Match Report: Fisher 3-1 Tunbridge Wells

Fisher 3-1 Tunbridge Wells
Saturday 7 October
SCEFL Premier Division

Match Sponsors: Sports Ground Development Ltd https://sportsgrounddevelopment.com/
Matchball Sponsors: Millwall Community Trust

Attn: 243
Scorers: Manny Shoderu (37 min), Jojo Kinzonzi (42 min), Thomas Ngegba (50 min)

Fisher returned to winning ways after last weeks on the road defeat, with a comfortable 3-1 win at home to Tunbridge Wells. Despite a rare Saturday fixture clash with Millwall being at home, a healthy crowd of 243 were present in the Autumn sunshine to see the Fish climb back to second in the league with the win.
Illness and injury within the squad forced manager Ajay Ashanike to make several changes to last week’s starting line up with Joeseh Adewunmi, Charles Yiadom-Konadu and Fred Obasa all sitting out and Ade Gbolahan dropping to the bench. Into the starting eleven came Inesh Sumithran, Jojo Kinzonzi, Ezekiel Miller and Thomas Ngegba with a return to the bench for Joseph Koroma.
Fisher started the slower, with the absence of playmaker Yiadom-Konadu requiring them to play down the channels more than usual. Fisher dd have the first sight of goal however, but Andres Tobon fired well wide having surged in from the left wing. It was the visitors though who had the bulk of the early lay and put the Fisher goal under some pressure, with Sam Amedu having to claim a snap header following a blocked shot. Tunbridge Wells then thought they had opened the scoring when a free kick on the edge of the box cannoned back of the wall and when recycled into the box found three Wells’ forwards waiting, with one turning to power the ball home, but all three were clearly in offside positions.
From this point, Fisher started to grow into the game, with Tobon an increasing influence on the left. When he was upended within shooting range Inesh Sumithran saw his free kick sail high of the cross bar. Fisher were not to wait long though for another chance of the opening goal, when eight minutes from the break, some good build up play released Tyron Mbuenimo down the right and his pace and power saw him burst to the byline, where he just managed to hook the ball back into the danger area finding Conor Darwish, whose initial shot was only parried by the keeper allowing Manny Shoderu to nip in and tuck home the rebound.
Five minutes later Fisher doubled their advantage. Again, an extended period of passing around the edge of the Tunbridge Wells penalty area, saw Fisher work the ball down both flanks, drawing defenders out of position, before Andres Tobon’s low cross was slammed emphatically into the roof of the net from twelve yards by Jojo Kinzonzi.
Fisher could have gone into the break further ahead when Tobon drew a low save out of the keeper in the second minute of added time, but they were not to wait long into the second half before grabbing a third goal. A lobbed ball forward looked to signal little danger, but with ball travelling over the two central defenders, Thomas Ngegba gambled and ran in behind to get to the ball first and deftly head the ball over the stranded keeper who had found himself outside his box no mans land and turned to see the ball bounce into the empty net.
Fisher were denied a fourth when Tobon’s long range effort was only parried and Ngegba arrived first onto the loose ball to tuck it away, only to be halted on his celebration by an offside flag, having been judged to have started his run a split second too early, despite no appeal from the visiting back four.
With the three goal cushion Fisher were able to give game time to the bench with Jospeh Koroma putting in a good cameo performance and a good break and cross from him down the right should have seen Manny Shoderu net, but his extravagant back heeled effort was blocked by the keeper.
Further changes by Fisher saw the game lose a little tempo, coupled with the game slowing for a number of what looked unnecessary cautions, as the Fish looked to close the game. However, with two minutes of normal time remaining Tunbridge Wells were given a penalty for a shirt tug following a long throw into the box. It took a while for anyone on the pitch, from either side, to realise what had been awarded, but once it was established, Trevor McCreadie needed no further invitation to add to his seasonal goal tally, slamming home from the spot for a consolation goal.
Five added minutes did not really unearth any further threat on the Fisher goal, with the energy of Tyron Mbuenimo, who had been at the heart of things all game long, seeing Fisher secure the points. The free scoring Fisher side have now scored three or more goals in their last six home league matches, a feat not matched since the 1999/2000 season in the run-in enroute to the Dr Martens Southern League Division One East title.