Bishop's Stortford v Enfield Town

[seemgee]

McDonald, Muleba, Kirwan, Gyebi, Joseph, Kiangebeni, Taaffe, Coker, Faal, Della-Verde, Maja

Bray, Walsh, Smith, Chappell, Cook

[seemgee]

HT 0-0

[Benjrider10]

The fixture list did me no favours this trip as tonight was the only game I could get to.

There’s something about the way Bishop’s Stortford play that winds me up. Our 1-4 defeat there last season (before the season was annulled) stuck in my throat as I queued to get in tonight. I recall we played some good football in the first half in that game, yet made some shocking defensive errors in the second half and were punished by a team that hoofed it and hoped. I was looking for a better performance from the Towners tonight. 

The teams were evenly matched (to be fair, both teams hoofed it and hoped far too often). Clear cut chances were few and far between. Mo dropped deep too often for my liking, looking for the ball. He threatened each time he took on their defence but the link up play with Andre Coker was lacking. Too many high balls aimed at Taaffe, which made no sense. Percy played well in midfield but we missed the guile that Sam Youngs offers. The sooner he returns, the better. Stortford’s first goal looked ball to hand to me (harsh), but the ref gave it immediately. I was a long way away, so couldn’t really see. Penalty was straight down the middle, a stroke of good fortune for them I thought. They didn’t look like scoring otherwise. 

We showed good character and went straight for the equaliser. A goalmouth scramble bounced our way (for once) and a tap in to make it 1-1. 6 minutes of extra time and we had the best of it. Della Verde had a great chance to win it for us right at the death, a fine flowing move leaving him in the area with only the keeper to beat. With the form he has been in, I expected him to bury it, but he shot straight at the keeper. Enter Sod’s law. Stortford went straight up the other end and nicked the win.

Disappointing result but Stortford are on a roll and I expect them to be in the playoffs come the end of the season. We didn’t play particularly well but should have held on for the draw. Hope I am here for the home game vs. Stortford, it’s one I expect us to be right up for after tonight.

[Theodopolous]

Our strength is scoring goals and going forward which we seemed to sacrifice tonight … As Benj stated Mo was too deep surrounded by defenders everytime he got the ball and our width completely gone with LDV moving inside and tirelessly carrying out defensive duties…. Some fantastic pressing by both sides turned this into a battle… Again as Benj said we do miss Sams guile and time on the ball as just like some recent games our short passing was really poor…. Great team spirit again though but think we need to play to our strengths and let the oppo worry about our very talented strikers…

PS…. The non stop personal abuse of the oppositions keeper every game  is getting embarrassing…. It goes past banter and the abuse he got after the final whistle goes against what our supporters stand for…. 

[old towner]

1 hour ago, Theodopolous said:

. The non stop personal abuse of the oppositions keeper every game  is getting embarrassing…. It goes past banter and the abuse he got after the final whistle g

thats not acceptable .... good old banter is good but when its personal they are not welcome at our club

[Father Jack]

Couldn't agree more. Think it is down to two individuals.  The club needs to be on their case if they reappear 

[old towner]

39 minutes ago, Father Jack said:

Couldn't agree more. Think it is down to two individuals.  The club needs to be on their case if they reappear 

if it is , should be easy to spot them and hand out bans !!!!

[4wembleyfinals]

Again some interesting reading. But we are still keeping pace with the required rate of 2pts a game. This Saturday will show if we have the ability and desire to bounce back. We can, if we to return to the basics that we have shown in reaching where we are presently in the league. Start on the front foot straight from the beginning.

There will always be upsets but it's how you react to them that will make you succeed. ?? for Saturday.

[The Crowing Cockerel]

Just watched the highlights. Looks like we had the chances to win the game but it just wasn't our night. If you want to win the league then you have to be winning these games. Worthing are head and shoulders above everyone else in the division. I reckon they'll have the league pretty much sewn up early into the New Year. I'm surprised that Town have clung on to their coat-tails for this long, although I guess this is the first period of any fixture congestion for us this season, so that might explain it. At the moment I still fancy Town to bag a play-off spot, and if we do then I think we have a better squad than when we last made the play-offs and were comfortably beaten by Dulwich.

[Raingod]

My first game since Worthing .. and I think a draw would have been a fair result - we shaded the first half, think they dominated a bit more in the second ... 

Having hurt my calf I had to sit in the stands - always prefer being behind the goal - but enjoyed from that perspective and as a lot of the play was in the middle of the park - sat right behind the Enfield bench - was interesting to see it all in action!

Agree with the posts above - we were probably a bit too focussed on them - Lyle was told to get back and cover on various occasions - I'd rather him and Mo stayed on the half way line and were fully focussed on attack .. 

We did lose possession on occasions - but I liked that we were trying to pass the ball around..

Stortford were well up for it - given our league position we can expect all opponents to up their game against a side at the top - and were quite aggressive .. they celebrated like they'd won the league at the end!

I thought the substitutions should have happened before we went behind as they looked more likely to score ..  but what an impact they had !

A few times in the 2nd half we had throws in their final 3rd that I got excited about the long throw .. and then remembered Lee was on the bench (as another forum poster said previously, he hasnt had a bad game for us)

In the 6 mins of injury time we looked the side more likely to score - then after Lyle missed a chance that was easier than many he's scored this season, they go up the other end and score!

I'm seeing it as only 1 pt dropped .. and like others say we are still in the mix for the play offs, with Worthing starting to pull ahead.

Few other observations:

Thought the programme was a poor effort - very flimsy and was a double one covering their FAT game too! Always like to support clubs I visit by buying a programme but  not impressed!

Interestingly the toilet to the left of the main stand you could clearly hear Mario talking in our changing room!

Oh and Brad was in the stand watching as well - dont believe he has a club at the moment so at least we arent in immediate danger of him poaching any one!

 

 

[The Crowing Cockerel]

From the clips I've seen our goal really shouldn't have stood - the foul on their keeper was about as blatant as they come! But I would've expected Mo and Lyle to have scored at least one each from the chances they spurned. Its not all doom and gloom. Lets get back to winning ways on Saturday!

[Theodopolous]

What a great challenge on the keeper ?…. Is Quinton a local lad as he seems to pop up at Towns games…. Would anyone on here welcome him back or would like to see him in charge of this squad ?      Not sure he could get a better team spirit than now ….
 

[The Crowing Cockerel]

51 minutes ago, Theodopolous said:

What a great challenge on the keeper ?…. Is Quinton a local lad as he seems to pop up at Towns games…. Would anyone on here welcome him back or would like to see him in charge of this squad ?      Not sure he could get a better team spirit than now ….
 

If AL doesn't get us into the play-offs this season then I would welcome Brad back. I've not forgotten the way he gutted our squad when he left, but that's the nature of non-league non-contract football. It would be all change at the end of this season with the likes of Mo likely moving in if we don't go up, so the squad will probably need freshening-up in any event in those circumstances. 

[Bottoms Up]

On 18/11/2021 at 20:01, Theodopolous said:

What a great challenge on the keeper ?…. Is Quinton a local lad as he seems to pop up at Towns games…. Would anyone on here welcome him back or would like to see him in charge of this squad ?      Not sure he could get a better team spirit than now ….
 

No I wouldn’t want him back, he leaves a bad smell every time he appears at one of our games ,