Enfield OGs 2 - 1 Southgate County

Enfield OG 2 – 1 Southgate County
(O’Leary)

Southgate faced an Enfield OGs team two divisions above us in our first Cup game of the season on Saturday, and despite missing a few players still had a decent squad available.

The game started fairly evenly. Both teams were getting stuck in and both teams were trying to play football. We were regularly stringing two or three passes together but then our moves would fall down. The first 20 minutes saw no clear cut chances for either side but the best chances did fall to us. Good work from Bradley Sayers on the left saw the ball break to Robert Danso who struck a powerful shot which the Enfield keeper did well to tip wide. We couldn’t quite get a shot away on another couple of occasions when in good positions and then with about 25 minutes on the clock we shot ourselves in the foot. After a decent period of play we lost the ball in a dangerous position; the ball was lifted forwards and an onrushing Enfield attacker brilliantly dinked the ball over Deering for 1-0. It was a real sucker punch. We continued to work hard without showing enough quality to really create clear chances; one good move saw Marchant play an excellent deep cross to the back post but the onrushing O’Brien could only head wide.

It had been a frustrating half; we had played ok and probably shaded the half, certainly in terms of chances, even if they were only half chances, but one mistake and we were punished; I guess that is the difference with teams from higher divisions. We spoke about leaving everything on the pitch second half and making sure we went for it.

Unfortunately for us Enfield were much better in the second half and we didn’t perform as well as the first. We struggled to really get into the half at all and to be honest the first 30 minutes was pretty much all Enfield; we were showing no confidence or quality on the ball at all. After hitting the bar and probably incorrectly having a goal ruled out for offside Enfield went 2 up; a simple goal that again we gave away. The last 15 minutes we had a go. With 10 minutes remaining Enfield had a man sent off; unfortunately for us the referee deemed that he had just been substituted and therefore Enfield stayed with 11 men. With 5 minutes to go Anthony Georgiou saw a low shot really well saved by the Enfield keeper (who was class throughout). With just a couple of minutes left Declan O’Leary smashed in a 25 yarder after weaving his way in from the left wing…a great goal that gave us hope. We continued to press but couldn’t fashion that one chance that would have taken the game to extra time.

A disappointing game because it felt like we could have got something from the game. We let ourselves down in the second half in particular, but on a positive note Enfield certainly didn’t look like a team 2 divisions above us. Man of the match was Declan O’Leary who worked harder than anyone and showed glimpses of real quality including a great goal.

Team; Deering, Marchant, Kerby, Thirgood J, O’Brien, Sayers, Mensah, Thirgood B, Cerveno, O’Leary, Danso, Owuso, Georgiou.