutes ago, ETFC2001 said:

Chesham's away form is one of the worst, and we could of beat them earlier in the season if a few decisions went our way. They have struggled this season massively.

Same point for Hemel, one of the worst away forms in the league, and they haven’t exactly hit ground running under their new manager. Granted it is in a while, and both teams could look much different from then.

Chesham and Hemel will be playing at home, so will be very tough places to go.

49 minutes ago, ETFC2001 said:

Weymouth/Aveley we should be looking to get max points from. Albans/Weymouth/Enfield/Aveley are all in the same basket at the moment. I think they could all beat eachother..

Weymouth will be a very tough place to go - a narrow defeat against Boreham Wood (1-2) last up and a draw against Torquay (2-2) before that.

We know the kind of tough physical challenge Aveley will be.

52 minutes ago, ETFC2001 said:

This is also based off the fact Gavin sees how well we played in the last 30 and makes the change to 2 strikers. If he doesn’t, I don’t really think we have any chance of staying up in honesty.

You'd've thought Gavin might've reconsidered his philosophy some months ago, but he didn't. I really can't see him suddenly tearing up his blueprint, I'm afraid.

[djwilf]

couldn't get down yesterday....so where we much better after Gavin made those changes or did we defend better as a team?   Honestly thought Chelmsford would have troubled us more but perhaps we are that much better when Adam plays and good to see that Alfie went out on a high also.

Be interesting to see how the rest of January goes now.

[The Crowing Cockerel]

6 minutes ago, djwilf said:

couldn't get down yesterday....so where we much better after Gavin made those changes or did we defend better as a team?   Honestly thought Chelmsford would have troubled us more but perhaps we are that much better when Adam plays and good to see that Alfie went out on a high also.

Be interesting to see how the rest of January goes now.

I would say:

(1) We are better with Adam marshalling the defence and providing some composure;

(2) Chelmsford weren't very good. I think we played them at the right time with their best loanees having left and the likes of Ruff, Greenidge etc injured;

(3) Sam Youngs' form has definitely picked up recently - the strikers have had chances, but its been a very good thing that Sam is showing the necessary composure in front of goal;

(4) About time we had a little luck!

[ETFC2001]

1 hour ago, djwilf said:

couldn't get down yesterday....so where we much better after Gavin made those changes or did we defend better as a team?   Honestly thought Chelmsford would have troubled us more but perhaps we are that much better when Adam plays and good to see that Alfie went out on a high also.

Be interesting to see how the rest of January goes now.

We were 100% better for the last 30 minutes when we used 2 strikers and Sam dropped a little bit deeper. I don’t know if the Benjamin injury is serious or just precautionary (Hopefully) but I think that could help to the cause of playing two upfront.

I think the team is night and day with Thompson at the back personally. There’s not much he can’t do at this level on the ball and he’s the vocal leader we lacked in the first 10 games in my opinion.

I also think Hawkins/Brown both deserve their applauses too, looking like great pickups too. 

Being a full-time team, Chelmsford are pretty bad at the moment. Like TCC said, we did play them in a good time when they just lost their best player this season. I also think it’s a slight toxic time with most fans wanting the manager out.