A spirited performance from Fisher was ultimately not enough to stop SCEFL title contenders Erith & Belvedere when the sides met at Park View Road on Saturday.
Throughout the first half it was hard to believe that 15 places separated the sides in the league table, as Fisher dug in at the back and showed creativity and place going forward. The first real effort of the game fell to Alfie Roche in the 6th minute, but the usually dangerous forward was clearly not expecting the chance and fired wide of the target.
The Deres caused problems throughout the opening stages but the Fish back line held strong and reduced their hosts to a handful of meaningful chances which were either dealt with by in-form Justin Lee or posed no threat.
Fisher were forced to make a change midway through the first half when Troy Abbey pulled up injured. He was replaced by Junior James who slotted in to Abbey’s roll well and caused problems down the right wing.
As Fisher continued to break forward when given the chance, new signing Femi Akinwande showed skill and flair up front and forced a great diving save from George Kamurasi.
The Deres enjoyed another spell of pressure had forced a great flying fingertip save from Justin Lee, and then finally made the breakthrough through Byron Walker in the 36th minute despite strong suspicions that the ex-Beckenham man was off-side (the clue being the raising of the linesman’s flag which quickly disappeared when the ball crossed the line).
The scores remained at 1-0 until the break. After the interval the Fish never really got into gear and fell 2-0 down in the 55th minute when Walker struck again.
The Fish kept to their game plan and looked good at times but ultimately the Deres were too strong and went 3-0 up when top scorer Alfie May netted the hosts third of the afternoon (and his 31st of the season) with just under half an hour left to play. Five minutes later Fisher waved goodbye to any hopes of salvaging something from the game when Allan Mathews pounced to fire home the Deres 4th as Justin Lee was left stranded following an incident which looked like the Fisher shot stopper was held out of the way.
The last 20 minutes saw Justin Lee pull off a couple more good saves as the hosts looked to add a coat of gloss to the scoreline, while at the other end, despite a few good chances, the Fish never really looked like threatening to score.
The defeat leaves the Fish in 17th, and with mixed results for the teams at the bottom end, a run of four games against sides also at the wrong end of the table could prove crucial to Fisher’s season.
Fisher: Lee, Wise, Demetrius, Taylor, Paul, Seales, Abbey (James 29), Musa (Etienne 62), Akinwande, A Roche, Bell (Davis 59)
