MATCH REPORT: Sutton Athletic 0-1 Fisher

Sutton Athletic 0-1 Fisher
Saturday 25th October
SCEFL Premier Division

Attn: 60
Scorer: Tom Jones (68 min)

Fisher put an end to a period of unconvincing league form with a hard working 1-0 win at Sutton Athletic. Despite the midweek loss at Corinthian, there was only one change to the starting line-up, with Tyron Mbuenimo coming in for the rested Sha’mar Lawson in the centre of the pitch. There was a switch up front with Jake Lovell returning to the wing, swapping places with Rafael Garcia.
The first half saw little goal mouth action with the two midfields blunting each other out, as Sutton played the prettier football, without any real cutting edge to the final ball and Fisher worked hard to break up play but were finding it hard to hold the ball up when getting out of their half and into the final third.
Isaac Ogunseri in the Fisher goal had to save bravely at the feet of Connor Evans after a good delivery into the Fisher box and series of corners caused some alarm with Sutton looking to find players at the back post. At the other end Fisher were finding it hard to make an impact, with long range effort from Tom Jones going well over the bar and then some good work down the right from Lovell and Jones almost teed up Garcia inside the area before a defender smuggled the ball away. It was however very much the case of the two defences being on top throughout the first half.
The second half had a strange delay as just before the kick off Isaac Ogunseri required treatment for a hand problem, which seemed to occur as he put on his gloves. A good three minutes passed before the half got underway, and seemingly still slightly bothered by the hand he pushed a curling speculative effort from Mahal over the bar, before making a smarter save to also tip a header up and over the goal.
Just before the hour mark the deadlock was broken. It had appeared that such was the tight nature of the contest only an error or a piece of quality would decide the game. It turned out to be the former as Sutton rolled the ball harmlessly back to their keeper but Tom Jones chased a lost cause and caught the keeper out with his pace, blocking the attempted clearance to send the ball high into the air and then scampered after it to slam a left footed shot as the ball fell back down, that squeezed in at the near post despite the keepers attempts to recover.
Fisher then put on a defensive masterclass for the remaining thirty minutes, with Ange Djadja and Don Macaulay imperious at the heart of the defence repelling everything Sutton threw at them. Screened by the hard working midfield they were able to keep Sutton at arms-length despite the home sides continued rotational play in midfield searching for a gap in the Fisher back line.
As the game moved into the closing stages Fisher had several chances to wrap the result up on the counterattack. Firstly, Mbuenimo fed a ball through that allowed Lovell to run free from his own half, but his effort, as he reached the edge of the box, hit Glassborrow, when he may have opted to round the advancing keeper. Then Duncan was slipped in down the left by Lovell but again was thwarted by the keepers block with Lovell’s attempt from the rebound catching the wind and flying over. Fisher’s travelling support were starting to wonder if they would be made to pay for the spurned chances, but the backline was holding strong. Duncan was then given another good chance after great work on the break from the lively Garcia but sent a rasping effort over the bar from the right side of the area and both substitute David Mata and Tom Jones also had chances when breaking into the box as Fisher exploited the space afforded from their hosts throwing men forward. It was not to matter though as the hard working effort in their own half secured the points with little real alarm on the Fisher goal, to return to wining ways.