BRITISH SUMMER TIME!!!

These two pictures show what the weather conditions were like in August on the opening day of the season at Cricklefields and yesterday at Rookery Hill. They bear a little resemblance don't they!!

THE WAITING GAME.....

So, as it stands Leiston's final game against Potters Bar Town is now scheduled for Tuesday night meaning Enfield Town wait to see if it's the title or the play-offs. The play-off semi-final will be played against Grays Athletic at either Victory Road or The Queen Elizabeth Stadium on Thursday night pending the result of the game on Tuesday. If the Leiston game is called off on Tuesday it'll be played on Thursday. SIMPLE!!

Hopefully the weather will clear up and Leiston can get the game on on Tuesday night and then it'll all become clearer.

Here are some more pictures of yesterday's Grays Athletic game -

THE GRAYS ATHLETIC FANS GATHERED ON THE FAR SIDE

TOWN FANS GATHERED UNDER THE DOUBLE STANDS DURING THE FIRST HALF

FLOODLIGHTS FOR AN AFTERNOON GAME IN APRIL SUMMED UP THE WEATHER CONDITIONS

PROUD TO BE A TOWNER - OVER TO YOU LEISTON??

It was great day to be an Enfield Town supporter on Saturday afternoon as the team put in a fantastic and highly impressive performance to win 0-3 on a very wet Rookery Hill pitch against a Grays Athletic team that had been unbeaten for ten games previous. The victory puts Town top of the table with Leiston two points below as their game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Victory Road.

The Suffolk side are now due to play Potters Bar Town this afternoon where anything but a win would hand Town the league title. The rain is still falling so the game may not even take place today which would probably cause the play-off matches to be delayed.

In the play-offs Tilbury (3rd place) will definitely host Needham Market (4th place) with Grays Athletic visiting either Suffolk or The Donkey Dome pending the result of the game now due to be played this afternoon.

A big well done to the ground staff at Grays Athletic for getting the pitch in a playable condition despite all the rain that fell.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

BIG GAME TODAY AT ROOKERY HILL

Today is the day Enfield Town could win the league. It's a big could as Leiston clearly have the advantage as they only need to win against Potters Bar Town at home. Town need to win their difficult trip to Grays Athletic and hope that The Scholars can do us a favour by either winning or drawing in Suffolk.

Whatever happens The Town players and staff have done us supporters proud this season and should Leiston be crowned champions we will still be in with a shout in the play-offs along with Tilbury, Needham Market and Grays Athletic.

Please remember if your travelling to the game that there will be delays around the A13 due to the road closure in Pitsea and then there is the rain. Reports were the pitch at East Thurrock United was playable but with more rain this morning things could change.

The cold end recommends to keep checking  ETFCOfficial, Grays_Athletic and/or GAFC_Jones on TWITTER for news of the game being ON or OFF.

COME ON YOU TOWNERS!!!!

FINAL GAME OF THE REGULAR SEASON AND IT'S GRAYS ATHLETIC AWAY

Saturday sees Enfield Town travelling to Rookery Hill to face Grays Athletic in the final game of the regular season. For those not in the know Town are still in with a chance of winning the league but it's a slim one as they need win this game against the Essex side and also require Potters Bar Town to either win or draw at Leiston. There will be a large following of Town fans at the game hoping that The Scholars can do us a favour and the Town can record a victory in what will be a difficult match against good opponents. The game also has a meaning for the home side as a victory or even a point could see them finish in third place and guarantee home advantage in the play-off semi-final on Tuesday. They along with Tilbury and Needham Market have qualified for the play-offs with them all on 77 pts going into the final game of the season so any of them could finish in 3rd, 4th and 5th positions.

