West Essex 5 Enfield 1

Essex Senior League, Friday 16th October 2020 

Friday night saw me back over at Mayesbrook Park for the second Friday in three as West Essex were once again at home, this time hosting Enfield in an Essex Senior League contest, and it saw braces from Cameron Gray and Michael Mignot help the hosts to a dominant win.

Now West had come into this one off the back of two home defeats, one against Haverhill Rovers in the Vase in what was a crazy contest, and then a home defeat to Hadley in the league, so this for them was a chance to get back on track so to speak.

Enfield themselves came into this one off the back of two positive results, a 4-0 home win against Sawbridgeworth which was their first win of the season, and then a 1-1 draw at Saffron Walden Town last time out as Jamie Cureton’s troops were doing there best to turn what had been a rather ordinary season around.

An intriguing contest was in prospect then, with the result a hard one to call pre kick off, but the home side had taken control inside twenty minutes as after Sanchez Hardy had got in down the right and forced a decent near post save from Jack Wilmott, moments later in the 11^th minute a lovely ball into the box by Mignot saw Gray nod a lovely heard back across goal and into the far corner.

And in the 17^th minute it was two for the hosts as after Mignot had got in on goal but seen his effort blocked by Wilmott, the ball came back out to George Fairhead who dinked a lovely effort over the covering defenders and Wilmott and into the empty net, and West had a two goal cushion early on in the match.

Enfield tried to respond to these early setbacks and saw Joseph Boachie head straight at Jack Coker before Olly Miles thumped an effort well wide from an angle on the left hand side of the box, but these were only really half chances if truth be told.

And the visitors probably should have found themselves further behind at the break but Mignot somehow missed from close range after breezing in behind the defence once again, striking an effort against the post before Gray slid in and put the rebound over, and then Callum Bloss saw a free kick glance of the bar.

The visitors thought they had grabbed a lifeline right on half time when George Essuman headed home, but the goal was ruled out and it meant the hosts did go into the break with a two-goal cushion.

Half Time West Essex 2 Enfield 0

West knew they had to remain positive and keep their foot on the gas if they were to make life easy for themselves and after last Friday night’s Vase collapse they knew how quickly things could change, and within ten minutes of the restart they found themselves four goals to the good.

In the 49^th minute Joel Lamb brilliantly won the ball in midfield before playing a lovely though to Mignot and the West Number Seven duly strode through on goal before slotting beyond Wilmott to make it three, and after Wilmott had made another two good stops to prevent a fourth for the hosts, a shanked clearance by a defender ended up being a perfect cross to the back post where Gray was waiting to volley into the net for number four in the 52^nd minute.

The assistant referee on the far side flagged for offside, but this wasn’t possible as the defender had effectively crossed the ball to Gray, and after a short discussion the goal was rightly given, with no complaints from either side, and suddenly West now looked like they would go on and net a big big win.

Enfield though had another little spell where they put some pressure on the hosts, and Coker had to make a terrific stop to prevent a Cureton header finding the net, before Miles cut inside and fired an effort into the bottom corner in the 63^rd minute to pull one back for the visiting side, and then shortly after Coker had to push away a decent effort from Rio McKie as Enfield looked for second goal that could of made the West nerves jangle a bit perhaps.

That was as good as it got for the E’s though as West soon began to carve out chance after chance, with Hardy bursting in down the right but finding Wilmott equal to his effort, whilst Mignot passed up more opportunities for the home side, but Mignot was to grab a second for himself and a fifth for the hosts when a lovely ball from Sam McNally found Mignot who controlled before thumping a wonderful left footed effort into the bottom corner.  It was a superb goal and capped a fine evening for the home side.

It means West Essex climb into fourth spot ahead of the weekend fixtures, whilst Enfield recent mini revival hit a rather large bump as they slip a place to 16^th on goal difference.

Full Time West Essex 5 Enfield 1