Enfield Town 2 Brentwood Town 1
Tonight's performance typified the team spirit and hard work ethic Steve and Del have instilled into the their team. A determined rear guard action earned an extremely valuable three points against a very capable Brentwood Town side, who will be disappointed they didn't gain anything from the game.
Andy Jones and Richard Morton in the centre of midfield stood out with accomplished performances relieving the pressure on the Town back four on numerous occasions as Brentwood pushed for an equaliser in the second half.
The first 15 minutes of the game were very scrappy as both sides struggled to make any chances of note with the first incident being a bit of 'handbags' in the middle of the park when ex Towner Reise Noel appeared to raise his hands when pushing Stuart Blackburne amongst the melee. Noel along with his team-mate, another ex Town player, Junior Luke were both booked for their part in the incident along with Town's Andy Jones.
Stuart Blackburne then had a chance when his first shot rebounded off a defender only for his resulting chance to go wide of Brentwood keeper Ben Stone's left hand post.
Jordan Lockie and Ben Hammond were linking up well on the right hand side with Michael Bardle and Sam Byfield doing the same on the left. Town seemed to get into the game and were unlucky when Stuart's header was well saved by Stone and then cleared off the line by the Brentwood defender with a combination of head and foot.
STUART BLACKBURNE'S HEADER WELL SAVED BY BEN STONE AND CLEARED OFF THE LINE
Brentwood Town took the lead when Kris Lee latched onto a ball which came over the Town defence to slot home past Rob Blackburne's left hand side. The first time in 4 games the town's net had been breached.
It wasn't too long before Town got back in the game and it was Andy Jones who produced a moment of class and magic to level up the scoreline. He raced from midfield in a maurading run, then using some silky skill he side stepped one of the Brentwood players before planted a shot past Stone into the right hand corner of the goal. (cold end note - I only wish I'd caught this on film as unfortunately the only bit of footage I got worthwhile was the above goal-line clearance. The Cold End sends apologies to Jonesy for missing it!!!)
Barely a minute later a poor clearance from the away defence landed at a grateful Liam Hope's feet whose well placed shot went into the left hand corner of the goal to make it 2-1.
Stuart Blackburne then had the beating of Brentwood defender Darren Ebbsworth only for his shot to go into the side netting.
HALF TIME - 2-1
The second half was a very tight affair with a Sam Byfield shot from the edge of the box well saved by Stone's dive to his right hand side the only real chance on target Town had with Brentwood coming strongly back into the match as it progressed. Town had one other chance when Jordan Lockie who had a great game looking very composed at right back put in a lovely cross across the goal-mouth which Stuart (who by that time was carrying a knock) couldn't get his foot to.
Brentwood's right back Junior Luke is the Ryman League Division One North's answer to Rory Delap as he possesses an enormous throw. On more then one occasion though Mark Kirby rose to head the ball away from one of the ariel assaults into the box. Brentwood passed the ball around confidently and with style, It was easy to see why they had had such a great result on Tuesday and they showed no signs of tiredness. Dean Pennant in the centre of midfield also stood out as a good player.
Town held on with Jason Holmes, who had come on after about 10 minutes of the second half for Rob Blackburne who appeared to have taken a knock, rarely troubled by any real clear cut chances created by the away side.
The cold end says, whilst it wasn't the most entertaining of games, the team done us supporters proud tonight with a determined display which ground out the all important win.
FULL TIME 2-1
ETFC
Blackburne R (Holmes), Lockie, Bardle, McKay, Kirby, Morton, Hammond (Marks), Jones, Blackburne S (Valenti), Hope, Byfield.
Not Used - Hall and Blower
BRENTWOOD TOWN
Ben Stone, Junior Luke, Darren Ebbsworth, Reise Noel, Darren Blewitt (Rick Mitchell - half time), Dean Pennant, James Love, Richard Priest, Kris Lee, Ben Boyce, Dee Okojie.
Subs - Nick Pyne, Piers Wilson, Nathan Fletcher (who came on with about 30 seconds left) and Petric Elbi.
Les Whitton's side still have to play Wingate and Finchley (20/3), Northwood (23/3) and Lowestoft Town (30/3) so there results will still have some say on the play-off place's /championship race. Despite being down in 13th place the cold end saw enough tonight to suggest Brentwood are more than capable of beating the above three teams making our victory tonight very important.
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