THE STATISTICS
PPG = POINTS PER GAME
GPG = GOALS PER GAME
GCPG = GOALS CONCEDED PER GAME

GRAYS ATHLETIC	STAT	ENFIELD TOWN
41	PLAYED	41
24	WON	26
8	DRAWN	9
9	LOST	6
80	GF	93
44	GA	46
+36	GD	+47
77* (*3 deducted)	PTS	87
1.88	PPG	2.12
58.54%	WIN%	63.41
1.95	GPG	2.26
1.07	GCPG	1.12
WWDDWW	LAST SIX	LLWDWW
13	CLEAN SHEETS	15
403 v ETFC (A)	BIGGEST LEAGUE CROWD	602 v LEISTON (H)

HTML Tables

Grays Athletic have hit form over the last few months to cement their play-off spot. They are unbeaten in ten games with their last defeat coming away at Soham Town Rangers on Saturday 3rd March. It's a tough call relying on Potters Bar Town and having to win this game but anything could happen??

In the matches involving the other play-off sides, Tilbury go to Thamesmead Town and Needham Market host Brentwood Town.

In the game at Victory Road which could see Leiston crowned champions the stats are that Potters Bar Town have won seven of their twenty games on the road so far. Victories have been recorded at Redbridge, Great Wakering Rovers, Ware, Heybridge Swifts, Romford, Maldon and Tiptree and Waltham Forest. They have also drawn against Chatham Town, Harlow Town and Soham Town Rangers. Leiston have only lost once at home all season against Harlow Town.

SURVIVAL SATURDAY FOR WARE & ILFORD

At the bottom of the table it's a case of 'Survival Saturday' as either Ware or Ilford could finish in the bottom two. Ware are three points behind The Foxes who are 3 goals better off in the goal difference panel (-40 Ware plays -37 Ilford). Ware need to win their game at home to Waltham Forest and hope Ilford lose at home against Harlow Town with some goals thrown into the balance as well. A 2-0 win for Ware and a 0-2 lost for Ilford would see the two clubs level on points with a goal difference of -38 for Ware and -39 for Ilford.

WARNING - TRAFFIC ALERT

There maybe some traffic on the way to the game as the A13 will be closed (eastbound and westbound) for the deconstruction of the old Church Road Bridge, between the Pitsea Flyover and Sadler’s Farm Roundabout, on the east and westbound carriageways from 5am on Saturday 28th April to 5am on Monday 30th April. The diversion routes will be via the A128, A127, A176, A1245 & A130 reports the Essex County Council website

This area is further East on the A13 from the A1014 turn off for Corringham and Standford-Le-Hope which you'll need to take for Rookery Hill but could cause some traffic jams in the area.

There are also roadworks on the M25 between the A127 and A13 junctions which could also cause tail-backs.

If your on twitter it could be an idea to follow @Essex_Travel on the day to check for any delays.

THE EAGLES WIN AT SANDRIDGE

Yesterday evening saw Letchworth Garden City Eagles visit Sandridge Rovers in the Hertfordshire Senior County League Premier Division. Rovers play at the Spencer Recreation Ground in the village just to the North of St Albans and despite the rain that has been bucketing down over the last few days the weather held out for the game and the sun even shone through at times making it a really nice early evening to watch football. The ground also doubles as the cricket field for the village and the groundsman was busy rolling the square, in preparation for the forthcoming season, throughout the match as you can here on parts of the video.

MATCH ACTION BETWEEN THE EAGLES (BLUE AND BLACK) AND ROVERS (BLACK AND WHITE)

Both sides were in decent form going into the game which kicked off at 6.30pm with Sandridge Rovers winning four of their previous six league games including a 0-3 victory at Pixmore against the Eagles. The visitors had won 3, drawn 1 and lost 2 of their last six league games but also got through to the Aubery Cup final with a narrow 1-2 victory at Wormley Rovers.  It was 10th versus 6th in the table and it turned out to be a closely fought entertaining game. Highlights are below including all five goals that were scored (one of them nearly caught me out after a quickly taken free kick as you'll see).

THE REFEREE HAD A REALLY GOOD GAME. HERE HE IS EXPLAINING A DECISION TO A ROVERS PLAYER

EVENING KICK OFFS WITH NO FLOODLIGHTS MAKE FOR A VERY QUICK HALF TIME BREAK

The Eagles, as well as the Aubery final on Bank Holiday Monday 7th May, have an interesting fixture next Tuesday 1st May when they travel a short distance to play Premier Division champion's Baldock Town.

