TT GROUNDHOPPING

Ben looks back at his weekend at Enfield (and Spurs!)

ENFIELD (A)

It started early as all London away trips do. I was joined by my Dad, Grandad and Clive for this journey. We got onto the 09:16 train out of Exeter St David’s. It is always interesting looking at the football shirts on offer. We saw Plymouth fans who were heading to Bristol City (where they got thrashed!) and a kid wearing a full Crystal Palace kit as they drew 1-1 versus Newcastle. After a smooth arrival into London Paddington, the station was bustling with Saturday morning travellers. At 11:40 we got onto the slick Elizabeth Line service to Liverpool Street where we exited to the overground station.

After narrowly missing one, we boarded a train at 1 to Enfield Town whilst bumping into fellow TUFC supporters. The journey included over 10 stops due to the packed London suburbs that we were passing. Google Maps was extremely annoying not showing us the correct direction to the ground but after asking for instructions from a couple going for a walk we found the ground (if you could even call it one!). We were warmly welcomed by 2 ladies taking a survey about how we travelled to the match. A mini spiral walkway led us to the toilets after we had shown our tickets. There were multiple food stalls and a programme seller lapping the ground (to Grandad’s delight).

Then, the match itself. The Yellow Army went with an unchanged starting XI from our joyful 4-2 win vs Weston Super Mare on the Tuesday before. Enfield, who were bottom, would certainly be delighted with a point if they could get it, but as many away fixtures do, we got off to the worst possible start, conceding a penalty which was calmly finished into the centre of Hamon’s net.

TUFC started to pick up though with Jordan Thomas’ first goal in a Yellow shirt and a composed finish from WJD put us 2-1 up at half-time. Enfield clearly posed some threat but that died down after the break. Quick thinking was notable in a well-worked short corner for Jordan Young to dispatch, to the keeper’s disappointment. Jenkins-Davies made his tally 3 goals in 4 goals to put the icing on the cake even more. Once again, outstanding away support from the Yellow Army.

Again Google Maps misled us in the opposite way from the hotel but we eventually got to Enfield Premier Inn via a handy Uber. At the Premier Inn pub, I had a scrumptious, classic fish & chips. We soon went to bed in preparation for our big Sunday. At 9, Harborough Town programme creator Grandad headed off to a historic FA Cup 2^nd Round match between Reading and Harborough where The Bees sent it to extra time before losing to the League 1 outfit. Meanwhile Dad and I had a well deserved lie-in before breakfast. We ordered an Uber to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and waited in the rain.

It was a nice, 25 minute journey to Tottenham. We went into the club shop that was almost as big as a school. We bought our souvenir magnet and walked towards our gate before realising bags larger than A4 had to be stored in a marquee for an obscene 10 pounds. The scale was vast and the stadium was absolutely state-of-the-art. The players came out for the warm-up whilst the majority were eating and drinking in the concourse. It promised to be an exciting game between hit-and-miss Tottenham and Fulham, a London Derby. It started as you would expect, chances at both ends but Fulham had the chance of the half requiring Fraser Forster to make a superb save with his feet.

An exquisite volley from Brennan Johnson gave the home team the advantage in a great atmosphere. Club captain Tom Cairney came on for the visitors who were pushing back Spurs. He went on to score a fantastic first-time strike into the side-netting. There were impressive celebrations in the away corner cancelled out by Cairney using his studs from behind on Kulusevski and getting sent off. The match finished 1-1. The way back was a diverted train route and took 3 and a ½ hours back to Exeter St David’s which we spent sat on the train floor uncomfortably. After watching two live matches it was a great weekend and most importantly three points!!