Enfield Borough vs Clapton Community FC takes place on Saturday, December 30 2023 with a 3pm kick off at Maurice Rebak Stadium, Summers Lane, Fallow Corner, Barnet, London, N12 0PE

It’s the final action of a memorable 2023 for Clapton CFC on Saturday as the men’s first team head north to face Enfield Borough.

In their first season at this level CCFC are still top of the table, although having played more games than everyone else. So a big target would be to end the year there – but injuries are mounting up.

This week, Enfield Borough manager Malik Yansaneh stepped down due to work commitments with assistant manager Andi Hoxha taking over. So beware the new manager bounce.

The opposition

Enfield Borough formed in 2016, first groundsharing with Enfield Town, and now with Wingate & Finchley. The club – one of the three in the pyramid with Enfield in their name – hope to return to the borough in the near future. Enfield-born Michael Duberry is a club ambassador after a 20-year professional career that included Chelsea and Leeds United.

The Panthers started out at Step 7, the Spartan South Midlands League Division Two, and in their first season they won promotion to take them to this current level. They’ve always had an emphasis on youth with many players coming through the ranks. This season the club launched a post-16 academy in partnership with CONEL College and expanded its youth programme to cover U13 to U18 boys.

Previous meetings

In November, we met at the Old Spotted Dog Ground, with Clapton CFC winning 3-1 thanks to goals from Noah Adejokun, Fred Taylor and Taylan Gul.

This will be our first competitive game at the Maurice Rebak Stadium. However, we played a pre-season friendly away in September 2020 which saw us lose 6-0.

Form guide

Boro ran Hutton and Harlow Town close in their last two games, and have had big wins against Burnham Ramblers, Park View and NW London since we met in November.

Players to watch

Former Frenford player Marco Magunga and Wilberforce Ocran – no relation that we know of – are top scorers with seven and six goals respectively.

Admission

Adults £6 Concessions £4 U12 free.

Directions

Wingate & Finchley’s Maurice Rebak Stadlum is 22 minutes walk from West Finchley station on the end of the Northern Line.

The ground is worth a visit in itself if you’ve not been, including palm trees on one end, and is renowned for one of the best pitches around so hopefully will have survived this week’s rain.