TOWN DRAW WITH THE CANARIES

The two teams and fans present observed a minute's silence in the memory of referee Jack Taylor OBE who sadly passed away aged 82 this week.  

Enfield Town welcomed The Canaries to a very warm and sunny Queen Elizabeth II Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Premier League Norwich City sent a team made up of their Academy and Development squads for what turned out to be an entertaining pre-season friendly.  City, as you’d expect, looked confident when on the ball and passed it around impressively with Town fielding nearly two different XI’s in each half also putting in a decent and encouraging performance. Tyler Campbell stood out for Town in the first half with his pace being a constant thorn in the City’s youthful side. Campbell, playing on the left wing, gave City right-back Ewan McNeil a busy first 45 minutes. McNeil was a youth player at Rangers and spent some time on loan at Scottish Division Two Airdrie last season.

The only two players who stayed on for the second period were centre back’s Crag McKay and Dave Kendall with McKay coming off with around 20 minutes to play for Rudi Hall to get a run out.

Norwich City's line up included the aforementioned McNeil along with centre back Adel Gafiati (another ex Rangers youth player), Olumide Durojaiye (an ex Tottenham Hotspur youth), Ramil Shariff (ex of Totthenham Hotspur and Jamaican Under 20 International), George Brislen-Hall (Arsenal and has trained with MLS side Colorado Rapids) and Callum Webb (QPR and Arsenal).

Campbell made Town’s first goal when his free kick into the near post from the left hand side was touched into the net by a Norwich player’s leg. The young City side equalised when Jacob Murphy capitalised after Town’s young goalkeeper Jake Smith blocked a shot. Murphy was able to slot the ball home to make it 1-1. Smith then showed what a promising keeper he is when pulling off a great save to deny a Norwich shot from just outside the box (from 4mins on the vide)

Town made it 2-1 when Bryan Hammatt’s shot came back off the angle of crossbar and post for Liam Hope to head home.

City pushed for an equaliser and made it 2-2 with a very well worked goal which will go down as the best one of the day.  A fantastic through ball by Josh Murphy to Jamar Loza whose deft touch skillfully took the ball around goalkeeper James Chalk allowing the impressive Dukrojaye to pass the ball into the unguarded net.

TEAM LINE UPS

ENFIELD TOWN 1st HALF	ETFC 2nd HALF	NORWICH CITY XI
1. Jake Smith	James Chalk	1. Remi Matthews
2. Lee Allen	Jordan Lockie	2. Ewan McNeil
3. Michael Badle	Danny Barber	3. George Brislen-Hall
4. Craig McKay	Craig McKay*	4. Oli Dukrojaye
5. Dave Kendall	Dave Kendall	5. Adel Gafiati
6. Dean Pennant	Michael Ewang	6. Ramil Shariff
7. Adam Wallace	Leon Fisher	7. Jacob Murphy
8. Mitch Hahn	Joe O'Brien	8. Ronnie Hawkins
9. Danile Ailey	Liam Hope	9. Jamar Loza
10. Leon Oesi	Bryan Hammatt	10. Callum Webb
11. Tyler Campbell	Walid Matata	11. Josh Murphy
	Rudi Hall * (sub McKay)	12. Paddy Hestor (on for 3)
		15. Jack Dean (on for 2)
		14. Callum King (on for 10)

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It was a decent game for a pre-season friendly and a good performance from both sides. For Town fans it was good to see Michael Bardle playing at left-back in the first 45 minutes. Bards had been out injured for most of last season so his return is like a new signing for the Ryman Premier Division season.  I’m sure all connected with Enfield Town will thank the Premier League club for sending a side down to play us. If they were impressed with the facilities and fantastic pitch at The Donkey Dome maybe, with manager Chris Hughton knowing the area following his time with Tottenham Hotspur, they may send a first team XI to play us next pre-season.

City’s first team were in action at Peterborough United where goals from James Vaughan and Steve Morrison secured a 0-2 win. An Enfield Town squad made up of mostly trailists travelled locally to Spartan South Midlands League Division One side Cockfosters and ended up on the wrong end of a 6-0 scoreline.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS