Our under-21s continued their pre-season with a 2-0 defeat against National League South side Chelmsford City at the Melbourne Stadium.
What happened
The home side did not waste time to grasp a foothold in the game. Three minutes into the opening exchanges, Kai Corbett worked well down the left side to link up with Harry Barbrook arriving on the overlap, with the full-back taking no time to pick out a well-timed cross into Taylor Clark. The striker found space in a crowded Arsenal box to fire a first-time effort into the feet of goalkeeper Jack Porter, who was unable to react quickly enough to stop the ball from ricocheting off his boot into his bottom right-hand corner.
The No. 1 was called into action on several occasions throughout the early phases, denying goal-bound efforts from Corbett and Josh Castiglione to keep our young-Gunners in the game.
Max Porter's side began to see more of the ball after half an hour, with Charles Sagoe-Jnr finding pockets of space to attempt to ignite an attack, but struggled to break down a steely Chelmsford blockade. Our first corner of the match arrived shortly after, won by Seb Ferdiand, but the Essex side ensured the short corner drill came to nothing.
Ceadoch O'Neill switched wings with Sagoe-Jnr, a tactical decision that almost paid off on 34 minutes, with the latter wiggling free of Kian Ronan down the left flank before firing our first attempt of the game over Haigh's bar.
Just before half-time, Brayden Clarke worked back well to prevent a Chelsmford counterattack, throwing his body in front of Clark's effort, before Porter was alert once more to block the striker's follow-up attempt and what would have been his second of the match.
We continued to grow into the affair after the interval, as Ife Ibrhaim began to command from the middle of the park, threading the ball through Chelmsford's lines to find Sagoe-Jnr in a series of promising areas.
Lucas Nygaard, who replaced Porter in goal at half-time, did well to settle in time to palm clear a powerful shot from Hedges. The 'keeper tipped the Chelmsford player's effort over his upright in diving fashion to keep the tie at 1-0.
Demaine Augustien's saw his effort bounce off the post into the back of a diving Haigh to force an Arsenal corner on 56 minutes, but the resulting set-piece came to nothing. The summer signing from Derby County came close again 10 minutes later, freeing himself from Chelsmford's defence to strike an attempt just shy of the post.
Jack Barham pounced on Theo Julienne's short back pass to Nygaard on 70 minutes, slotting home Chelmsford's second of the game.
What’s Next
Our young Gunners will return for their final pre-season game on Saturday, August 9, as they travel overseas to AS Monaco Performance Centre to take on Monaco II. Kick-off is scheduled for 2pm (UK time).
Team News
Enfield Town: Haigh, Ronan (Trialist A, 83), Barbrook, Grimwood, Longe-King, Castiglione (Kudiabor, 55), Odusanya (Ward, 83), Hedges (Remy, 60), Clark (Tamplin, 60), Corbett (Murphy, 83), Barham.
Subs not used: Eastwood, Lapslie, Tompkins.
Arsenal: Porter (Nygaard, 45), Ferdinand (Julienne, 60), Washington, Clarke, Sweet, Ibrahim (Hashi, 71), O'Neill (Trialist A, 60), Dudziak, Zecevic-John, Agustien, Sagoe-Jnr.
Subs not used: Ismail, Stachlow, Murisa, Oyetunde, Thompson.
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