Following Tuesday night’s defeat at the hands of Bury Town, Jammers boss Liam Bailey made 3 changes to the starting lineup as he looked to freshen things up with a heavy schedule on the horizon, with Frankie Edwards, Louie Remi and Shane Temple coming in. It was also a case of Friends Reunited with The Jammers coming up against former favourites, Joe Turpin, Sam Coombes and Ronnie Bates.

A first half which was low on quality, started in an understated manner with Enfield’s Callum Taylor putting a free kick wide with the first effort from either side with 16 minutes played. Maldon’s first opportunity came with 25 minutes played from a corner which was well won by
George Smith. Shane Temple connected with the resulting set piece having done well to get free of his man, but could only side foot the ball wide.

With just over half an hour played, came the outstanding moment of the game so far thanks to Enfield keeper George Edgeworth embracing his inner David Seaman- all without feeling the need to grow a dodgy ponytail. A Maldon free kick was put in by Harry Phillips but only cleared as far as Louie Remi who forced the ball goalwards only to be denied by a seemingly stricken Edgeworth who threw himself towards his own goal and sensationally clawed the ball away. If I hadn’t already demolished it, I’d have dropped my burger. It was that good. The save that
is…….and the burger too, to be honest.

That was about as good as it got on the pitch as the first half drifted by.

The good news was, that with half time upon us, I could get another chicken burger. It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it……

Within minutes of the start of the second half starting, Maldon were ahead thanks to Smith’s 17th goal of the season. A free kick on the right hand byline was wickedly swung in by Phillips and found Smith at the back post, with the in-form marksman heading home to the delight of the travelling support.

The Jammers nearly doubled their lead with 55 minutes gone as another free kick- this time taken by Remi- was cleared only as far as Harrison Chatting on the edge of the box. Chatting let fly and was unfortunate to see his effort just shave the crossbar and go over.

Enfield nearly found an equaliser just before the hour when Frankie Franz slid the ball through to Bates who raced through on goal, but put his effort wide of Luca Collins’ goal.

Remi nearly made the points safe with 15 minutes to go, but he sliced the ball wide at the back post with the goal at his mercy. The relief among the Maldon contingent to see the assistant had raised his flag for offside was palpable.

Edgeworth was at his best again to deny Phillips in the dying moments, diving away to his right and throwing up a hand to keep out a fierce effort from the Jammers’ playmaker.

There was one last scare to overcome, and it was a big one at that as Collins came to collect a seemingly harmless ball, only for it to bounce over him and towards goal before he recovered and pawed the ball away as the points were finally secured.

The full time whistle bought the only disappointment of the day as the burger bar had closed.

Can’t win ‘em all.