Under-21s rue early goals against Enfield Town

Some lapses in concentration allowed the home side to roar into a three-goal lead inside 22 minutes in front of a large crowd at the Queen Elizabeth II Stadium and although we tightened up and got forward on a handful of occasions, we couldn’t find a way past Dylan Thompson, our on-loan goalkeeper producing some good saves against us after his temporary switch to the Isthmian League outfit was confirmed prior to kick-off.

It was always going to be a tricky test for Wayne Burnett’s young side against senior opposition in what is often a popular and well-attended summer fixture just down the road from our Training Centre and so it proved in the evening sunshine, Town’s Amrit Bansall-McNulty in particular a thorn in our side as he scored twice after providing the assist for Ayo Tanimowo’s opener before hobbling off injured at the end of the first period. The second half was a quieter affair as the hosts saw out the win.

After an uneventful start, Max McFadden saw a deflected effort fly wide before Town took a 12th-minute lead. Tom Avgoustides played Bansall-McNulty in down the left, he turned away from covering defender Alfie Dorrington and found Tanimowo and he let fly from the edge of the box, his deflected shot nestling inside the far post.

Three minutes later it was 2-0 as Frankie Domi clipped a great ball forward into the channel from the left flank for Bansall-McNulty to run onto, the attacker lifting it over the advancing Sam Archer and into the empty net, before the same player made it three with only 22 minutes gone, forcing the ball over the line from close range after Billy Leonard pounced on a mistake at the back.

Maxwell Adedeji missed the target with a back-post attempt as we tried to respond before the defender’s left-footed shot was kept out by a superb low save from Thompson on his line seven minutes before the break. Thompson was there again just prior to the interval, diving to his right to beat away a fierce left-footed effort from Ronny Moncur that seemed destined for the back of the net, with Oliver Boast unable to connect with the rebound. Remarkably, it was the second time this pre-season that we’ve found ourselves playing against one of our own goalkeepers after Luca Gunter featured for loan club Boreham Wood against our Under-21s last month.

Thompson went off at the break as the home side made wholesale changes while we also introduced several substitutes, but clear chances were few and far between as the game developed. Miracle Adewole and Ellis Lehane fired wide before late substitute Farren Doran – the hero of Saturday’s penalty shootout win over Algeciras CF in Spain – made himself big to block Eli Ackason’s shot-on-the-turn from eight yards out at the other end. One final opportunity for a consolation goal fell to Elisha Sowunmi a minute from time, but he arrowed his left-footed strike over the top.

Line-ups

Enfield Town: D Thompson (Setters 46), Tanimowo (Moses 46), Trialist A (May-Parrott 46), Domi (A Thompson 46), Mensah (Remy 46), Leonard (Ackason 46), Rydings (Trialist B 46), Bansall-McNulty (Parcell 41), Youngs (c) (Watson 46), Avgoustides (Corrigan 46), Deslandes (Kyei 46).

Spurs: Archer (Doran 81), Feeney, King (Hanson 46), Adedeji (Thomas 60), Dorrington (c), McFadden (Wellspring 60), Elliott-Parris (Adewole 46), Moncur (Sowunmi 60), Boast, Ramsey (Muslika 60), O Irow (Lehane 60).

Match data

Goals: Enfield Town – Tanimowo 12; Bansall-McNulty 15, 22.

Referee: Bruno Graise.

Venue: Queen Elizabeth II Stadium, Enfield.

Weather: Warm, light cloud, 24 degrees.

Attendance: 1,148.