v Enfield Town (FA Cup 4th round qualifying)

[Reading Rebel]

Massive game for the club.

Get past this round and into the 1st round proper the prize money starts to ramp up.

Division 1 & 2 clubs enter into the competition and games start to be televised.  

[GlenSTFC]

Hope we play our best game on Saturday, give it absolutely everything and be clinical. Also hoping we can attract a big crowd to create a proper cup tie atmosphere.

[Curtis]

There don’t appear to be any options to buy ‘Home Reserved Seating’ for this match….. is that likely to be correct or an omission on the ticketing app.

[Reading Rebel]

50 minutes ago, Curtis said:

There don’t appear to be any options to buy ‘Home Reserved Seating’ for this match….. is that likely to be correct or an omission on the ticketing app.

As far as I'm aware supporters with reserved seats are ok but you can't buy a seat, it's first come first served.

[Ian g f]

Against all odds more injuries we never gave up and won

[GlenSTFC]

We were up against it being behind twice plus 2 injuries but our team spirit saw us through with 2 excellent goals to equalise and then the winner. Hoping Henry isn’t as bad as it looks but I do think we may need some reinforcements, the cup winnings should allow this now.

[Ian g f]

Be nice to know how our 2 centre backs out injured are doing 

[Curtis]

Very entertaining match, & a brilliant result.

In my opinion, we look best going forwards when we play the ball into the feet of our wide players but for some reason play far more long speculative balls to them & expect them to challenge aerially & pick up second balls.

I would definitely say making the First Round Proper exceeds expectations (only the best 32 non league clubs should be there), and hopefully we can get either a big pay day draw (away to Cardiff, Bolton, Reading or Wycombe) or a winnable home match against someone our level or lower.

[GlenSTFC]

Away won’t make the club much money as the attendance wouldn’t be that high. Home against a big league club should ensure a sell out but more importantly a much greater chance of getting a live tv slot which I think is worth £50-60k.

I make that £33,375 ‘won’ in prize money so far plus that’ll be topped up maybe by another a few thousand from combined shared gate receipts.

Edited October 11, 2025 by GlenSTFC

[Twyford Rebel]

Just had a sneaky look at the Enfield Town supporters Facebook group. One of their fans is blaming Slough fans for racist comments and then goes on to blame our stewards for letting the Slough fans get away with it.

Don't believe it for one second.

[RebelVilla]

Excellent team performance today, coming from behind twice and having two injuries towards the end of the first half.

Many good individual performances, however I thought Wiktor chased all the balls which came his way this afternoon and kept the Enfield backline on their toes. He certainly deserved his goal for his perseverance in outmuscling the Enfield defender and getting the ball off him.

I was surprised by the discipline of the Enfield players, were there two or three yellow cards from confronting the referee? Once a player is on a yellow card, they start to walk a tightrope, one slightly mistimed tackle could lead to a second yellow.

Must be a good feeling for Scott, the management and the players tonight, through to the 1st round proper in the cup, money in the bank and the anticipation of who we might draw in the next round.

I hope our two players who went off injured are both OK.

Have a good rest of the weekend everyone, looking forward to the cup draw on Monday evening.

 

[The Crowing Cockerel]

25 minutes ago, RebelVilla said:

I was surprised by the discipline of the Enfield players, were there two or three yellow cards from confronting the referee? Once a player is on a yellow card, they start to walk a tightrope, one slightly mistimed tackle could lead to a second yellow.

ETFC fan in peace.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a ref change his mind following complaint from players. Whilst I appreciate the players want to get it off their chest, its inevitable that they'll end up in the book if they don't choose their words very carefully! 

All things considered it was a 'proper cup tie' - five goals and some late drama. I think the ref caused himself some problems with his inconsistent approach to physical contact. It seemed that he let quite a lot go, but where exactly was the 'line' which meant a foul?

Sorry to see the injuries - I know Dorking have complained about injury issues associated with their 3/4G surface - is this something you've experienced as well?

