Match Report: Corinthian 4-1 Fisher

Corinthan 4-1 Fisher
Tuesday 6 February
SCEFL Premier Division

Scorer: Thomas Ngegba (20 min)
Attn: 85

Not for the first time this season Fisher fell to a defeat with a scoreline that did little justice to their general play and effort, with clinical finishing and two late goals seeing Corinthian win 4-1 in an entertaining and well fought contest.
With keeper Sam Nwabuko unavailable, Justice Owusu returned between the sticks and a start for Ezekeil Miller allowed Tyron Mbuenimo to slot back in at right back and Darnelle Bailey King to move up to the wing. At the back Michael Sarpong slotted in at the hart of defence with Mark Chidi also unavailable.
With the rain starting during the warm-up and getting progressively heavier through the game, there was a tricky pitch for the sides to contend with and Fisher unfortunately lost the toss and were crucially required to defend the slope second as the pitch got wetter.
Fisher started well, with Darnelle Bailey-King sending in a long range effort from the right, which deflected away for a corner, from which Michael Sarpong rose to head goalwards but found the keeper well placed to catch. Both sides enjoyed zipping the ball around in the soaked surface and made good use of their wingers. Teddy Jones looked lively down the left and Bailey-King sent over several dangerous crosses having raced to the byline.
Corinthian’s first sight of goal saw them win possession on the left and a ball flashed across the goal just evading two forwards sliding in at the back stick where any touch would have nudged the ball home. But it was Fisher who were to take the lead on twenty minutes. A flowing move saw the ball fed into a centrally placed Charles Yiadom-Konadu and drawing players in he then flicked the ball to his right with the outside of his foot and found Thomas Ngegba just outside the penalty area arc, who made space with his first touch and skimmed in a low precision shot with his second which raced across the grass, past the outstretched fingers of the diving keeper and inside the post.
Fisher then looked a constant threat going forward. Bailey-King sent in another powerful effort that the keeper palmed away at full stretch, Jones was denied by a last ditch challenge as he jinked into the box and Boamah capped a magnificent half in the Corinthian goal by diving full stretch to his left to keep out another rifled effort from Jones after he tore through the Corinthian back line. The keepers inspired showing denied the Fish a badly needed second and shortly before half time they were cruelly punished. A soft free kick, where it seemed the player slipped and lost his foot rather being fouled allowed a free kick to come in from the left and Ryan Cheek rose highest to head the ball back across goal into the corner of the net.
With the rain continuing to fall, defending the slope in the second spell was always going to be a tough task, especially with Corinthian’s impressive record of late second half goals. Fisher found it harder to get high up the pitch and both wingers saw less of the ball than in the first half.
Ten minutes into the second half a well worked move allowed Charlie Clover space to fire home and put Corinthian into the lead for the first time. Fisher responded well and whilst seeing less of the ball tried valiantly to get back into the game. Ngegba looked lively with some good hold up play and combining well with Jones down the left he managed to wriggle into the box, but elected to pull the ball back where it was smuggled away by the defence when a shot may have troubled the keeper on the tricky surface. Kyron Cooper, on for Bailey-King who was troubled by a sore foot, almost got through on a couple of occasions and some good interplay down the right saw some alarm in the Corinthian defence as the ball was threaded into the box.
With ten minutes to go Fisher threw caution to wind with a slight change of shape and throwing on further substitutes in Ibrahim Kamara, Ben Sangare and Seco Embalo, allowing Michael Sarpong to play higher. However, when Corinthian won a corner six minutes from time, no one tracked Connor Driscoll’s run and he was able to plant a powerful header into the roof of the net to give the hosts a two goal cushion. Fisher visibly tired and it took a great diving save from Owusu to stop a fourth, but the big stopper was not able to keep out the 90th minute effort, slammed home by Tom Fitzgerald to give a cruel look to the final score in game that Fisher had been right in the mix for eighty plus minutes.