London Tigers 3 v 1 Enfield Borough

MATCH REPORT
London Tigers 3 Enfield Borough 1

Enfield Borough suffered an unexpected mauling at the hands of bottom of the table London Tigers at Amersham on Saturday. Playing over an hour with just ten men, Borough failed to take a number of good chances that they created and were made to pay for individual errors by a team that looked much better than their league position would suggest.

Borough made three changes to their starting line up with Mohamed Konte, Ruben Carvalho and Hamza Semakula being replaced by debutant Khalid Al Saud, Issac Stevens and Qais Muhammad. Borough started brightly with Alie Bangura having a shot blocked after just three minutes following a short corner by Stevens and Elliot Harris. They came closer still minutes later when Bangura closed down home keeper Salva Palacios as he collected a back pass, won possession and stayed on his feet when challenged for the ball before passing to Stevens whose shot was deflected for a corner. From this Borough had the ball in the net when Richard Ennin flicked Al Saud’s centre into the net, only for the assistant referee to flag for offside. Having survived this scare, Tigers started to get into the match. A cross into the Enfield box was not cleared and Maurad Jarraz wriggled free of Harris only to send his shot wide of the far post. The same player almost benefitted from a fortunate rebound moments later but his initial control let him down. Kevin Ismael’s free kick was well defended by the Borough’s wall but the hosts took the lead after nineteen minutes. A bad mis-control by Harris in midfield lead to a quick breakaway which saw Jarraz outpace Gideon Sarpong before calmly slotting the ball past Jamil Shallo and into the net.

Sarpong had the chance to level the scores when Tiger’s keeper Palacios missed his punch at a corner, but the defender’s header was blocked. Tigers broke quickly and Jarraz found himself clear with only Shallo to beat, but the keeper came outside his area to foil his opponent. Matters got worse after twenty eight minutes when Sarpong mishit a back pass and as Patrick Tavares seized upon the mistake, Sarpong pulled his arm back and as he was the last defender, the referee had no option other than send him off. Jean-Paul Moke was brought on in place of Muhammad in a reshuffle and Borough regained some composure without threatening to mount a comeback. Just before the interval Ennin played in Bangura and he cut the ball back for Harris who failed to hit the target when well placed. At the other end Shallo and Frank Chandler combined to thwart Jarraz as the half came to a close.

Early in the second half Harris limped off to be replaced by Henderson Browne. Chances came and were wasted at both ends. Jarraz managed to deflect a goalbound effort wide of the target before Ennin played a quickly taken free-kick to Bangura who found Stevens, but the striker’s shot was deflected for a corner. Bangura initiated the next chance when he won the ball in midfield and played a one-two with Ennin, but having collected the return he tried to score from a tight angle with teammates better placed and Palacios easily saved his shot. Tigers substitute Redha Zerki got a toe to Jarraz’s cross but at full stretch was unable to control his shot. With a quarter of an hour to go Borough equalised. Jamiah Lawrence-Plentie’s cross to the far post was met firmly by the head of Bangura and the ball looped over Palacios and into the net. Tigers hit back and Shallo saved Tavares’s long range shot. Then Ismael weaved his way through the Enfield defence but Shallo saved with his legs. Meanwhile Dervon Hurde surged into the penalty area for the visitors only to see a defender throw himself in the way of his shot.

Djinho Itshary replaced Ennin to inject some fresh legs for the final ten minutes, but almost immediately Borough fell behind. Both centre backs were drawn out of position and when the ball was centred from the right it brushed off the head of Lawrence-Plentie and fell for Tavares who chested it down before turning and volleying past Shallo to score a fine goal. Moke headed wide from a free kick before Tavares got behind Borough’s defence only to lob the ball onto the roof of the net. Stevens saw his header saved while as the match entered stoppage time and Borough pushed for an equaliser, their defence was cut open again and Zerki was only deprived of a goal by an excellent fingertip save from Shallo. Al Saud’s desperate lunge prevented Tavares from scoring but with four minutes added time played the hosts scored again. In trying to beat his marker as the ball approached him, Browne lost possession and the ball was played back into Enfield’s box where Jarraz evaded Al Saud’s tackle before shooting past Shallo to confirm Tiger’s first league win of the season.

A very disappointing performance by Borough which saw them slip to fourth place in the league table and they will need to play considerably better on Tuesday evening when they travel to second placed Shefford Town & Campton.

Team; Shallo, Hurde, Al Saud, Lawrence-Plentie, Chandler, Sarpong, Harris (Browne), Ennin (Itshary), Bangura, Muhammad (Moke), Stevens