I didn't hear any racist abuse or otherwise, so I won't pass comment on that - I would be surprised if that happened.

Good luck in the next round and see you later in the season.

[Curtis]

10 minutes ago, The Crowing Cockerel said:

ETFC fan in peace.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a ref change his mind following complaint from players. Whilst I appreciate the players want to get it off their chest, its inevitable that they'll end up in the book if they don't choose their words very carefully! 

All things considered it was a 'proper cup tie' - five goals and some late drama. I think the ref caused himself some problems with his inconsistent approach to physical contact. It seemed that he let quite a lot go, but where exactly was the 'line' which meant a foul?

Sorry to see the injuries - I know Dorking have complained about injury issues associated with their 3/4G surface - is this something you've experienced as well?

I didn't hear any racist abuse or otherwise, so I won't pass comment on that - I would be surprised if that happened.

Good luck in the next round and see you later in the season.

I don’t recall your side being quite so physical in our league match, it seemed from the very opening minutes that it was a specific tactic, maybe to intimidate our young side? I thought our injuries came from overly aggressive challenges, nothing to do with the pitch.

In my opinion, the referee let too much go right from the outset which set the tone for match….. and from where I was in the main stand (a long way from the incident) I would have expected 9 times out of 10 that our second goal would have been ruled out for a foul, but with what the ref had let go up until then I’m not surprised it was allowed.

[sdelaney2308]

Well done to the management and young squad on a brilliant win.

Must say so good to see so many youngsters supporting the team on a great day hope it was one of many they are needed on a regular basis to be future of the club.

COYREBELS 

Edited October 12, 2025 by sdelaney2308

[Reading Rebel]

20 hours ago, The Crowing Cockerel said:

ETFC fan in peace.

I'm not sure I've ever seen a ref change his mind following complaint from players. Whilst I appreciate the players want to get it off their chest, its inevitable that they'll end up in the book if they don't choose their words very carefully! 

All things considered it was a 'proper cup tie' - five goals and some late drama. I think the ref caused himself some problems with his inconsistent approach to physical contact. It seemed that he let quite a lot go, but where exactly was the 'line' which meant a foul?

Sorry to see the injuries - I know Dorking have complained about injury issues associated with their 3/4G surface - is this something you've experienced as well?

I didn't hear any racist abuse or otherwise, so I won't pass comment on that - I would be surprised if that happened.

Good luck in the next round and see you later in the season.

We've had a 3G surface since we moved into the stadium in 2016/17 season and as far as I can recall we've had very few injuries apart from this current season.

 

22 hours ago, Ian g f said:

Be nice to know how our 2 centre backs out injured are doing 

All we know is that Reiss has had an injection and Kiki has a bruised leg.

Edited October 12, 2025 by Reading Rebel

[Reading Rebel]

17 hours ago, GlenSTFC said:

We were up against it being behind twice plus 2 injuries but our team spirit saw us through with 2 excellent goals to equalise and then the winner. Hoping Henry isn’t as bad as it looks but I do think we may need some reinforcements, the cup winnings should allow this now.

Sounds like Henry will be out for a few weeks.

I'm not sure how long we can muddle along without re-inforcements but now Henry is out surely some are needed.

[Reading Rebel]

22 hours ago, Curtis said:

Very entertaining match, & a brilliant result.

In my opinion, we look best going forwards when we play the ball into the feet of our wide players but for some reason play far more long speculative balls to them & expect them to challenge aerially & pick up second balls.

I would definitely say making the First Round Proper exceeds expectations (only the best 32 non league clubs should be there), and hopefully we can get either a big pay day draw (away to Cardiff, Bolton, Reading or Wycombe) or a winnable home match against someone our level or lower.

Scott has re-iterated numerous times that we are not a possession based team so the 'long ball' will be used a lot more often.

Unfortunately at the moment we are a team of 'midgets' and any ball crossed into our box will cause us problems and any ball pumped forward will come straight back. 

