Match Report

MATCH REPORT
Enfield Borough 2 Harefield United Reserves 3

Enfield Borough bowed out of their final cup competition of the season on Thursday evening having gifted their Middlesex Premier Cup tie to Harefield United Reserves. With Christmas on the horizon, Borough gave out their presents a month early in a game that they should have won with a degree of comfort.

With a free weekend approaching, it was a surprisingly weakened Enfield team that took to the pitch, but the match did provide the chance for the management to look at their squad players in a competitive environment. Only Malachi Soile, Darral Wopara and Rinidie Lokilo retained their places in the starting line-up and there were full debuts for Otis Lawson, Michel Panda, Bradley Roberts and Marc Valderrama whose inclusion was due to the late arrival of Simon Offei. Unlike most of Borough’s games, the first half was largely uneventful – we were not to know that the second half would more than make up for this. The first chance came in the third minute with Luke Baldwin’s shot from distance being deflected wide of the Borough goal. Enfield’s main weapon was Valderrama’s right foot and he twice caused Jacob Ballheimer in the Harefield goal some concern with inswinging free-kicks and corners that dipped under his crossbar. Harefield hit back with a menacing cross to the far post where Kerran Birch drew a good save from Finn Rushton who was unaware that the assistant referee had his flag raised for offside. Lokilo’s shot on the turn cleared the crossbar while Roberts produced an excellent last-ditch interception to deprive Ryan Murad of a goalscoring chance. In the forty-fifth minute Borough took the lead and it owed much to a superb pass by Valderrama. With the outside of his right foot he curled the ball around two Harefield defenders and into the path of Lokilo who took the ball in his stride before placing it past Ballheimer.

The second half started in similar fashion with little to excite the crowd on a freezing cold evening. Birch drew a save from Rushton and just before the hour mark Offei came off the bench to replace Panda. Almost immediately the match was transformed but not in a good way. Rushton, trying to play the ball out from the back rather than launching it downfield passed it straight to Darren Turner who, when he had got over the shock, lobbed the ball back over the stranded keeper and into the net. Borough struck back immediately as Offei threaded the ball through to Lokilo who was brought down as he entered the box. The referee initially awarded a penalty but after consultation with his assistant changed his decision to a free kick on the edge of the box which Offei hit straight at Ballheimer. Five minutes later Lokilo muscled his way through the Harefield back line only to be felled by Ballheimer as he rounded the keeper. This time the referee inexplicably awarded a free-kick to Harefield. The visitors hit back and substitute Kenny Appiah capitalised on a rare slip by Soile but drove his shot across the face of goal.

The game came alive in the final ten minutes. Harefield went in front for the first time due to a lack of communication in the home defence. Unaware that a player was coming in on his blindside, Noor Mbaza had the ball stolen away from him by Birch who squared it to Albie Booth to net with ease. Showing some resilience, Enfield strived to get back on terms and Ballheimer saved Fleix Udoji’s shot on the turn with his feet. With three minutes remaining, Carl Adiku’s pass opened up the Harefield defence and substitute Naaeb Alamyar raced clear. Booth managed to get in a last ditch tackle to deny Alamyar but the ball rolled straight to Udoji who shot into the vacant net. As the match entered added time, the referee stunned the crowd by awarding a corner to Harefield. Rushton said something that the referee took offence to and Borough’s keeper was sent to the sin bin for ten minutes. Wopara donned the keeper’s jersey as the hosts attempted to see out the match and await the lottery of a penalty shoot-out. But eight minutes into added time the ball was played into the box from the right. Wopara attempted to punch it clear, but Zac Jackson got there first to flick it on and Turner was in the right place to bundle it over the line. Despite their best efforts, Borough were unable to level the match in the time remaining.

It was a disappointed manager Anthony McNamee who spoke afterwards. “This was a chance for the fringe players to make a case for a place in the first team and I was especially pleased with the contributions of Bradley Roberts, Marc Valderrama and Naaeb Alamyar when he came on. Bearing in mind their age, they showed great maturity. But some of the others need to listen to what we say. We don’t do the coaching and give out instruction for our benefit, it is to help them develop into better players, but they cannot keep making the same mistakes. Your career passes by all too quickly and at whatever level you play you only have so many chances to win something. The way this game was tossed away was totally unacceptable.”

Borough will have to wait till Saturday week (December 4th) to get this defeat out of their system when they entertain Bedfont & Feltham at the Maurice Rebak Stadium, kick off 3pm.

Team; Rushton, Mbaza, Roberts, Wane, Soile, Wopara, Valderrama, Adiku, Lokilo (Udoji), Lawson (Alamyar), Panda (Offei)