ENFIeld fc 1 afc 3
Enfield FC 1 AFC Dunstable 3 (0-2 Half time)
F.A. Trophy Second Qualifying Round
Hertingfordbury Park (Hertford FC) Friday 19th September 2025.
Attendance –
Match report by Richard Church.
A very pleasant late summer Friday evening in Hertfordshire – nice and warm, decent hospitality and a very welcome win thankyou very much!
The start of the game was very bitty with both teams failing to lay much of a glove on their opponents. Perhaps we had the recent 5-2 defeat (less than three weeks ago) in the back of our minds and were playing with a bit more caution. AFC had a couple of early half chances but nothing to get too excited about – the final ball in to the box was lacking in accuracy on both occasions. Enfield also had their opportunities early on and were putting a bit of pressure on the visitors but again, nothing to really trouble our defence.
The first decent chance came with 22 minutes on the clock following some great work from Avto who played the ball to Maks but his first time shot was straight at the keeper. AFCs turn to put the pressure on and 3 minutes later another shot from Maks but well over the bar. Ike (previously referred to as Timothy in match reports!) saw the keeper well off his line on the half hour but his quick thinking to try his luck from distance saw the ball go a couple of yards wide of the right hand post. Another great move 3 minutes later saw a Tommy effort deflected over for a corner. Avto next with a run and shot on 35 but as he cut inside his effort was blocked. Pretty much all AFC at this stage – Tommy had another shot well saved on 37 with the ball pushed in to the path of Avto but somehow the keeper managed to recover and save Avto’s follow up shot. It looked only a matter of time and so it proved. Shawn played a speculative ball forward which was headed by a home defender straight in to the path of Ike who gleefully stuck the ball away for his third goal in successive matches. Four minutes of the half remaining at this stage and AFC kept pushing – George’s shot in the last minute of the half was blocked for a corner. From the corner the ball was cleared away to the edge of the box and Tommy volleyed it in to the net (with a slight deflection) to give us a deserved 2-0 half time lead.
AFC had the first chance of the second half when Ike ran the ball in to the box – it looked very much as though he would score but a perfectly timed last ditch tackle took the ball away from him before he could shoot. Enfield came back in to the game strongly after that and a great save from Matt when he tipped a shot on to the bar and over for a corner was closely followed by a close in fiercely struck shot straight at him – anywhere else and it would have been in the net. Although we had a couple of speculative efforts from Tommy and Ike mid-way through the half, Enfield were in the ascendancy and we were living dangerously but we held on well.
With 87 on the clock, Enfield halved the deficit. We had survived a number of really well taken corners swinging in and keeping Matt on his toes but unfortunately this particular corner was punched away straight to Joni Vukaj on the edge of the box who volleyed the ball in to the top corner with impressive technique. Game on but not for long. Barely a minute later Tommy broke away with the ball and played it to Avto who produced a great finish to restore our 2 goal lead. As we went in to an unknown number of minutes added, Avto had a glorious chance to put the game to bed but he couldn’t get his shot off and the keeper smothered the ball. Somehow the referee played ten minutes plus of added time (no idea where he got that from). Last chance of the game fell to the home side but following a bout of pinball in the area the ball was eventually played away for a corner. At last the ref blew the final whistle to see us in to the next round with an excellent hard fought 3-1 victory. Que sera, sera, whatever will be will be………………………………………….!
Man of the match (as decided by the AFC committee) was Avto.
Team line up (subs in brackets) ; Matt Bonsu (Sam Carmen 97), Aaron Addy (Joshua Clark-Anderson 55), Carmichael Uchenna, Maks Jarzabek, Shawn Joseph, Ben Lynch (Mwita Mgoyo 60), Timothy “Ike” Okwusogu (Eric Frunza 83), Akhsiashvili “Avto” Avtandil (Joel Paintsil 92), Tommy Blennerhasset, George Joyce, Kyle Brooks.
