White Notley3

Enfield Town4

(Cherry Red Books Trophy, third round)

ENFIELD TOWN survived a late fight-back from Essex Intermediate League outfit White Notley to book their place in the fourth round last weekend.

After a cagey start Town suffered a setback on nine minutes when key defender Stuart Snowden twisted an ankle and had to leave the pitch. Within three minutes the home side had capitalised on the resultant gap in the Town rearguard to take the lead, with Stacey Davies running unchallenged onto a long clearance from keeper Jon Laidlaw to calmly lob the ball over Andy Hall.

Nicky Morgan replaced Snowden before the game restarted but any efforts from Town to get back into the game were thwarted by some rather uncompromising challenges.

After Micky Henderson and John Everritt had both been felled the referee stepped in and booked Notley's Darren Grace. Everritt then received a yellow card for a foul on Jamie Turner but he made amends on 22 minutes, heading home the equaliser from a Jamie Morris corner.

A good spell of Town pressure followed, but they were caught on the break on 37 minutes when Davies scored his second goal following a fine cross from the right by the pony-tailed Neil Twinn.

The home side's lead lasted for only three minutes, as Danny Clarke soon ran onto an excellent though-ball from Henderson to calmly slot the ball home for a deserved equaliser.

White Notley got off to a bad start in the second half, going behind on 46 minutes. With both Clarke and Kevin Riley being denied in a goalmouth scramble, Danny Alleyne seized upon the stray ball to blast an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.

Clarke made it four for Town on 52 minutes with another calm finish when put through on goal.

Town had further chances to extend their lead, notably when second-half substitute Ricky Antoine narrowly missed with a long range effort and a close-range strike from Alleyne that was deflected wide, but the game looked as good as won until White pulled a goal back on 89 minutes.

But Town held firm in stoppage time to progress to the fourth round of this competition. The attendance, given as 202, is the highest ever recorded by White Notley for a home game.