A sunny day in Chatham. New signings for both teams. No goals but plenty of thrills and spills. Fisher’s campaign starts with 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss and mid-table respectability is ours.
Fisher looked the more threatening right from the start, with Tyrell McLeod-Bartley getting forward within the first minute, only to be denied by some expert defending as he tried to get in to the box. As Fisher continued to press forward and cause Lordswood problems, the ball fell to midfielder Max Rothwell who’s well struck long range effort very nearly caught the opposing goalkeeper off guard.
Lordswood did create a couple of chances for themselves, the best of which saw an effort that should have put them ahead scamper harmlessly wide of an unprotected goalmouth.
Fisher looked dominant in midfield, stringing together some superb one-touch moves with Alfie Roche, Max Rothwell, Daniel Lawson and James Franks all putting in stand-out performances as Lordswood struggled to deal with Fisher’s pace and fluency. Not wanting to be left out, Denzil Kobia showed glimpses of fancy footwork when under pressure, leaving the Lordswood strike force blushing with cheeky flicks and turns. He also pulled off a few good saves to deny what shots were sent his way. The scores remained level through to the break, but Fisher continued to press after the break, although threatening chances were at a premium for both sides.
Early in the second half Shelton Gooden was booked for a collision with the Lordswood goalkeeper as both players went for the ball outside the box.
As the fluent passing came from the Fish began to show its dominance over Lordswood’s more direct style, the travelling fans became more and more vocal, and despite chance after chance going to waste (including an effort from Luke Haidarovic sailing over the bar before clearing the trees behind the goal), spirits on the terrace remained high.
Lordswood were still looking for a goal themselves and broke well a few times late on. Ricky Hepburn did well to get back and make a well timed tackle to deny a superb opportunity on the edge of the box. In the dying minutes, Lordswood saw their best chance go begging, as an over hit pass through an off guard defence went just wide enough for the Fish to recover in time to clear the threat. Referee DeQuincy Bailey brought the game to a close with the scores still at 0-0 at five minutes to five.
LINE UP: Denzil Kobia, Ricky Hepburn, Veejay Miller, Daniel Lawson, Gassimo Jalloh, James Franks, Alfie Roche, Max Rothwell, Shelton Gooden (Travis Gregory), Luke Haidarovic, Tyrell McLeod-Bartley (Nathan Palmer) UNUSED SUBS: Quintin Conteh, Taylor Thomas
