I originally planned to visit a new Wess 1 ground this weekend but once they announced the FA Cup draw and ticketing arrangements then this was the game to be at! The club announced that everyone attending the game would be entitled to a voucher which would give a priority booking for the Nottingham Forest game the following Sunday.
After getting a soaking walking back from town that morning, I checked on the fans forum what the position was with the game - especially as a number of Wessex League games were being postponed across the region. Fortunately the news was good and the game was still on. Indeed, as I left the house the sun came out and there was bright sunshine on the car as I parked up.
Although I arrived early, the anticipated crowd did not materialise - perhaps the time between the draw being announced, the weather and the additional cost of attending another game was enough to put the gloryhunters off. Still 1465 was the highest crowd of the day (according to the latest figures on Tony Kempster's website) and well up on the 806 who watched the corresponding fixture against Newport County last season.
The first half saw Salisbury camp out in the Enfield end of the ground for the majority of the time but chances weren't taken. A couple of good penalty shouts were ignored by the ref - one for a tackle and one for a handball. However when Robbie Matthews was brought down in the box after a surging round around 3 defenders on 45 minutes, the referee finally pointed to the spot. Mooncat took the penalty himself and slotted in past the keeper for a first half lead.
The start of the second half was similar and I started to wonder whether Salisbury would regret not taking their chances, especially with the pace that the Enfield front line had. No sooner had I started to think that when Enfield countered and scored an equaliser. The rain had started to come down again during the game which made it difficult for the goalkeepers to keep hold of the ball. The Enfield fans in the corner (segregation training for next week) celebrated with a flourish of tickertape and for their team's sheer determination to keep in the game, they certainly deserved that moment of celebration.
At the other end, Salisbury continued to press. Paul Sales leapt up for a header which looked in all the way until the keeper somehow got his hand to it and pushed it over the bar. A superb reaction save. It took until the 80th minute for Salisbury to finally get the goal that their pressure deserved. Sales controlled the ball on the edge of the box, flicked it through to Turk who ran through the defence and crossed the ball to Matthews in the middle who made no mistake with his close range shot.
As the game finished, the announcer confirmed that everyone in the ground with a voucher would be guaranteed an FA Cup ticket and the cheers could probably be heard in Nottingham!
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