MATCH REPORT: ENFIELD 3-1 WALTHAMSTOW

Dominant Enfield see off league leaders Walthamstow

Enfield returned to winning ways in style after a comfortable 3-1 victory over top of the table Walthamstow. Goals from Ryan Ramsay, Dwade James and Samrai Gebrai gave the E’s all three points on a night where they dominated from start to finish.

Five minutes into proceedings, the home side had the first opportunity of the match as Alex Warman’s free kick was tipped over the bar by Amarildo Cekrezi. Shortly after, Enfield again came close to taking the lead. James slid the ball through to Louie Johnson, but Cekrezi was on hand to make a save.

Meanwhile, on nine minutes, Walthamstow had their first effort on goal through Callum Ibe, but the former Enfield man put his effort wide of the target. Two minutes later, Warman tried his luck from outside the area for the hosts, but his shot drifted just off-target.

The home side soon had great chance to break the deadlock after Gebrai’s curling effort again drew a brilliant save out of Cekrezi. Moments later, Enfield’s early dominance reaped the rewards on 19 minutes. Ramsay’s attempted cross went through a host of Stow defenders before finding its way into the back of the net.

Midway through the first half, Enfield missed a golden opportunity to double their advantage as Gebrai played a beautifully weighted pass into James, who rounded the goalkeeper before seeing his effort cleared off the line.

Just seconds later, the home side had the ball in the back of the net as George Essuman scored from a header, but a free kick was given for a foul on the goalkeeper. Enfield continued to be the better of the two sides and broke away on the counterattack as James was played through on goal but was once again denied by Cekrazi.

Shortly after the restart, Walthamstow came close to drawing themselves level. However, substitute Samir Bihimoutine’s free kick was tipped over by James Bransgrove. With 50 minutes played though, Enfield doubled their lead as Ramsay’s corner was headed home by the unmarked James with the striker netted his 17th goal of the season.

With almost an hour gone, the away side pulled a goal back after Harrison Carnegie’s corner founds its way into the back of the Enfield net thanks to a deflection. In the 73rd minute though, Gebrai distinguished any hopes of a Walthamstow comeback and restored the E’s two goal lead after finding the bottom right corner following an excellent solo run.

As the match headed towards the closing stages, Stow were looking for a route back into the game, but Tommy Spillane headed well wide which very much summed up their performance. Meanwhile, the scorer of the third goal Gebrai came close to adding a fourth for the E’s but shot just wide of the post.

In the dying embers of the match, substitute Jamie Cureton looked to seal the three points, but the striker could only fire over the bar. Nonetheless, it was still a night for remember for Enfield, who came away with an impressive win over Walthamstow to move back up to 7th.