The Enfield Town supporters who made the massive midweek journey to rural Suffolk were rewarded with undoubtedly Town's best performance of the season to date as the team put in a very solid performance to demolish AFC Sudbury in spectacular style at the impressive MEL Group Stadium.
The cold end loves a statistic and you have to go back to Tuesday 21st March 2006 for the last time when AFC Sudbury conceded five goals at home in a competitive fixture. On that date Lowestoft Town recorded a 5-3 AET in the Suffolk Premier Cup Semi-Final.
AFC did start well with left winger Dave Wareham putting in a few good crosses which weren't seized upon by his team mates.
It all seemed to be one way traffic from around 15 minutes into the game when Adam Wallace stung the hands of home keeper Nicky Eyrie who made a good save to palm the shot over the bar.
Above - Kirby's (just out of picture) opening goal
It was 0-1 shortly after when an Andy Jones in swinging corner caused Eyrie all sorts of problems at the near post only for the ball to fall for Mark Kirby who calmly slotted the ball into the net.
Sudbury had an excellent chance to level the scores when the impressive Wareham only had Rob Blackburne to beat but drilled his shot over the bar.
Above - HANDBALL???
Town's three pronged attack of Hope, Osei and Wallace interchanged positions and they gave the Sudbury back four a very busy night. Osei seized upon a stray pass to rifle a shot which Eyrie spilled into the path of Hope but the Sudbury keeper managed to get to the ball before Hope could get a shot in.
It didn't matter though as Jonny Moore turned provider and scorer for Town's second as his shot was only parried by Eyrie back into his path with his second effort hitting the back of the net.
HALF TIME 0-2
It was more of the same in the second half as Moore passed to Hope whose shot unluckily hit the post. Adam Wallace who put in a great performance seized upon the ball after a mix up between Eyrie and Tom Devaux to pass the ball into the back of the net from outside the box.
Above - Liam Hope hits the post
It was 0-4 when Hope scored from close range following great build up play by Moore and 0-5 when Osei stole the ball off a Sudbury player and played in substitute Stuart Blackburne who scored a very welcome goal to round the night off.
Above - Liam Hope scores Town's fourth goal
Rhys Darg playing in midfield for the home side looked very lucky to stay on the pitch as after being booked for leading with his arm in an aerial challenge on Moore in the first half he went in with what appeared to be a late tackle on the same player late in the second half which went unpunished from the referee..
AFC Sudbury got a late consolation goal from the penalty spot after Rob Blackburne had brought a player down in the box.
FINAL SCORE 1-5
A fantastic team performance tonight from Enfield Town and a great result to record such a high scoring victory at a side who are usually very strong at home. It wasn't just the forwards who played well. Craig McKay put in a sterling performance at the back along with Michael Bardle who combined well with Osei when running forward from left back. Jon Moore also stood out in midifeld.
Another random fact from tonight is that Town had three captains tonight. Mark Kirby started the game and handed the armband to Andy Jones when he came off in the second half who in turn passed it to Rudi Hall who replaced him later on in the game.
The squad fully deserved the applause given to them by the travelling fans as they left the pitch as it certainly was a memorable performance. Hopefully this can be the catalyst to climb the league back up to the play-off zone.
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