Enfield Town 1-3 Tonbridge Angels

[Towningaround]

Tonbridge were possibly the most inept side I’ve seen this season first half…..but then it was like someone tapped them on the shoulder and said “oi lads…Enfield are sh!t and if you wanna have a go at it you’ll score a few against his lot”!!

As usual the in game management left a lot to be desired. At 1-0 early in the second half it was literally crying out for a change. It was wide open and some extra run ing up front would’ve punished Tonbridge as they went chasing and some extra quality out on the left and on the middle of the pitch would’ve possibly been enough to keep Tonbridge at bay.

Im sure I’ll be the outlier here but while I thought Chukwu continued to cause some problems, Hish was poor…and I know he scored the goal and fairs fair for that (even though he did his best to miss from 1 yard and no gk in sight!🤣) but he went missing second half and contributed very little in terms of work rate to even give Tonbridge something to consider.

Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing but we literally gave the game away today by sitting waiting to react to a situation when we needed to see it early and be proactive to protect the lead not sit and hope it was protected.

I think we’ll go down. There’s nothing about us that shows me that we have any plan other than to rely on random events - defensively or offensively - and that by its very nature, can’t be consistent enough to win regularly.

Edited 15 hours ago by Towningaround

[The Crowing Cockerel]

I agree that the quality of our management this season has been poor. I presume its just part of our evolution. Newing was better than Chandler, Borg/Quinton were better than Newing, Leese was different to Quinton, and Macpherson managed what Leese didn't, so you could probably say that he did a better job.

It was absolutely inevitable in the second half that Tonbridge were going to score unless we made a change. I'm surprised that there was no Bayley Brown until late on in a must-win game. He has been a big part of the recent improvement.

The crowd have been very quiet over the last couple of matches (perhaps unsurprisingly). 

[ETFC2001]

16 minutes ago, The Crowing Cockerel said:

I agree that the quality of our management this season has been poor. I presume its just part of our evolution. Newing was better than Chandler, Borg/Quinton were better than Newing, Leese was different to Quinton, and Macpherson managed what Leese didn't, so you could probably say that he did a better job.

It was absolutely inevitable in the second half that Tonbridge were going to score unless we made a change. I'm surprised that there was no Bayley Brown until late on in a must-win game. He has been a big part of the recent improvement.

The crowd have been very quiet over the last couple of matches (perhaps unsurprisingly). 

No doubt the crowd hasn’t been amazing recently. But in defence, I think you have to give the crowd something to cheer/chant about.

And I agree about Bayley Brown. Really good player who 1. Has experience late in games at this level and sitting on a lead in games like these.

[ETFC2001]

36 minutes ago, Towningaround said:

Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing but we literally gave the game away today by sitting waiting to react to a situation when we needed to see it early and be proactive to protect the lead not sit and hope it was protected.

This is the story of our season though. And it has stuck with us all season. We are never proactive while leading. Chesham, Salisbury etc you could go on forever about games where we needed another tactical tweak to see it off. Now I have no clue if this the management team telling them to do this or it’s the players succumbing to pressure so they just wait and wait for the ball until the opposition see an opening..

[symptomless]

Their small band of fans sang from the very beginning, so fair play to them considering their recent performances. 

As for the goals the first game from a long throw which was their only attacking threat up to that point. 

You would hope we'd have taken that as a wake up call and react, and hopefully take the game by the scruff of the neck again.

But then came the disarray!

[The Crowing Cockerel]

Gavin's post-match interview offers precious little insight. He didn't know why it went wrong and 'will have to look back at the video'.

Not overly reassuring.

He then quite correctly observed that 'we will now have to go and get something at Hornchurch' - a venue we've got nothing at over the past 3 years!

 

[TULACH ARD]

"Joe Wright...in the middle of our goal"

Played brilliantly despite a defence who couldn't defend...an attack that didn't...and a midfield who just want to join NASA!!!

Welcome back Joe.

[No bull Towner]

11 hours ago, TULACH ARD said:

"Joe Wright...in the middle of our goal"

Played brilliantly despite a defence who couldn't defend...an attack that didn't...and a midfield who just want to join NASA!!!

Welcome back Joe.

Not so sure about that...looking at the Tonbridge video he should have saved 2 of them