MATCH REPORT
Enfield Borough 1 Hampton & Richmond Borough 3

Enfield bowed out of the Middlesex Charity Cup at the quarter final stage on Monday evening at the hands of Hampton & Richmond Borough. The visitors play four levels above Enfield in the football pyramid and are in contention for promotion to the National League so with important league fixtures in the next seven days, their selected eleven was a mixture of first team and academy players. However, the side still included one full international and two players with over 250 games in the Football League between them, one of whom is also an England semi-professional international. When added to a bench full of first team regulars, should the need arise, Hampton were not taking their opponents lightly.

Enfield made two changes from Saturday’s loss to Southall with Brian Tshibangu and Kayne James-Thompson replacing Waiel Hassan and Henderson Browne. While Hampton forced two early corners, the opening fifteen minutes was completely devoid of chances as each team tried to assess the relative strengths of the other like the opening round of a boxing contest. Baptiste had Hampton’s first chance when he seized on a loose ball, but Elgi Fejco blocked the shot with his feet. In response James-Thompson battled for possession in midfield before threading the ball to Tage Kennedy. Enfield’s leading marksman managed to lob the onrushing keeper, but the ball went narrowly wide.

It was thirty-six minutes before Hampton took the lead and there was an element of misfortune for Enfield. Captain Dervon Hurde was hurt in a 50/50 challenge and was lying injured on the ground as play continued. The home side did not kick the ball into touch so when possession was lost Hampton went on the attack. Randall ran down the right wing and his low centre was stroked home by the unmarked Charles. This spurred Enfield into life and they had several chances to equalise before the interval. Jamiah Plentie-Lawrence’s shot from 30 yards had Hampton keeper Gallifent scrambling across his goal as it just missed the target before he was forced to make a double save after an Enfield corner was not properly cleared. Right on half-time, Richard Ennin found himself one-on-one with Gallifent, but the keeper saved the shot with his legs.

Inspired by the way that the first-half ended, Enfield started brightly after the break and Kennedy had an early chance when he was left unmarked in the box, but his header was straight at Gallifent. In the fifty-first minute an accidental collision between Gallifant and Tshibangu saw the keeper receive extensive treatment before being lead from the field, clearly shaken. With no substitute keeper on the bench, midfielder Josh Casey came on to play in goal and soon afterwards Enfield were back on level terms. Ennin charged down an attempted clearance and the ball ran into the path of Kennedy who showed maturity beyond his tender years when coolly slotting the ball home. If this seemed the chance for the home team to go on and seize the initiative, it was Hampton’s turn to raise their game. Five minutes after the equaliser, Enfield’s defence failed to cut out a through ball and debutant Abril was left with just Fejco to beat, which he did with the minimum of fuss.

Back came Enfield who tested the replacement keeper on a number of occasions. Casey flapped at a Plentie-Lawrence corner, Solomon Nwabuokei’s shot was blocked and the ball reached Gideon Sarpong thirty yards out and his strike was parried by Casey. Following this Bruno Tavares broke quickly from defence and fed the ball to Ennin, but the forward tried to lob Casey from distance when he could have continued his run. Substitutes Jamie Newby-Harris and Isaac Stevens replaced Sarpong and James-Thompson as Enfield pushed for a second equaliser, but they were susceptible to the counter attack and with seven minutes to go Hampton scored the decisive goal. Baptiste broke down the left wing. His cross was met by Cook who somehow managed to hit the crossbar from inside the six-yard box. However the rebound dropped invitingly for Crawford who made no mistake. Enfield refused to concede defeat and had enough chances to win the match in the closing minutes. Kennedy and Stevens combined twice to good effect, but on each occasion the latter saw his shot blocked by the keeper while a long ball over the top was seized upon by Plentie-Lawrence, but the midfielder dragged his shot across the face of the goal without testing Casey.

Defeated but far from disgraced. Enfield’s youngsters put on a fine display and created the majority of the chances in the second-half. A little more composure in front of goal could well have led to a very different result. A competitive but very sporting match and best wishes to Hampton in the next round. As for Enfield Borough, we now face Brimsdown in a league game on Wednesday evening at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium, kick off 7.45pm. “The Panthers” will be out to avenge the 3-1 defeat that they suffered at the hands of their neighbours just before Christmas.

Team; Fejco, Hurde, Sarpong (Newby-Harris), Kiangebeni, Tshibangu, James-Thompson (Stevens), Nwabuokei, Tavares, Kennedy, Plentie-Lawrence, Ennin

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