MATCH REPORT: Harlow Town 5-5 Fisher
Harlow Town 5-5 Fisher
Tuesday 9 July
Pre Season Friendly
Attn: 103
Scorers: Tolu Junaid (1 min and 36 min), Armani-Jordan Martin (19 min and 31 min), Frankie White (59 min)
Fisher’s goal studded pre-season form continued, with a high scoring draw against Thurlow Nunn league side Harlow Town, on another wet evening in Essex.
Severe traffic congestion due to flooded roads hampered Fisher’s pre match preparation and several of the squad only arrived minutes before kick-off. This did not seem to affect the Fish as within a minute of the kick off the took the lead. A Harlow attack broke down and Fisher swept down the left side with a mazy run from former Arsenal and Manchester City trialist, Jeffrey Oredein saw his cross deftly chipped in by Tolu Jonaid from just inside the area.
Fisher were looking sharp on the ball and very quick on the counter, but a clumsy challenge gave the hosts the chance to equalise from a penalty on the quarter of an hour mark. Sam Amedu seemed to get a hand to the spot-kick, but it had too much power and he couldn’t quite keep it out.
Fisher pushed themselves back in front when winning a free kick twenty five yards out. The keeper offered Armani-Jordan Martin too much sight of the top right hand corner of the goal and the midfielder swept home the kick with a powerful curling effort.
Fisher then took the game by the scruff of the neck and with some blistering counter-attack play added two more goals. Great link-up play down the right saw Martin, feed Junaid and he slipped the ball back into Martin’s path, who carrying the ball into the area, shot low under the keeper for his second and Fisher’s third. A similar move down the right minutes later saw Junaid apply the finish after he cut into the box, beating several challenges to fire home. On the downside Callum Flynn had to be carried off in his seasonal debut with a worrying looking ankle injury.
The game seemed to be running away from the hosts, but they gave themselves hope by pulling another goal back before the break, when again a clumsy tackle saw them awarded a spot kick, which was powerful dispatched, higher and wider than the first, giving Amedu no chance.
The second half was scrappier with play broken up by a series of heavy challenges. Jeffrey Oredein also limped off after taking one too many knocks, He was replaced by trialist Frankie White, who wasted no time in getting on the score sheet as his determination to get onto a through ball saw him close on a defender to win the ball and then cut in on goal and curl home at the far post from an acute angle. At 5-2 up Fisher really should have seen the game out, but following a couple more substitutions with Armani-Jordan Martin completing his evening’s work, they lost their flow and struggled to hold onto the ball. A physical Harlow side took advantage and drew a goal back with fifteen to play when a powerful cross from the left seemed to be turned home by Fisher foot.
Fisher still looked set to hold out, but a needless late slide on keeper Sam Amedu saw the stopper forced off with damaged hand and with no keeper on the bench Assistant Manager Luke With donned the gloves. With the game into injury time Harlow forced a corner and amidst some Fisher hesitation it was turned home at the near post. Dramatically in the fifth of the three added minutes yet another rash Fisher tackle on a player going nowhere in the box led to a last kick of the game penalty, which Harlow duly tucked away to level the game at an unlikely 5-5 scoreline.
Manager Ajay Ashanike will be pleased with the attacking performance but needs to find a little more experience to marshal a leaking back line and hope the unnecessary knocks picked up to key players are not as serious as the may have seemed.