Edited October 12, 2025 by Reading Rebel

[Reading Rebel]

15 hours ago, Twyford Rebel said:

Just had a sneaky look at the Enfield Town supporters Facebook group. One of their fans is blaming Slough fans for racist comments and then goes on to blame our stewards for letting the Slough fans get away with it.

Don't believe it for one second.

You would certainly hope that none of our fans would use any racist abuse.

Unfortunately in a large crowd it only takes one person to spoil it for every one.

 

[Reading Rebel]

Considering the players we have missing there's no doubt this was a fantastic win and achievement to get to the 1st round of the cup.

For large parts of the game it looked like it wasn't going to happen but our perseverance and team work paid off in the end.

To quote someone: 'Not a great performance but under the circumstances a great win'

 

[Holyport Rebel]

I don't know about you, but watching a match like we had yesterday is why I love this game called football.
You can go many, many months, even several whole seasons not having that feeling all Slough fans had at the final whistle of yesterday's match.
To get such a high after one special game makes all the countless other matches we all go to so worthwhile.
When I walked out the ground after the game yesterday I wasn't as high as after that match I recently told you about from 50 years ago v Wyscum,but it was pretty damn close.
It just felt incredible that we had somehow managed to win such an important match despite all the disadvantages we had to contend with.
It must be me getting soft in my old age, because walking out of the ground after the match I felt a touch of sympathy for the Enfield fans having lost a game like that in such a manner.
Ahead in the game twice, hit the woodwork three times, concede a "dodgy" equaliser, nearly score  a winner right at the death but end up defeated. 
Only a touch of sympathy mind you, I'm not losing it. 😄
We were all on such a high, and they were on such a low, and we Slough fans know that low feeling all too well  from important matches past.
As that song goes though from some obscure foreign pop group
"The Winner Takes It All" 
(Sorry, I couldn't help that.)
I entered the ground much earlier than usual, as I wanted to make sure I obtained a copy of the match programme.
Thankfully I got one.
Great cover with that photo of Wembley and  the FA Cup.
Anyone else notice the mistake on the front cover ?
It says this Enfield match was an FA Cup 3rd qualifying round replay.
Eh ?
Call me Mr Fussy if you want, but I thought this was a disappointing error.
No proofreader obviously.
Due to the match being segregated, I wouldn't be able to be where I usually like to stand to watch the game, so I looked to see if there were any spare seats in the main stand. 
Happily there were, so I took a seat and waited for kick off.
I was quietly confident that we would somehow make it through to the magical 1st Round of the Cup, but that feeling evaporated 30 seconds after the game started.
Very good goal, great cross and great finish, but what a dreadful start for us. 
I remembered how difficult we had found it to get back in the game in that recent league match when we went behind to an early Enfield goal. 
A couple of minutes later, two blokes sat down in the empty seats beside me.
I recognised the man sitting right next to me.
"Hello, you're the Salisbury manager aren't you?" I said.
Considering the awful start Salisbury have made in the league this season, I admired his dark humour response
"Yes..........................................at the moment."
"Come to spy on  us for next week then ?", I replied.
He then went on to say that he could always see recordings of any league matches NLS teams played, but today, being an FA Cup match, that  wasn't possible, hence why he was here.
"Haven't missed anything important have I ?" , he asked.
"You know we're one down already don't you ? " I replied.
I could tell from his reaction that he didn't know that.
He was very polite and friendly, but I was very much on my guard from then on, as I didn't want to say anything which might aid his plotting for next weeks league game.
(Yeah I'm sure he knew of all our injuries and suchlike, but I still didn't want to give him any inside info.)
In a break in play I asked him who had knocked Salisbury out of the Cup, and he told me it was Dorking, after a replay.
In the replay Salisbury had scored the important first goal, but the ref hadn't given it, and they ended up losing.
