Match report: Fisher 0-1 Lordswood

Fisher FC 0-1 Lordswood

It was a very damp St Paul’s Stadium which welcomed the Fish back to home league action for the first time since the excellent 2-1 win against Sheppey United on 8 September. Dean Harrison named a strong line-up for the visit of Lordswood, with the only new face for Fisher being new signing from Kent Football United, Tunde Aderonmu. The big striker took his place on the bench.

Fisher began shooting towards the Dockers End, something which very rarely happens and always seems to be a bad omen when it does! The two sides exchanged corners in the opening minutes, before the first real chance was carved out by Mathieu Ramsamy on 5 minutes, hitting the byline then putting in a great cross which eluded the final defender, but the leaping Trey Small couldn’t connect properly with the volley.

On 8 minutes, good work by Chandler Kasai saw him tackle his man then chip over the top for Ramsamy to race onto – it looked as if Ramsamy was in on goal, but the flag went up very controversially. A minute later, Fisher did break the offside trap, Jack Rogers doing well to intercept then take the ball out of defence before finding Hamill, whose ball split the defence and allowed Kasai to race into the box. Closed down, the winger had to check back and teed up Ramsamy, but his shot went narrowly wide.

Lordswood’s first chance came after a quarter of an hour. Wanogho was booked for a challenge on the edge of the box, and the free kick was taken direct at goal, but Dan Flemming rose highest in the wall to head away. The ball was chipped back into the box and allowed a Lordswood player a free header at close range, despite the home side’s shouts for offside. Hossam Hassan in the Fisher goal did well to palm the ball up at point blank range, then catch it as it fell to earth.

Neither side was able to show much fluency and, despite looking the more likely side to break the deadlock, Fisher were finding it hard to create good goalscoring opportunities. Rob Brown and Mudiagha Wanogho had shots well blocked by the opposition rearguard on 21 and 26 minutes, then Ramsamy volleyed over from outside the box on 27 minutes. The best chance of the half came just before the half hour mark, a lovely diagonal ball by Hamill finding Small in space on the right hand side of the box. He seemed to be pulled down by the Lordswood defender, but picked himself up to regain possession then drove the ball across the face of goal. Two Lordswood defenders had a swing at it, and both nearly put through their own net, before the ball found its way to Chandler Kasai who volleyed just wide.

Trey Small had a low attempt stopped by the keeper after great footwork and control to open up the space for a shot on 36 minutes, then the Lordswood number 10 shot several yards wide form the edge of the box on 41 minutes, and a soggy first half reached its conclusion with the sides all square.

Half time: Fisher FC 0-0 Lordswood. Fisher had been far from their best, but had certainly enjoyed slightly more of the possession and almost all of the chances in a cagey first half, as the half time match stats show (see below, courtesy as usual of @throssfilms).

The second half began as the first had ended, with both sets of players squelching about in the wet conditions, and neither side looking like scoring. The first real action came on 52 minutes, a great sliding block by Wanogho preventing the Lordswood number 3’s shot from testing Hassan after a good dribble from the left back. Wangho picked himself up and was able to head behind the follow up attempt from outside the box, before Fisher cleared the corner.

Lordswood were showing more attacking threat than they had in the whole of the first half, and saw a half volley from the edge of the box goes just past Hassan’s left hand post with the keeper motionless on 56 minutes, then a couple of minutes later a low drive by the Lordswood number 11 was held well by Hassan on a wet and skiddy pitch.

On 64 minutes, the away side made the breakthrough. Awarded a free kick just inside the Fisher half on the left, the ball was swung long into the box and headed back across Hassan and into the left hand side of the net by the number 2, Kane. 0-1, Kane, 64 mins

Dean Harrison immediately made an attacking substitution, Rob Brown going off and new front man Tunde Aderonmu coming on for his Fisher debut. Fisher were huffing and puffing but struggling to break down a strong opposition defence, and it took until the 75th minute for Aderonmu to fashion himself a half-chance, a powerful shot from the edge of the box being blocked behind for a corner, which ultimately came to nothing.

With 78 minutes on the clock, Harrison threw the dice a final time, bringing on Jamie Brown and Sam Pekun for Trey Small and Mathieu Ramsamy as the Fish fought to get something from the game. A minute later, a long free kick into the Lordswood box by Hamill found Wanogho, but a defender stabbed clear before he could shoot.

Lordswood were doing everything they could to run down the clock, and it just didn’t look to be Fisher’s day. With three minutes remaining, a lovely cross field ball by Hamill found Pekun on the left hand side of the box. He played through the overlapping Rogers, whose low cross to the front post was cleared. Aderonmu then did well to turn and shoot from outside the box, but again it was blocked behind for a corner. Hamill’s set piece was cleared at the near post, and the full time whistle wasn’t long in following.

Full time: Fisher FC 0-1 Lordswood. A flat and scrappy game with both teams cancelling each other out for large spells, and few real chances for either side. Fisher can certainly feel aggrieved to have lost on a day when neither side really deserved to win, but that’s football! Full time match stats below with thanks as always to @throssfilms: