It’s not as daunting as you might think says Foxes manager

Ilford manager Allan Fenn will look to make a few changes for tomorrow night’s (Wednesday’s) Essex Senior League match against high-flying Haringey Borough, after Saturday’s 3-1 defeat against Newham at Cricklefield.

The table-toppers come to Cricklefield, but it’s not the daunting prospect you might imagine for Fenn.

“I managed Borough for two years before I came here,” he said. “We lost 2-1 to them in the Gordon Brasted Trophy last month, but despite Saturday’s defeat to Newham, I still saw enough positives to think that with a little bit of luck and better quality, we can get a result.”

Kendall Allan will miss the match after picking up a knee injury and Fenn may be short of another player or two due to injury of unavailability.

Fenn thought the 3-1 Newham result on Saturday was a bit of an unjust result as his 10-man squad attempted to battle back from an early setback.

“We were all very positive going into the game, fully focussed,” he said. “But after just 30 seconds, the referee gave Newham a free-kick, they scored and we were immediately playing catch-up.”

Matters got worse for the Foxes when they were reduced to 10 men with the sending off of defender Charlie Hurlock.

“He let everybody down, he deserved to be sent off,” said Fenn. “He let himself down, his team-mates down, the fans down and me down.”

Reduced to 10 men, Ilford battled on and managed to keep a clean sheet for the rest of the first 45 minutes.

“The boys never gave in, working hard but just not getting any of the breaks,” added the boss,”but we were at fault for their second goal.”

The Foxes did get some reward for all their hard work when Fabian Brown found the target. “Fabian Brown scored a great goal for us, he took it really well,” enthused the manager.

There was controversy over one of Newham’s goals, however. “It was clearly offside,” said fenn.

“Even their bench agreed with me – and so did the official who apologised to me afterwards – but that doesn’t do us any good, does it?”