(Ryman League Premier Division) 3rd February 2001

Slough Town (1) 3 Allen 9; Hall 65; Lambert 89
Enfield (1) 1 Boyce 17

Slough Town away is not the fun it was with Graham Roberts. Even the memory of that 4-1 win in the 90's was not enough to stir 50 or so Enfield followers who had made their way from North London for this relegation clash. In a word, unlucky. But for the first three minutes when Chris Allen scored for the hosts to put them 1-0 ahead, the first half belonged to Enfield with debutant Gregorio looking useful and creating a number of chances for himself. Allen for Enfield lobbed agonisingly over the bar before Boyce headed home from a well worked Devereux/Allen corner. Devereux was soon off as an early substitution, but not before testing keeper Mautone direct from a corner.

Enfield rode out two scares at the start of the second half. Just past the hour Jerome John could do nothing to stop Mark Hall slipping the ball past him and rolling it in from a tight angle. Seconds later John reacted quickly to tip the ball over the bar when a third looked the more likely result. Jones almost pulled the E's back into the game but had the ball taken off his toe in the act of shooting and, flicking the ball past a defender he struck the post moments later though blazed well wide from the rebound.

To Gregorio (with the obvious "George" nickname well established), fell the last chance of a point. Too tight an angle to beat Mautone, who won over most with his Fruitbat observations earlier on. Lambert sealed the win for Slough in the last minute.

(Ryman League Premier Division) 10th February 2001

Enfield (0) 0
Farnborough Town (2) 3 Crawshaw 25, Piper 42, Harper 90

As if by magic, Graham Roberts appears at an Enfield match after his mention on this site last week. Well, even the sight of the grey old man nearly going arse up on the bucket seats as he attempted to get his leg over... failed to save this match and Enfield from sinking to another low.

First up, no tannoy again. Team sheets were printed up and distributed amongst the crowd. Expect another league fine there then. Guess what? Yup, another new player on the Enfield side. This time it was Vasilis Soteriou at no3. The pitch had taken a lot of rain during the past week and continued to during the match, making handling difficult for both keepers.

From an Enfield viewpoint this was poor, even by recent standards. Our visitors on the other hand were average, but got the result they wanted as all league leaders should. Their opening goal was the result of an almighty double blunder in the E's defence. Passing the ball back to Jerome John in the wet muddy conditions was bad enough, but John compounded the error by presenting the ball straight to a Boro forward who ran on to shoot past John. The second was also a defensive cock-up, with the obvious result. Enfield's only chance previous to this was a Mackenzie fumble that fell invitingly to an onrushing Enfield forward before being clutched safely in again by the keeper.

In the second half it was over to the main stand to take shelter from the driving rain. It was there the Mr Roberts showed his face. It was deemed unwise to approach him and ask how he ended his time at Hertford Town so I contented myself with his panto performance on the red bucket seats. Town had one effort ruled out for offside and Enfield in turn came close to reducing the arrears but for the absence of a forward to tap in a hopeful cross after good work from Boyce. The third Farnborough goal caught me unawares (in the gents!) and the final whistle couldn't come quick enough.

(Ryman League Premier Division) 17th February 2001

Heybridge Swifts (0) 2 Lee 51; Wall 65 (pen)
Enfield (0) 0

Sad to say it, but it's just not happening on the pitch at the moment. It could take some time for these players to gel together, and time is not something that you get in the middle of a relegation battle. A goalless first half kept the traveling support relatively happy, in terms of Enfield's previous form here. Swifts created five quite decent goalscoring chances as opposed to Enfield's one when Kingsley Banks fumbled and the loose ball blazed over the bar.

Heybridge's pressure paid off on 51 minutes. A near post header from a free kick cannoned off the bar and in. Worse was to follow soon after when the referee awarded a penalty for little more than a nudge off the ball in the penalty area. Hey ho. So 2-0 down with half an hour to go and Enfield's already fragile confidence took another blow. With this result Enfield drop into the bottom five with six points the gap to relegation.

