A cold January day saw me travel, with a close friend, around the M25 to see Enfield Town, flying high in the Isthmian Premier League, play against Folkestone Invicta.

The Queen Elizabeth II Stadium boasts an art deco clubhouse and bar, and sits adjacent to a six lane athletic track. There is a well stocked club shop and the staff at this fan owned club, really went out of their way to make us feel welcome.

Enfield Town have had a really exceptional first half of the season. Goals have flowed freely with Sam Youngs (18 goals), Marcus Wylie (17 goals) and Reece Beckles-Richard’s (7 goals) scoring freely. Manager Gavin Macpherson would have hoped to secure a victory today, against one of the league’s strugglers, that would help them push Chatham Town for the second place spot.

Folkestone Invicta, with new manager Andy Drury beginning to establish his expectations and playing style, upon the new team, have a lot to do to accelerate away from the relegation battle. Goals haven’t been easy to find this season, with Folkestone’s goals coming from Ira Jackson (8 goals), Ibrahim Olatude (8 goals) and David Smith (7 goals).

The game opened with attacking play from both teams. In the 13th minute Folkestone’s Tom Derry fired the ball home from the right hand side of the Enfield area to make it 0-1 sending shockwaves through the home support, who had confidently been expecting their team to take the ascendency.

In the 24th minute the away side were 0-2 ahead when Scott Heard slid in, to finish from close range.

The remainder of the second half saw both sides create chances but Enfield Town came closest when Folkestone’s keeper Joe Colman dropped the ball in front of goal, only for a scramble to result in the ball flying narrowly wide. However at half time the teams went in with Folkestone Invicta holding a two goal lead.

The second half saw a loud home support spur their side onto the attack, Reece Beckles-Richards and Sam Youngs stewarded chance after chance for the home team, unfortunately seeing chances blazed over the bar, driven narrowly wide, or being saved by Joe Colman in the Folkestone Invicta goal.

As the game pushed into the last quarter Enfield’s attempts to break through the Folkestone defences, became more and more intense. Substitutes Obi Onyeagwara and Jonathan Hippolyte added more firepower and Jake Goodman and Callum Davies at the heart of the defence came good, as they showed Andy Drury how much strength sits in his side, by marshalling their colleagues whilst keeping all the pressure at bay.

At the full time whistle it was Folkestone Invicta walking away with three crucial points from a fixture many thought would result in a nailed on win for Enfield Town. This was a highly competitive and entertaining game at a great venue, however Folkestone earned their victory in front of 628 noisy fans, with their first half aggression and the huge defensive task they undertook in the second half.