Aveley 0, Enfield Town 1

THERE may still be 17 matches to go, and just an eleven point gap between Aveley and Vanarama National League South safety, but momentum is everything in football and Millers are failing to swing it their way.

Saturday's home defeat at the hands of North London Enfield, who hadn't won away for five matches, typified recent results when Danny Scopes' side promised so much but ultimately failed to deliver.

Since losing 3-0 at Bath in December, Millers have played eight matches and, with the exception of ther 3-0 defeat at high-fluing Dorking all have been decided by one goal. Millers have lost for of them by the odd goal, drawn 1-1 twice and won one, last month's 2-1 home success against Farnborough.

That gave hope to Millers fans that they could turn Parkside into something of a fortress, but that ambition remains unfulfilled thanks to Sam Young's 52^nd minute header when he got on the end of sub Jack Bates' superbly delivered free kick and headed home past James Holden.

It was a familiar story, of Aveley not taking advantage of their chances

The visitors had started strongly, with Anointed Chukwu and Jake Hutchinson forcing Holden, into action within the first five minutes.

Millers then began to take control and several times before the break Enfield had keeper Rhys Forster to thank for keeping them in the match, with fine saves from David Hicks and Hamza Semakula,

And when Forster was eventually beaten by Razzaq Coleman De-Graft Enfield's central defender Adam Thompson got back to made a brilliant block.

Tyrese Owen nearly scored for Aveley five minutes before halftime, but Forster was there once again to make the save.

In the second half, Aveley's missed opportunities came back to haunt them when Youngs headed home.

There were some tense moments in the encounter. here Aveley and Enfield players and club officials get in a tangle with Millers captain Jason Ring on the floor. Picture by Tiego Grenho

For the rest of the game both teams had chances to score, but neither could find the net.

Aveley threw everything forward and in the final minute of added time, Forster denied Nathan Carlyle's close-range header and Jason Ring's header from the resulting corner went wide.

Aveley's story remains the same over the last ten games: plenty of chances but punished for not taking them. They hit the road with a trip to high-flying Maidstone on Tuesday and will need something special to turn their fortunes around.