Rovers have one league game left on that same day when they go to Metropolitan Police Bushey whom are the Eagles opponents in the big Bank Holiday final.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

LADIES FINISH LEAGUE SEASON WITH A VICTORY

WHAT STARTED OFF A GOOD AFTERNOON WEATHER WISE ENDED TOWARDS THE 90 MINUTE MARK AS SOME DARK CLOUDS MOVED IN.
IT MADE FOR SOME GREAT SHOTS OF THE QUEEN ELIZABETH STADIUM

Leiston weren't the only Suffolk club to make the journey down to The Queen Elizabeth Stadium over the weekend as on Sunday Ipswich Town Ladies visited to play Enfield Town Ladies in the South East Women's Combination League. Town had already secured runners-up spot prior to kick off against The Tractor Girls who were one place below them in third position.

It wasn't quite the 602 people who witnessed the big game on Saturday at Donkey Lane as around 15-20 people witnessed a decent display from the Town who won the game 3-0. Ipswich were unlucky not to score in the second half when they hit the post.

Town have one more game left in their season which takes place next Sunday 29th April when they face Cambridge Women in the final of the South East Combination Cup which is being played at Arlesey Town's ground. The Cold End sends good luck to all involved and hopefully the ladies can bring the trophy back to Enfield.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS 

A MUST WIN MATCH WON TO KEEP THE TITLE DREAM ALIVE

LAST GASP LIAM HOPE MAKES IT A GREAT DAY FOR FOOTBALL IN ENFIELD

TOP AND BOTTOM - TOWN FANS PACKED IN BEHIND THE GOAL IN THE FIRST HALF
MIDDLE - THE TRAVELLING LEISTON FANS BEHIND THEIR GOAL IN THE FIRST HALF

Mark Kirby, the Enfield Town Captain, tweeted 'I play football for days like today! Come on you town!' prior to the big game versus Leiston on Saturday afternoon and those words encapsulated the wholes team's performance in a last gasp 1-0 win at The Donkey Dome.

The table toppers came to North London backed by a noisy bunch of supporters and with the game drifting into injury time it looked like they had done enough to escape with a 0-0 draw and the one point they needed to win the title.

A Noel Imber long kick up field was headed on by Leon Osei into the path of Adam Wallace in the box who was brought down by Louis Johnson giving the referee no choice but to award a penalty kick.

HOW CLOSE???   LIAM HOPE'S HEADER DROPS THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BAR

Up stepped Liam Hope to send the unlucky Leiston keeper the wrong way to send the title race into the final day of the season. Johnson had made a great save in the first half and plucked the ball from numerous crosses all through the game as Town went looking for the all important goal. He was probably Leiston's best player on the day. Hope had seen a header go inches above the crossbar in the first half and Rudi Hall had hit a post in the second half.

Leiston are still firm favourites for the title as they face Potters Bar Town at home next Saturday with Enfield Town travelling to Grays Athletic.

The simple fact for Enfield Town is they need to win at Grays Athletic and hope Potters Bar Town can either win or nick a point at Victory Road to bring the title back to Donkey Lane. It's tough ask as Leiston's home form is nothing short of brilliant but you never know. Town fans have just got to hope!!

TEAM LINE UPS

The crowd was a season's best at 602 people. The Town fans present sang, encouraged and supported their team throughout the game with the travelling Lesiton fans adding to the atmosphere making it a great occasion at The Donkey Dome. It was a very good day to be a Towner!!! 

The Cold End sends best wishes to Leiston player Jemel Fox who fell awkwardly during the first half and was feared to have broken his arm. Luckily the news is it is was only dislocated. Get Well Soon Jemel!