(Ryman League Premier Division) 10th February 2001

Enfield (1) 1 Jones 13
Aldershot Town (0) 0

Check the score again, it's really true. Enfield beat the Shots at home tonight with a stand-in keeper, their backs against the wall and with a lot of fight and spirit that was missing from so many recent games. Danny Jones scored the all important goal as early as the 13th minute after a fumble from his first shot by Pape. Jerome John broke his arm seven minutes later and David McDonald filled his shoes admirably for the remainder of the match. His save from Gary Abbott's goalbound shot was out of this world. Aldershot had many chances to get something out of this one, but anything other than a win for Enfield would have been injustice for the sheer determination both on and off the pitch to get a result. The game got niggly towards the end as the game slipped away from the Shots, whilst Andy Pape commited the unforgivable sin of getting an opponent booked by insisting that he had kicked the ball away. Top result - now build on it

(Ryman League Premier Division) 24th February 2001

Enfield (1) 1 Johnson 38
Basingstoke Town (0) 4 Naylor 61; Gorman 75, 85; Baker 90

1-4 - So what went wrong then? Well the score was no reflection on the first hour of the game. Our visitors looked stunned to be losing to a side they had fancied taking to the cleaners (their fans' words not mine). Then McDonald got his marching orders and the game turned for the worse. Even Loizou lost it, a confrontation with the opposition that will do the club no good at all.

After the result last Tuesday and - more likely - with the good news surrounding the soon-to-be-departed chairman, some of the old regulars showed up this afternoon. The team looked for a while to be up to the challenge that is Basingstoke Town, especially after losing so poorly to the same opponents recently. Hilton replaced the injured John and was soon on his toes, tipping over a rasper of a drive. For the most part it was Enfield repeating last Tuesday's performance and the visitors being restricted to the one good chance, being a direct free kick that cannoned off the bar to safety.

Johnson signed off his first week in Enfield colours with the opening goal of this match. Gregoriou supplied the perfect pass for Johnson who, one on one against the keeper took the ball wide and, with the angle closing rapidly he rolled the ball slowly and agonisingly onto the base of the near post and then in. He could well prove to be a crowd favourite with his distincive (ahem) hairstyle. Nuff said.

The second half degenerated into nothing more than a one-sided kicking match. Even the corner flag came in for some stick from Basingstoke in a moment slapstick comedy. Hilton pulled off a series of remarkable saves punctuated by opposition goals, fouls and the red-card departure of Tuesday's hero McDonald that earned a penalty. The score was 1-1 at that time and Hilton saved to his right to keep Enfield in the game for a further seven minutes. All in all a depressing end to a game with more Enfield injuries. Tom Loizou was also said to be involved in a Borgesque incident with the opposition bench.

(Ryman League Premier Division) 27th February 2001

Enfield (0) 0
Hendon (0) 2 Watson 60; Fitzgerald 87

Was it only a week ago that Enfield recorded their remarkable victory against Aldershot? Three points against the Shots looks to be but a temporary blip in a slow but gradual slide towards relegation. Opinion from former E's players in the bar after the game was that Enfield just HAVE to survive this period. The fans have lost faith in those running the club on and off the pitch. In turn they don't appear interested in what the fans think, whilst blaming the lack of quality players coming into the club on those who are actually trying to save the club. How ironic is that? and the players... well who knows what the players think these days?

Nope, there was little to get excited about tonight. I recorded Danny Jones going within a whisker of scoring for Enfield after 25. What a change that might have made to the outcome. Jones also had a half chance earlier on with a near post flick on. Hendon were shot shy in the opening stages, though Hilton had to be on his toes to palm one away, whilst only a goal line intervention kept the visitors off the scoresheet.

Enfield are particularly vulnerable to second half collapses of late. It took an hour for Hendon to break through with what was to be a fortunate deflection from a Watson shot that left Hilton little to no chance. Reddington in turn, wobbled the upright after his shot/deflection. Yes, Enfield were poor and yes, we deserved to lose, but that was to be the difference between a possible point pinched or tasting defeat. Fitzgerald wrapped up the points in the dying moments of the game, but the points were never in any doubt by that point.