Enfield Town match report
match report by James Maw
Kingstonian suffered a second league defeat of the season, and a second midweek away loss in North London, as Enfield battled to a 2-0 win over the league leaders.
K's almost started in the worst possible fashion, with Jerry Puemo under-hitting a backpass, gifting the ball to a grateful Muhammadu Faal in the opening seconds. Rob Tolfrey needed to be particularly quick off his line to deny his former colleague and prevent his team going behind before the traveling fans had even taken their place behind the Enfield goal.
Having then got a foothold in the match, frustratingly the visitors were then punished for more sloppy play on 19 minutes, when a header from the halfway line was allowed to sail all the way into the K's box to Percy Kiangebeni, who held off the onrushing defenders long enough to slot home the opener.
In between those lapses K's played some good football. And indeed not long after that first goal, K's created their best opening of the evening.
Good work from Jason Banton gave Bryant Akono-Bilongo the chance to drill a perfect ball across the six-yard box. Kershaney Samuels pounced, but shot straight at Enfield keeper Nathan McDonald.
Sadly for K's, that was as good as it got. And soon it was 2-0.
Only a fool would think Mo Faal wasn't a top performer at this level, and it was our former forward who worked the magic that created Enfield's second. Two quick jinks saw Faal surge through into the K's penalty area, then square for another former K, Andre Coker, to double the hosts' lead on 34 minutes.
From there Hayden Bird's side had a mountain to climb against a side that had kept four clean sheets in their previous six league matches, and in truth there was very little for the travelling K's fans to shout about.
Some of Jerry Puemo's performances this season have had fans purring, but nobody had quite gone as far as to compare him to Diego Maradona. That all changed in the second half at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium, however, when Jerry channelled his inner-Diego... by punching the ball into the net. Unfortunately, unlike at the 1986 World Cup, this time the officials spotted the infringement, and the K's defender was booked rather than heralded as one of the greatest players ever to play the game.
Shame, really.
Enfield Town: Nathan McDonald, Lee Chappell, Ryan Kirwan, Scott Thomas, Jeremiah Gyebi, Nathan Smith, Percy Kiangebeni, Emmanuel Maja-Awesu, Andre Coker, Muhammadu Faal, Lyle Della-Verde.
Subs: Lewis Taaffe, Adam Cunnington (for Andre Coker, 80m), Sam Youngs (for Lyle Della-Verde, 76m), Billy Bricknell, Harold Joseph.
Kingstonian: Rob Tolfrey, Juevan Spencer, Bryant Akono Bilongo, Jerry Puemo, Ollie Cook, Kenny Beaney, Kershaney Samuels, Gus Sow, Daniel Ajakaiye, Jason Banton, Nyren Clunis.
Subs: Rhys Murrell-Williamson (for Kershaney Samuels, 74m), Declan Skura (for Kenny Beaney, 74m), Simon Cooper, Aaron Lamont, Teo Kurtaran (for Jason Banton, 74m)
Goal scorers: Percy Kiangebeni (19m, 1-0), Andre Coker (32m, 2-0)
Attendance: 320