ABOVE - THE TOWN PLAYER'S CELEBRATE LIAM HOPE'S (BURIED) LAST GASP WINNER WITH THE CONTRAST OF LEISTON KEEPER LOUIS JOHNSON IN THE BACKGROUND

BELOW - THE TOWN PLAYERS ARE JOINED BY CAPTAIN MARK KIRBY
THESE PHOTOS COURTESY OF MR TOM SCOTT - MORE EXCELLENT PHOTOS ON flickr link here

FOURTEEN MINUTES OF MATCH HIGHLIGHTS ARE BELOW

MUST WIN MATCH FOR ENFIELD TOWN

Saturday afternoon sees the biggest game of the season in the Ryman Division One (North) take place at The Queen Elizabeth II Stadium in Donkey Lane as second placed Enfield Town take on table topper's Leiston. Anything other than a victory for the Town will see the Suffolk side crowned champions so this really is a must win game for the home side.

For those not in the know after this important game both teams have one game left with Town visiting Grays Athletic (currently in 5th place) and Leiston welcoming Potters Bar Town (11th place) to Victory Road next Saturday.

The long and the short of it is that Town must win both games and hope that Leiston only draw or lose against Potters Bar Town next week in order to finish in top spot.

Where the points have been won by ETFC and LEISTON on a month by month basis??

This, of course, makes Leiston favourites for the title but as Town manager Steve Newing has said all the pressure is on them on Saturday afternoon in a match that will hopefully attract a decent crowd to The Donkey Dome.  Below are some statistics from the season for both sides and you can see it's very close between the two.

Leiston's 2-1 victory over Town on Saturday 10th December is really all that seperates the title rivals. How important could that victory be come the end of the season?

STATISTICS
GPG = GOALS PER GAMES
GCPG = GOALS CONCEDED PER GAME
PPG = POINTS PER GAME

ENFIELD TOWN	STAT	LEISTON
40	GAMES	40
25	WINS	27
9	DRAWS	7
6	DEFEATS	6
92	GOALS SCORED	93
46	GOALS CONCEDED	43
84	PTS	88
62.5%	WIN%	67.5%
2.3	GPG	2.33
1.15	GCPG	1.08
2.1	PPG	2.2
WLLWDW	LAST SIX	WWDLWL
14	CLEAN SHEETS	16
498 @ home v Redbridge on 2/1/12	BIGGEST CROWD	431 @ Needham Marker on 26/12/11

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The Cold End has got the following few words from Lesiton fan James Spink this week - in order to get another side to the story and his thoughts of the season so far. Thank you for you help James.

1) Did you expect to be in this position at the beginning of the season?

Based on Needham Market coming second last year & a glance over their squad I think I can speak for most fans in saying we knew we would be 'competitive' and 'more than hold our own' and there was a good possibility of making the Play offs due to the 'champagne cork' factor, meaning we were on a roll and would surprise many teams. Whatever happens the season has exceeded our expectations for sure!

2) How many fans/supporters are expected to make the journey to Enfield?

I would expect us to have around 100 fans travelling on Saturday, hopefully more! (the club are running a supporter's coach)

3) Best and worst results this season?

Best result: 5-0 Boxing Day win at Needham Market. A fantastic display and we were unplayable in the second half and blitzed our local rivals with some of the best attacking football I've ever seen us play, outstanding!

Worst result: Losing at home to Sudbury 1-0 in the FA Cup - what a sickener, for so many reasons!

4) Best team faced?

Either Harlow Town who beat us 4-1 at Victory Road back in October and gave us a real lesson in what football at this level is all about or Grays Athletic who are such a powerful side full of power and pace.

5) Best player faced?

I was very impressed with Ryan Edgar (Brentwood Town) in two of the three games against us and also Harry Agombar (Grays Athletic) who netted twice against us over the 2 games, Tom Bullard was immense for Bury Town in our Suffolk Premier Cup semi final defeat on penalties and Sos Yao was also lively and caused us problems for Maldon and Tiptree recently.

6) Do you miss the Eastern Counties League?
Only the local derbies and relatively short away days! Other than that the Ryman League is fantastic and I would encourage all Eastern Counties sides to aim to get into it. Never an easy game and a very well run League, an excellent standard of football.

7) Where do you see Leiston in 5 years time?

As an established Ryman Premier League side, aiming for Step 2 (eventually) Hopefully looking back with pride at a superb money spinning run in one of the National Cup Competitions!

