Andrew Warshaw speaks to Towners boss Gavin Macpherson ahead of a thrilling finale to the season

Towners boss Gavin Macpherson (inset) will lead the team into the play-offs

A coveted play-off place and a post-season trip to Italy for the climax of the Fenix Trophy.

Things could hardly have gone much better in Gavin Macpherson’s first season in charge of Enfield Town with promotion to step two of the non-league pyramid a distinct possibility as the team head into the final few weeks of the season.

At the start of this campaign, ‘reset’ was very much the byword following last season’s disappointing ninth-place finish. But while a raft of so-called heavyweights have been unable to turn their tag as favourites into reality, despite their financial superiority, Gavin and his backroom team have proved exactly why they were the right choice to take over the reins last summer.

It helps, of course, to have a couple of proven goalscorers. Marcus Wyllie, a natural finisher, is top of the division’s scoring charts, and he and the hugely experienced Sam Youngs have scored a staggering 52 of Town’s 76 league goals going into the last three games of the regular season.

All over the pitch, however, Gavin and his staff have managed to find the right blend. He is understandably delighted at how the players have adapted and how the fans the welcomed him.

“I had to get used very quickly to the way the club is set up in terms of being fan-owned,” Gavin told the Dispatch as he looked back on his first year in the hotseat.

“The support I’ve received from the fans has been absolutely immense – from minute one. I’ve had to embrace this football club and what it means and the passion has helped me drive things on.”

Finishing well above supposed big hitters like Dulwich Hamlet, Lewes and Billericay is a source of huge pride.

“To be in this position is quite frankly phenomenal but our narrative from the start was that we were not here just to make up the numbers.”

Gavin arrived at Enfield with a reputation for getting his teams to punch above their financial weight.

“Budgets are something that have never fazed me,” he says. “It’s a massive achievement for the players to have embraced our values and methods so quickly in terms of style of play. It’s also a huge achievement for my staff.”

And, the fans would doubtless add, for himself too.

“We did work very hard in pre-season to get our message across,” Gavin explained. “Players fell by the wayside if they couldn’t compute what we wanted them to deliver, but that’s football.

“Of course there have been bumps in the road. Losing to Cray Valley Paper Mills in the FA Cup when we had a dream tie against Charlton Athletic in our grasp was certainly one of them. But I expected ups and downs. We’ve had to learn about the players as much as vice-versa but the play-offs were always our goal, however realistic some might have viewed that.”

And the season won’t be over, whatever the outcome of Town’s play-off dreams. That’s because the second weekend in May sees Enfield Town take part in the finale of the Fenix Trophy, a European competition for non-league clubs that has generated the kind of nationwide media exposure that money can’t buy.

Well over 200 Town fans travelled to Copenhagen during the group phase – remarkable for a step three non-league side – and similar numbers are expected to make the trip to Lake Garda for the semifinals and final.

“It’s been brilliant for the club,” said Gavin. “I would ideally have preferred the group games to have been in first half of the season but we’ve embraced the competition and it’s a great way to round the season off.

“We are going there to try and win it.”

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