He showed me a picture on his phone of the ball a yard inside the goal, which then seemingly had hit a metal bar behind the goalpost and bounced out, and the ref had played on.
I could tell he had gotten over the incident. 😄
After half an hour Wiktor was through on goal and had to score.
He didn't.
Johnny G got to the rebound, and must score to equalise.
The damn ball hit the woodwork.
Thank God Ruben was also following up, and stooped to head the ball into the empty net.
Boy did we need that.
My optimism about us winning this tough Cup-tie returned ,but then not long before half-time we lost not one but two more players to injury.
It never rains but it pours.
"Lets get to half time level and take things from there" I thought.
Typically, we didn't make it level to half time as Enfield scored a straightforward goal from a corner.
Up against it yet again.
Second half began, and it seemed to be a succession of long balls from deep in our half to deep inside the Enfield half.
Tyrique got the ball on the halfway line and tried a short ten yard pass to Jared, which rolled into touch.
The Salisbury manager turned to me and said
"He didn't get the memo, did he ?"
suggesting  a short pass was not part of the plan.
His comment made me laugh.
Twenty minutes from time with the score still 1-2, I turned to the Salisbury manager and said
"I'd take a draw now to be honest."
To his massive credit he said
"I wouldn't be so quick to say that, you know."
Soon after, Wiktor closed down an Enfield defender right on the byline, won the ball and from such a tight angle put the ball into the back of the net to equalise.
At the time I thought it was a definite foul, and was amazed the ref and lino had let it stand.
Seeing the video highlights just now though, and also seeing some comments from Enfield fans on their forum saying their defender went down too easily, (and they were closer to the incident than I was), I'm not so sure now.   
The ref gave the goal so that is all that matters.
Time was running out, and it was looking likely to end up a draw and needing a replay, when five minutes from time our goal had such a lucky escape.
How Enfield didn't score I don't know, but so so thankfully the ball stayed out of our net.
Into injury time and surely nothing was going to break the deadlock.
Enfield had made several substitutions towards the end of the game, and each sub that came on was bigger than the previous one, and the first sub that had come on was massive !
I was dreading conceding a corner or free kick near our goal with all that height in the Enfield team.
The ball was mostly down now in the Enfield half.
Jared made a shooting chance for himself but couldn't get the vital breakthrough.
That was surely going to be it.
Absolutely incredibly, a nice  little run from Johnny G led to him slipping the ball through to Jaiden inside the Enfield area, and Jaiden smacked the ball into the Enfield net.
Moments like that don't come along very often, but when they do , WOW.
Arbour Park erupted.
Unbelievable.
While I was still standing up applauding in total disbelief, the Salisbury manager walked passed me to I guess make a quick  get away before the crowd would flood out.
He'd seen enough.
Before he left though, he shook my hand.
What a nice, thoroughly decent bloke.
"Please God don't let Enfield get a corner or free kick near our box",  I almost prayed.
Several very nervous minutes past, and then the ref blew his whistle to take all Slough fans and players and management to dreamland.
I'll be on a high definitely up to the draw tomorrow.
Please God don't give us a possible away trip to Truro, or even worse, an away trip to Bromley.
A match against any proper league club will do me.
By proper I mean not a newbie league club like a Stevenage, Crawley, Cheltenham or Burton etc.
I'd love a home draw against either Blackpool or Bolton, both previous FA Cup winners and both with massive FA Cup histories.
Regardless, somehow our  Slough Town are in the draw.
Despite such a lengthy injury list and suspensions, an injury list which has even increased after yesterday's game, Scotty and the lads have managed to get us through two ties against Welling, an away tie at Bedfont Sports and yesterday's epic against Enfield.
This has been a stupendous achievement, getting to the First Round Proper of the FA Cup.
Thank you  Scotty, all the management and of course all the players for giving us a day like yesterday, and for all the excitement and pleasure that this FA Cup run is giving us supporters.
These really are moments to cherish.
 

Edited October 12, 2025 by Holyport Rebel