A day of contrasts for the Fish, as a successful day at the Bermondsey Street Festival was not matched by Fisher’s on pitch performance, a 5-1 defeat at Beckenham ending our interest in the FA Carlsberg Vase for this season.
On Bermondsey Street in SE1, the Fisher stall – bedecked in black and white Fisher FC merchandise – drew plenty of attention. The Pearly King of Peckham left sporting a Fisher badge, and the stall was visited by club patron Simon Hughes MP. T-shirts, scarves and badges all proved popular with the festival crowds, and if you missed out on the day we will have merchandise for sale at Champion Hill tomorrow night.
Chairman Ben Westmancott and Director Jevon Hall manned the stall in the afternoon sunshine, and they will have felt grateful to have missed a poor Fisher performance at Beckenham. A live Twitter feed displayed on the stall told a tale of woe, as the Fish fell to five Beckenham goals and crashed out of the FA Vase.
It was a bright start for the Fish at Eden Park Avenue, with Adam Wadmore and Danny Hunt returning from injury and taking their place in the starting line-up. But it was Beckenham who took an early lead, when they won a corner from their first attack of the game. From the corner, Jason Rose was left unmarked in the box and he put a powerful header beyond the reach of Danny Firkins.
Fisher responded well, and Hunt was put through by Jamie Turner. He appeared to be clipped as he rounded the keeper, but tried to stay on his feet and as a result could not reach the ball in time to turn it into the net. Fisher won a penalty after a trademark powerful run from Turner, who beat two men and was challeneged by a third who got both ball and man. To protests from the Beckenham players, the referee pointed to the spot and Turner made no mistake as he levelled the scores.
Parity did not last long, and Beckenham took the lead from another free header this time from Nick Curren. Shortly afterwards, the Fish were denied a clear second penalty as Beckenham left-back Byron Beard made a fine save to block a shot – the referee, somehow missing the handball, waved play-on. Beckenham nearly added insult to injury from the resulting breakaway, Firkins called upon to make a fine save to keep the score at 2-1.
Hunt was denied by Blue, who made an outstanding fingertip save from the Fisher striker’s left-footed volley, before Fisher’s injury curse struck once more – Charlie Helps twisted his ankle in a divot and was forced off the pitch just before half time.
Matters got worse for Fisher after the break, with another controversial penalty decision following a tussle in the box going against the visitors. Jack Hobbs scored an excellent spot-kick, and Fisher faced an uphill battle. A fourth Beckenham goal put the result beyond doubt, the unfortunate Wadmore slicing an attempted clearance beyond Firkins. A further penalty, about which there was little doubt, was put away by Hobbs before Frankie Warren was sent off following a second yellow card to cap an extremely disappointing second half for the Fish.
Fisher face a quick return to league action, with the visit of Cray Valley on Monday evening at Champion Hill before trips to Sevenoaks Town and Erith Town on the next two Saturdays.
Fisher: Firkins, Banton, Tipple, Warren, Helps (DeGraft-Johnson 45), Wadmore, Taylor (Hubbard 61), Turner, Monan (Baker 72), Hunt, Jarrett-Elliott. Unused Subs: Wilson-Joseph, Bangura
