On the back of their first win of the season just 48 hours earlier, Fisher welcomed Eltham based Cray Valley to Champion Hill on Monday evening.
The game started brightly with both sides creating chances in the early stages and Fisher’s trademark passing game was on show from the start. The first real chance of the evening for Fisher fell to Rob Hughes, making a second Fisher debut, whose well struck free kick was saved by Cray Valley keeper Matt Bailey who tipped it behind for a Fisher corner. The resulting effort was headed over the bar.
Fisher’s Nat Bell then had to go off after he picked up an injury. He was replaced by Benga Ogunseye. Cray Valley then had a few chances but Fish keeper Charlie Hyam was more than up to the challenge and dealt with each long range effort with ease. His best save of the night was a double block under pressure in the twentieth minute.
Fisher kept calm for the remainder of the first half and won a couple of corners from their patient attacks. Late on in the first period Danny Akers hit an ambitious looping effort which went behind before Cray Valley forced another top draw save from Hyam.
The scores were level at 0-0 as the referee brought the first half to a close.
The second half was every bit as open as the first, and visiting keeper Matt Bailey pulled off several good saves as did Hyam in the Fish goal. Cray Valley had the first clear cut effort after half time when the won a free kick. Unfortunately (or for Fisher, fortunately) the strike was hit straight at the four man wall and Fisher were able to clear the danger.
But the Fish then fell behind after failing to clear the ball. Cray’s Michael McKenna took advantage of the mistake, got into the box and hit a low strike under Hyam to put the Millers in front.
Fisher then sprang to life and started creating good chances, bringing the fluent passing game back into action. On several occasions the Fish got forward but Cray Valley stood strong and handled everything the Fish could throw at them, creating their own share of chances along the way. Defensively, Fisher’s Tom Hopkins and Cray’s Ben Healy stood out, with both making some superb tackles to break the opposition’s attacks down.
The open nature of the game had some fans worried, as both sides came close to scoring on several occasions, with Fisher just ahead on the shots tally in the second half.
In the 78th minute, Fisher finally found the net. A long range effort from Jamie Taylor took a major deflection off substitute Billy Walton, sending Bailey the wrong way. With Fisher now on terms, they sensed a winner and broke straight forward, with the eventual shot going well wide of the goal. Walton, who was credited with the Fish goal went all out to net his second to earn Fisher a win, but was unable to add to his tally and the scores remained level, despite both sides best efforts, until the final whistle.
Fisher: Hyam, Akers, Tipple, Hopkins, Carr, Taylor, Hughes, Walker (H Hanifan 74), Bell (Ogunseye 18 (Walton 74)), Campbell, Hubbard. Unused Sub: P Hanifan, Daramola
Attendance: 91
