MATCH REPORT: Windsor & Eton 1-1 Fisher (Fisher win 4-3 on pens)

Windsor & Eton 1-1 Fisher (Fisher win 4-3 on pens)
Saturday 24th January
FA Vase Fourth Round

Attn: 596
Scorer: Festos Kamara (9 min)
Successful Pens: Tom Jones, Lorenzo Duncan, Don Macaulay and Michael Sarpong

Backed by a large noisy contingent of supporters from SE16, Fisher produced yet another dramatic penalty shoot out victory to advance to the last sixteen of the Isuzu Fa Vase after a 1-1 draw with Windsor and Eton. Despite continuing to miss a number of influential payers through injury and suspension, Fisher were able to name a strong starting eleven with Rafael Garcia coming back in for the cup tied Alex Koazak and Estaban Salgado starting on the wing in place of Nas Crespo being the only changes from the midweek game at Larkfield.
The game started at a breath taking pace and inside a minute Fisher launched the first attack as Michael Sarpong won a challenge in midfield and pushed the ball wide to Garcia who slipped in Tom Jones, only for his drilled effort to be turned away by Purcell in the Windsor goal at the near post. Windsor had their first attempt a minute later, with a snap-shot from the edge of the box going just over the bar as the two sides traded early blows. A quick throw in on the right then served Fisher a warning as a neat turn allowed a another shot at goal, which passed just wide.
Fisher took the lead in the ninth minute following some neat passing in midfield which allowed Jack Gibbons to clip a fine through ball around the Windsor centre back and Festos Kamara’s pace saw him run clear onto the pass and carry the ball into the area before unleashing a ferocious drive into the far corner. Fisher, with their tails up nearly added a second when Salgado intercepted a loose clearance and fed Jones, whose low shot from twenty yards flew just wide with the keeper looking beaten.
However Fisher were to pay for not making the most of their early ascendency as Windsor worked their way back into the game with some good rotational play in midfield and almost worked an equaliser on the half hour when a quick break down the left saw the ball pulled back for Laraba whose shot, with the goal gaping, was somehow cleared off the line by Don Macaulay, with the follow up looped over the bar. The momentum had switched and it was no surprise that three minutes before the break Windsor equalised. The warning of the quick throw routine was not heeded and another neat flick from the quickly taken restart allowed Laraba to fire across Isaac Ogunseri into the far corner to send the sides into the break level at one a piece.
The second half though saw Fisher wrestle back momentum, aided by the slope and inside the first five minutes forced Purcel into a double save, from Lorenzo Duncan’s near post effort after overlapping from left back and then tip Kamara’s follow up over the bar. Salgado saw an effort more comfortably saved and Kamara tried to curl a shot from the edge of the box which just failed to dip sufficiently, as Fisher bravely took the game to their hosts.
Fisher’s strategy of not deploying their usual energetic press was paying dividends with Windsor often forced to go long rather than play out and the Fisher defensive pairing of Macaulay and Richard Kingson first to everything thrown forward. Tom Jones saw a free kick just tipped around the upright after Garcia was felled as Fisher continued to hunt a winner. A scramble n the box saw Duncan fire just wide, after Garcia and Kamara both couldn’t quite find a decisive touch and Salgado fired over from range. Having pressed all half there was always the fear of a late counter catching Fisher out, but a second yellow for Decabo reduced Windsor to ten men for the six minutes of injury time. Fisher had one final chance with Crespo shooting wide after a corner reached him on the edge of the box, but the final whistle came to send the game to penalties.
Isaac Ogunseri threw himself left to superbly block Windsor’s first kick and take the pressure off the penalty takers with Tom Jones, Lorenzo Duncan and Don Macauly all keeping their nerve and burying their kicks in the corners, before Ogunseri again stood firm to beat away Windsor’s fourth kick. Kamara couldn’t win it, rolling his shot wide of the upright despite sending the keeper the wrong way, but Michael Sarpong made no mistake with Fisher’s final kick slamming it into the top corner to spark huge scenes of celebration between the players and fans and send Fisher into the fifth round.