Hitchin Town 1 ETFC 5(FIVE)

[andyetfc]

I will leave the report to Cleggy but I will just say that the finishing in front of goal was simply awesome! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

[Pavagrotti]

Occasionally is a complete joy to be at a town match and this was one of those occasions when Enfield Town went to one of the oldest clubs in Football as one of the youngest and gave the old boy a masterclass in Football. If the defeat of Harrow Borough was our greatest previous victory this was better.

 

Team, Hall, Riley, Negus, Snowden, Campbell, Brotherton, Wright, Hall, Smith, Everitt, Nyman, Subs used Geraghty, Francis, Masala, Wilson, Kitenge, Nash, Finch.

 

The rout started in the 3rd minute with a Brotherton trademark headed goal. 0 -1.

 

Hitchin then took the game to the town and in the 27th minute forced a palm over the bar awesome save from Chopper.

 

In the 27th Minute the rejuvenated Lee Smith cracked a shot from outside the box for a great save.

 

Lee Smith and Dean Nyman causing problems throughout the first half although they were acting on the break from deep in our own half.

 

1 – 0 at half time.

 

Second half Kitenge was brought on.

 

In the 49th minute there was a goal mouth scramble with players falling over themselves to get a shot on target with Kitenge finally slotting the ball home. 0 – 2.

 

In the 75th minute Masala had a rush of blood to the head and nailed a lovely goal 0 – 3.

 

Town then lost concentration 0 -3 up against Southern League Premier first team opposition was not what we expected. In the 76th minute we gifted Hitchin a consolation slot home goal to Johnson.

 

In the 79th minute Kitenge score Towns 4th goal and his second 1 – 4.

 

In the 85th minute Masal picked the ball up on the halfway line danced round the whole team and slotted the ball passed the keeper. The best was saved to last. Most of the Hitchin fans could not stomach this defeat and the ground at their end was very empty at the end of the game.

 

If you missed it you missed in my opinion towns best ever TEAM performance aside the individual performances of the goal scorers and players like Daniel Francis.

 

[Pavagrotti]

In the words of the that great Norwegian commentator. Kerry Dixon you boys took one hell of a beating!

 

....But good luck for the rest of the season!

[Steph]

It has to be said Hitchin are going to struggle this season. Their finishing was woeful, though Chopper had a good game, and their defence, especially in the second half was terrible.

 

The ref and linesman seemed to only look in one direction. They seemed to favour Hitchin in the first half but made up for it in the second. Again the Town's fitness against slow opponents told.

 

>>Andy

 

The grass was very good.

[andyetfc]

Steph. Did you smoke it? <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

[lovely stuff]

Steph, Good point about the grass.

 

Town won't play on a surface anywhere near as good as Hitchin's,in the ESL.

 

As such our passing game and skill will be nullified somewhat. so let's not get carried away just yet.

 

Some of the youngsters we've brought do look very good, though.

[MbrunoB]

I think the phrase "we`ve aquired" rather than bought should have been used or you will start others accusing us of being big spenders.I agree they look good though.

[andyetfc]

We scored 4 against Borehamwood at home and 5 against Hitchin away on a far superior pitch. In my book that means Brimmo's pitch is only 1 goal worse than Hitchin's!

 

Believe that and you will believe anything!

[Pavagrotti]

I think the logic is a bit flawed there Andy but if we go with all Colins, Franks and Roys hard work it should be 20 goals better at home and it don't pan out like that in reality.

[Guest]

Your lads played well and I have no doubt you will have a successful season. In defending our performance, I have to say that this was very much a scratch side. Only one regular from last season (and he only played 45 minutes), plus a lot of players I had never heard of and a couple of veterans returning to the club made for a disjointed performance. A couple of them may have played a couple of games together, but virtually all were new to each other.

 

We may well struggle this season, but our league team is unlikely to feature more than two or three of those who turned out against you yesterday.

 

Never the less I wish you luck for the season ahead, but I don't think you'll need it.

[lovely stuff]

So where were these 8 or 9 players that are going to appear in your first league game.?

 

Seriously though, Enfield Town's second half side was also very much a 'scratch' side as you call it. The two youngsters that scored two goals each in the second half have played less than 90 minutes of football between them for ETFC before saturday.we also finished the game with only about 2 or 3 first teamers on the pitch.

 

P.S..Where have your supporters gone. I only counted about 25 home fans at the game.?

[Pavagrotti]

Quote:

Anonymous said:
Your lads played well and I have no doubt you will have a successful season. In defending our performance, I have to say that this was very much a scratch side. Only one regular from last season (and he only played 45 minutes), plus a lot of players I had never heard of and a couple of veterans returning to the club made for a disjointed performance. A couple of them may have played a couple of games together, but virtually all were new to each other.

We may well struggle this season, but our league team is unlikely to feature more than two or three of those who turned out against you yesterday.

We'll watch and see with interest! But good wishes all the same!

[Steph]

We can only beat the team that is selected to play us. Neither of us know whether other players would have done better. As it is Hitchin did not have another game that day and as your manager did change the team during the course of the game I consider that the Town beat Hitchin quite soundly.

 

I must agree that Hitchin's number 14 would struggle in the Essex Senior and I do not think that he will be turning out in the league or cup for Hitchin, or for any other senior side, this year!

[Pavagrotti]

I think you're beating around the bush a bit there Steph say what you mean!

[MbrunoB]

Go on I dare you....

[Anfield Towner]

Hitchin were poor but this was a quality team performance by the boys. Well worth making the trip just for Masala's second goal alone - think John Barnes in the Maracana!

[Guest]

I must agree

 

I have been away from the "fold" for a while reasons I wont bore you with.

 

This was the first Town game I have seen for a while and I was really impressed with how the team performed.

 

Obviously getting 5 goals was fantastic but the way the team played and the skills shown by the players was a joy to watch.

 

Masala'a 2nd goal an absolute peach.

 

I hope these two youngsters Masala and Ntenjge (apologies for spelling) stay with us.

 

Ntenjge or Prince as he seemed to be knicknamed looked really lively.

 

bye for now

hopefully sort my old posting name and login soon and then I can post away again.

 

Cheers

[BOROMAN]

Why do Townies always have to make reference to the officials

[Mr Happy]

Because just like the players, the officials performances should also be up for discussion.

[Guest]

Team v ETFC.........Probable 1st XI

Wilmot (45mins).....Wilmot

Barr................Barr

Cretton.............Covington

Smith...............Frater

Meah................Duffy

Hill................Lammercraft

Case................Scott

Galvin..............Jaggard

Hay (70 mins).......Hay

Hassan..............Sozzo

Bridge..............Maynard

Second half subs were mainly unknowns apart from Osbourne, a fringe 1st teamer who played the last 10 minutes.

 

So you can see it was very much a scratch side, with a lot of trialists involved. As well as your lads played it's wrong to describe this as a victory over a Southern Premier first team, because it was far from it.

 

As for 'where were your fans', they stayed at home. Average league gates are around 350, with 650 watching the PSF v Luton last week. If you visit our website you will see that a lot of our fans are pretty fed up with a seeming reluctance to put out our best XI in the PSFs. That as much as anything is why so few of us were there.