Enfield Town returned to winning ways and, with it, claimed their first trophy of the season after narrowly overcoming AFC Rushden & Diamonds 2-1 to win the Dale Roberts Memorial Cup.

The match, played at Rushden’s Hayden Road home, was held in memory of former Rushden goalkeeper Roberts who took his own life in December 2010 at the age of just 24.

On a day of emotion, with testing weather conditions making life difficult, Andy Leese’s side started the brighter of the two sides as Sam Chaney and Brandon Adams both had early sighters.

Indeed it was not long before Town grabbed the advantage. Good work by Sam Youngs fed Remi Sutton down the left-hand side and his cross was headed home by Adams after 26 minutes.

The visitors could have added a second soon afterwards as first a neat move involving Sam Hatton and Billal Sayoud saw Lewis Taaffe fire narrowly wide, before Adams found the side netting.

But five minutes before the interval the Towners did have a crucial second as Sutton found Youngs and his header looped over the Rushden goalkeeper.

The first-half scoring was not done there though, as Enfield made a hash of a clearance and, after recycling play, Rushden defender Jack Ashton volleyed in from close range in first-half stoppage time to halve the deficit.

In the second half, Taaffe remained the bright spark for Enfield, but the game’s tempo would suffer owing to the customary raft of substitutions introduced by both sides on the hour with Dan Rumens, Ryan Blackman and Liam Hope entering the fray.

Enfield were not far away from re-establishing their two-goal cushion as Sayoud volleyed an effort that was parried away by the home goalkeeper.

Leese then chose to use the full complement of his bench with Junior Mubiayi, Mason Tunbridge and Jack Hockney replacing Youngs, Chaney, and Sayoud.

However, as the game ticked towards its conclusion Towners goalkeeper Joe Wright remained relatively untroubled as Rushden created little in the way of clear-cut openings.

Victory, Enfield’s first win in four, was well deserved on balance as the Towners get set to play their final two pre-season matches before the start of the new Bostik League season on Saturday, August 11.

Elsewhere, it is widely known in non-league circles that Enfield Town are the oldest supporter owned club in the country having originally been founded in 2001.

What is lesser known is that Clapton Community FC split from Clapton this year to become the latest football club to be owned exclusively by fans.

To mark this landmark occasion, Queen Elizabeth II Stadium on Donkey Lane is gearing up to host a special match between Enfield Town’s Under-23s side and Clapton Community on Tuesday, August 7.

Both sides will contest the Brian Lomax Supporters Direct Cup in memory of its namesake, the man widely credited with launching the supporters’ trust movement, in a 7.30pm kick-off. Tickets will be available on the gate.