Glebe 1-0 Fisher

Tuesday 18 October 2022

London Senior Cup – First Round

Fisher slipped out of their second county cup competition in four days, after a narrow 1-0 defeat against Glebe in the London Senior Cup. Having bowed out of the Kent Senior Trophy on penalties on Saturday, it was again despair from twelve yards, when Glebe struck home a 90th plus 6 minute penalty to take the tie with the single goal.

Both sides juggled their squads, with Fisher having seven expected starters out through injury, rest or work commitments meaning a new centre back pairing of Prince Imoru and German Petrov with Conor Darwish and Antony Connor in the full back roles giving the back four a very untried look. Youngster James Poole again deputised between the sticks along with starts for Julio Da Mata, Billy Brown and Darnelle Bailey-King as they return to fitness.

The first half was a cagey affair, with Fisher having more of the possession and territory playing down the slope, but Glebe finding good pockets of space when counter attacking. Poole saved bravely at the feet of a Glebe forward in the game’s opening chance, but in the main the Fisher defence kept dangerman Jamie Philpot relatively quiet, with a high defensive line pushing the prolific forward a little deeper than usual and Antony Connor appearing to relish the unusual full back role. At the other end, Billy Brown headed over from Cedric Nganga’s well flighted cross and Nganga pushed an effort of his own wide of the post before seeing a second effort pushed away for a corner shortly before the break.

Whilst goalless the first half had still contained some good quality of football with both sides passing the ball around well and making use of intelligent off the ball running.

The second spell saw Glebe quickly make use of the slope and a deflected shot passed narrowly wide of the post as the hosts looked to up the tempo. With yet another different set of substitution rules for this competition, Fisher used the first of their permitted three substitute windows bringing on Amgbaduba and Manny Brown for his brother Jed and Darnel Bromfield. The change almost paid a quick dividend as Brown found himself a little space on the edge of the box and fired a low shot that was parried away with the rebound just evading Amgbaduba before being swept clear.

A misplaced defensive clearance saw Poole scramble to tip a Philpott effort away before a further substitution window saw at Pat Hoy and Nader Zeddini enter the field, replacing a tiring Da Mata and Nganga as Fisher looked to keep up their energetic display, with Bailey King now switching to a wide role. This gave Fisher more attacking intent down the left and from one foray, the exciting winger slipped inside and out of two tackles and fired narrowly wide into the side netting.

With no extra time scheduled and penalties looming, both sides looked to win the game. Poole made two good saves low down to keep Glebe out and with four minutes of added time displayed Fisher almost snatched it when Conor Darwish sent over a free kick that evaded the Glebe keeper and struck the bar with Imoru’s stab at the rebound just flashing past the post.

With everyone expecting penalties, a series of injuries extended the added time and in the sixth extra minute a ball pumped into the Fisher box was followed by some head tennis before a Glebe player went over in a clumsy tackle and the referee pointed to the spot for a very different type of penalty than the shoot-out version that looked likely seconds earlier. Philpott emphatically slammed home the kick and sent Glebe through to face Haringey Borough in the next round.

The two side will meet again in the league next Tuesday and Fisher will be buoyed by the performance and the game time for returning players.