Fisher 2-0 Peacehaven & Telscombe
Saturday 14 July 2018
Pre-season friendly

Fisher welcomed a new face to St Paul’s for the first pre-season friendly of the year in the shape of fellow fan-owned club, Peacehaven & Telscombe who hail from East Sussex. The sun was beating down on a scorching day, there was a fixture clash with the most meaningless game of the World Cup and there was also competition in the shape of the Wimbledon ladies’ final, but none of that was enough to put off the Fisher faithful, buoyed by last season’s promotion and keen to see Dean Harrison’s men in action once again!

A familiar looking line-up took to the field for Fisher, albeit with Richie Hamill playing in the unorthodox position of left-back, and debuts for trialists in centre mid and up front. As is customary, Fisher kicked off towards the Pond End, and took the initiative form the start of the game. Rob Brown played a lovely sliderule pass through the P&T backline, but the keeper beat Pekun to the ball. Toyo Adeshina then bamboozled the P&T left back with a series of stepovers before winning a corner, but the corner came to nothing.

After 13 minutes, P&T ventured forward for the first time and one of the midfielders let fly from fully 40 yards, but the speculative effort was straight down the throat of the returning Carpanini in the Fisher goal. The heat was taking its toll on the players, and the next action of note saw Fisher win a free kick on the edge of the box after a high boot, but it was taken short and then cleared by the P&T defence. The ref then sensibly blew for a drinks break.

On the half hour mark, a nice move down the Fisher left saw the home side win a corner, but the P&T keeper claimed it confidently. Fisher started to up the pressure and five minutes later another flowing passing move, this time down the right hand side of the pitch, resulted in the opposition keeper having to dive at the feet of Pekun to prevent a certain goal. Again Fisher pressed for the opener, and the keeper was finally beaten to a cross but the trialist striker could only head over.

The opening goal finally came with only a few minutes left in the half. This time Pekun would not be denied, sending the keeper the wrong way with a nice clipped finish inside the box in the centre of the goals. 1-0 (Pekun)

As so often in football, P&T almost got back in the game from the restart. A sliderule pass split the defence but Carpanini rushed from his box and hoofed clear before the striker could reach it. There was time for one more P&T chance before the break, a high cross into the box being spilled by Carpanini and Richie Hamill popping up on the line to clear and goalbound shot from the resulting loose ball.

Half time: Fisher FC 1-0 Peacehaven & Telscombe.
Stats courtesy of @throssfilms:

Gaffer Dean Harrison rang the changes at half time, with a number of substitutions mixing both familiar old faces and new trialists. If the line-up had changed, the direction of traffic did not. Toyo Adeshina had a great run into the box and looked to be in a good position to shoot, but selflessly elected to square the ball and the danger was cleared. Ten minutes into the half, one of the trialists sent a header just past the post, but the flag had gone up for offside anyway. Trey Small was then unlucky to see a shot blocked inside the box, before Hamill hit the byline and floated over a lovely cross but there were no takers.

On the 65 minute mark, Fisher were awarded a free kick just outside the box. Richie Hamill placed the ball and thumped a tremendous shot off the underside of the bar. Had goal-line technology been available at St Paul’s, it would have been interesting to see if the ball had crossed the line! P&T couldn’t clear fully, and a header flashed just wide form the cross back into the box. Fisher were well on top and P&T were no doubt grateful for the drinks break announced by the ref.

After the drinks break, P&T tried hard to get back into the game. George Ede had to be sharp to clear behind for a corner, and Fisher then cleared off the line from the resulting set-piece. P&T were awarded a second corner, but this time the ball was headed well over.

Fisher regained the initiative and very nearly doubled their lead with 15 minutes remaining. Jamie Brown danced through several tackles before the P&T keeper did brilliantly to block low at the winger’s feet. The rebound was sent just wide by Hamill.

Five minutes later, Fisher did get their second goal. A lovely passing move teed the ball up for a shot on the edge of the box from one of the trialists. He hit his volley straight into the ground, and the bounce deceived the P&T keeper who had already started to go to ground, and somehow the ball crept through his guard and into the back of the net. A move that certainly deserved a goal, if the finish was rather fortuitous! 2-0 (trialist)

Fisher weren’t content to hold onto their lead, and kept pushing. Hamill sent a volley just past the post, before Hamill again skipped past a challenge, hit the byline and stood up another tantalizing cross but P&T managed to scramble clear. There was time for one more chance for P&T when they were awarded a free kick 25 yards from goal. The resulting shot hit the wall and went behind for a corner, which Fisher cleared comfortably.

Full time: Fisher FC 2-0 Peacehaven & Telscombe. A good first workout for the Fish, with a large number of players getting a runout. Plenty of chances created, some good passing football as you would expect from a Dean Harrison side, and a well-deserved win (for all that results are not always the most important in pre-season). I don’t need to tell you that next down at St Paul’s is a Millwall XI on Tuesday night – make sure you are there!

Full time stats from @throssfilms:

Keep up-to-date with all Fisher FC activities:..............................

• Become a member - Own your own football club: http://www.fisherfc.org/membership/
• Donate to the 12th Man Fund: http://www.fisherfc.org/2018/01/11/your-club-needs-you-support-the-12th-man-fund/
• Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FisherFC
• Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FisherFC/

• SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL FAN-OWNED FOOTBALL CLUB