MATCH REPORT: Larkfield & New Hythe 3-1 Fisher

Larkfield & New Hythe 3-1 Fisher
Tuesday 20th January
SCEFL Challenge Cup Quarter Final

Attn: 75
Scorer: Tom Jones (22 mins)

Fisher slipped out of the SCEFL Challenge Cup after a 3-1 defeat at a wet and cold Larkfield and New Hythe on Tuesday night. With their prestigious FA Vase game moved to Saturday, Fisher were somewhat caught in a dilemma of going full strength to try and win the tie or resting players to save them for Saturday, opting for the former, with Flavio Jumo starting in place of Rafael Garcia the only change from their last outing and former players Esteban Salgado and Halim Bakre added to the bench after re-singing last week.
However, Fisher were to make a poor start and fell behind from the first attack of note after four minutes, when a long ball forward from the hosts was met with a misjudged sliced header and former Fish Kesna Clarke was able to race through on goal, rounding the outcoming Isaac Ogunseri and then slipping the ball home into an unguarded net. Fisher responded well to going behind although it took a smart block from Ogunseri to deny Clarke as he again managed to get in one on one having turned the back line.
Playing on the counter though Fisher looked to have found some rhythm and a quick break from the resulting corner saw Alex Kozak picked out by Jack Gibbons deep cross and his effort flew just wide of the post via a deflection off a defenders leg, and then Tom Jones saw a fierce shot well saved low down by Lee Norman after another lightning break from Fisher’s pacy attack. Midway through the half, Fisher deservedly drew level. A free kick delivered from the right was brought down by Jack Gibbons and as he pushed the ball wide to allow room for a shot he was brought down by a clumsy challenge for an easy award of a penalty by the referee. Tom Jones stepped up and tucked the ball into the left corner.
As the half drew to close, Larkfield had two good chances to retake the lead as first Clarke drew another top drawer save from Ogunseri in another one on one situation and then with the ball only half cleared out to the right of the penalty area the referee waved away what looked an incredibly strong claim for a penalty for the hosts after their forward seemed to have his legs swept away from under him.
As the second half began the rain started to arrive, with the game very much up for grabs for either side. Fisher saw an early claim for a second penalty dismissed after Jones seemed to be clipped in the box, with a bizarre sequence of events following as Larkfield’s promising counter was halted, to allow treatment for Jones’ leg injury only for him to be told get up and then play restarted back with a drop ball for the home keeper, leaving both benches baffled as to what had happened. From the restart though Fisher fell behind, as again the keeper’s long clearance was not cleanly headed back and with the ball ending up out wide a high hopeful cross somehow evaded Ogunseri’ jump and bounced invitingly into the path of Kieron McCann who stroked it past Lorenzo Duncan covering on the line, to put the hosts back in front.
Fisher huffed and puffed to try and find a second leveller, but with rain becoming more persistent and Fisher torn between going all out for a leveller or resting legs for Saturday the game lacked fluency and play was continually broken up. Fisher didn’t help themselves in getting some tempo with making their own four substitutions individually. Michael Sarpong fizzed in a long range effort that just went over the bar with the referee adjudging a slight touch off the keeper’s finger tips, but Fisher couldn’t profit from the corner – a feature of most of the narrow losses this season. Esteban Salgado added some neat touches in midfield, but Fisher lacked a creative spark and the game was pretty much wrapped up on eighty one minutes when Larkfield broke and slipped a ball down the right channel that saw their winger fall over the sliding Ogunseri as he tried to gather. It looked more like the contact had been initiated by the forward but going to ground without getting the ball carries a risk and Matt Day slammed the penalty down the middle to leave Fisher playing out the last ten minutes for pride rather than any realistic chance of getting back into the tie and hoping for little more rub of the green in one of the next three crucial upcoming cup games.