8) If you went to the Tilbury game last week....how good are they??
(many people predict they'll be dangerous opponents in the play offs)
It seems like ages since we beat them earlier in the season, I thought Tilbury looked very solid and was very impressed with Alex Read and Eimel Aiken. If they can get home advantage in the Play Offs they will take some beating and expect their fans to be fairly vocal too!

DEFEATS THIS SEASON

ENFIELD TOWN	LEISTON
23/8 - TILBURY L 3-4	29/8 - Soham1-2
20/9 - Thamesmead 0-2	4/10 - Heybridge 1-2
10/12 - Leiston 1-2	15/10 - HARLOW 1-4
31/12 - Tilbury 1-2	26/10 - Grays 0-1
24/3 - Maldon & T 0-2	7/4 - Tilbury 1-3
31/3 - HARLOW TOWN 0-3	14/4 - Maldon & T 1-3

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A mark of how far the two clubs have come over the last few years is indicated by going back to 2004 when at this time of year (27th April) Enfield Town were drawing 0-0 at home (Goldsdown Road in front of a good crowd of 364) to Sawbridgeworth Town and finishing fourth in the Essex Senior League. Leiston (24th April) were winning 1-2 at Ely City (crowd - 86) in the Eastern Counties League Division One in which they finishing in third place. As a quick quiz question the cold end asks Town fans can you name the three teams who finished above us in 2003/04 and Leiston fans which two teams finished above your team in the same year?? Answers are below. 

The Cold End can only recommend you make your way down for the 3pm kick off on Saturday afternoon and sample some proper football. Why not make a day of it.....and come down early, have a drink and watch the Arsenal v Chelsea game (kick off 12.45pm) in Butler's Bar beforehand.

Quick Quiz answers -
ETFC - Concord Rangers, Ilford and Sawbridgeworth Town
LEISTON - Cambridge City Res and Harwich & Parkeston

DOG FAILS TO HELP AFC HATFIELD TOWN AGAINST WHITWELL

Guess the crowd competition. The Cold End's estimate was around 25-30 people

AFC Hatfield Town and Whitwell played out a really entertaining and eventful Hertfordshire Senior County League Division One game on Tuesday evening at The Birchwood Leisure Centre. Whitwell went into the game having just been crowned Division One champions combined with an ultra impressive 100% winning record. AFC Hatfield Town, in fourth place, were in good form as well having lost only one league game in their last eight.

 

The referee had a reasonably quite evening and only booked two players.

Unfortunately not even help from a four legged friend helped out the home side who put in a decent performance but were unable to match the visitor's finishing when in front of goal. The pitch behind the Leisure Centre is a simple one with a metal rail around it like Goldsdown Road used to be in 2001(minus the covered stand) which left the small group of spectators open to elements in the second half downpour and gusty windy conditions. The match kicked off at 6.30pm with the sun shining but still quite chilly - thankfully the rain which had been pouring on and off all day long had stopped until the last twenty minutes or so!

What will now be known as THE HATFIELD DOG INCIDENT.

This was what the cold end would describe as 'proper football' with some hard tackles flying in along with some good passing play as well. And to top it all...it was free which is tremendous value for money!

Strong tackles were put in throughout the game

The small dog ran onto the pitch at just the right time for AFC as Whitwell were on the attack and the furry friendly animal managed to put off the attacker somewhat. See the video from 3mins 35secs for footage of the dog incident.

As the match went on it, the sun disappeared and it became increasingly colder with the wind blowing across the pitch causing many of the fans watching to take cover under the surrounding trees. Then the rain came!!! When the final whistle was blown it was the quickest clearing of a pitch I've ever witnessed as every player darted back into the relative warmth of the changing rooms bar two who seemingly joined the short straw to take down the goal-nets.

The weather conditions went downhill with around 20 minutes left

To summarise a very good game and a great advert for the Hertfordshire County League... this being step 8 on the non-league pyramid.

Whitwell now go into their final game of the season against Old Parmiterians on Saturday 5th May with a chance of going the full season with a 100% winning record. The last time they lost in the league was way back on Saturday 14th May 2011 when Hertford Heath beat them 1-5.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS BELOW inc all five goals scored