Fisher 5-4 Bearsted - Maldon & Tiptree chairman has made it obvious enough to say it’s me they want and I believe they'll come up with a second offer to get me over the line, says Fisher boss Ajay Ashanike

Fisher 5 – 4 Bearsted
Location	St Paul's Stadium, Salter Road, Rotherhithe, London SE16 6NT
Kickoff	26/09/2026 15:00

FISHER  5-4  BEARSTED
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Saturday 26 September 2026
Stephen McCartney reports from St Paul’s Stadium

FISHER manager Ajay Ashanike says he is going to knock on the boardroom door because he needs something to compete with the big boys and needs backing if he is to stay at St Pauls admid an offer of a 24-month contract from Maldon & Tiptree to prise him away.

The 37-year-old, Aveley-based Ashanike revealed during his post-match press conference following Fisher’s 6-3 home win over Petts Wood & Holmesdale on Tuesday night that the Isthmian League Premier Division club are interested to make him their next manager.

Maldon & Tiptree suffered a 5-1 defeat at Brentwood Town in midweek and sit in 16^th place (bottom seven, three wins from eight) and lost 2-0 at home to Egham Town in The FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round this afternoon, where former Rusthall's talented Italian winger Yassin Fares, 28, made his debut, with former Bromley full-back Ugo Udoji in temporary charge, while Fisher remain unbeaten at fortress St Paul’s and extended their unbeaten run to eight, winning their last six and produced a blockbuster against fellow promotion candidates Bearsted.

The Essex club have put out a statement to say that “we are now extremely close to appointing our new manager and that announcement will be made very, very soon.”

Ashanike said that he had ‘made his decision’ after speaking to a handful of Fisher fans once the floodlights had been switched off and the feeling was that the former Tower Hamlets manager was going to turn down the offer to manage in the seventh-tier for the first time.

However, Ashanike hinted that this could well be his 300^th and final game in charge of Fisher, with the Essex club allowed to officially speak to Ashanike on Sunday, despite an offer of a 24-month contract already on the table.

“Obviously, they’ve put a transfer request in for me, which I thank him for and I’m really honoured and privileged that a team in a division like that has come in for me, so I can’t really say I’m not really happy with it,” said Ashanike.

“They are allowed to talk to me tomorrow, obviously there’s an offer in place.  After the conversation tomorrow, if a better offer comes in, it’s something that I obviously have to think about as well.

“I love this club (Fisher) and no one can tell me I don’t love this club. I’ve worked really, really hard for this club (for seven years) and hopefully they can help and do something as well as a club and take us into that direction that I want to take the club to and that’s just my question to Fisher tonight is can you back us in what we want to do?

“And if they can do that, then we’ll go with it but I’ve got to weigh up the option and see what’s best for myself and the boys as well and obviously what’s best for the fans as well.

“If I do leave, there’s a lot of top managers that would be waiting for this sort of job. There’s a lot of managers out there and I’m sure Fisher will always be good with me or without me. They will always be good because the club is a massive club.”

When asked what Fisher need to do as a club to keep him at St Paul’s, Ashanike replied, “I need to speak to the board and to enjoy football it’s not about money and everyone knows that.  I’ve not asked anyone for money but I do need a bit of backing fully to compete and that’s what I’m asking for, is give me something to compete with these big boys in this League because it’s a lion’s den and when any other club’s want something, they go and get it.

“If you need something, you need to go and get it and I can’t go and get it, where the rest of them can, so I’ve got to wait weeks and weeks and do a lot of research, bring them in and work with them before I can actually fix it and I know what areas we need to fix right now but we’re not in those positions to go and fix it.

“Look, I’ve got to speak to everyone involved, especially Jim (Maycock, club secretary) and Simon (Shipperlee, club chairman). I need to speak to them and see what they can do. What they can do is really, really important for me and I don’t want to be in a position where we still can’t go up and we’re still Step Five again next season.

“I want to be able to compete and that’s what I’m asking for and even though we’re doing it but I feel that there’s another level we can get to and it’s just let’s go and get to that next level. That’s what’s important now, let’s all go to that next level.

“Honestly, it’s not always about money, I’ll be honest with you, but I need something to work with.  I’m going to knock on the door, let’s see what the boss says and we’ll take it from there.”

Ashanike got out his mobile phone and showed me the offer that Maldon & Tiptree have put on the table, including the salary Ashanike will collect during his 24-month contract if he does decide to leave Fisher and join the Essex outfit.

“I believe, look, the (Maldon & Tiptree) chairman has made it obvious enough to say it’s me they want.  They’ve come with offers and the first offer was really interesting and I believe they’ll come up with a second offer to get me over the line and we’ve (Fisher) got to be able to compete with it if you want to keep me as well.  You’ve got to be able to compete with it and as much as you love something really well, it’s really difficult but let’s ee what happens tomorrow.”

Fisher remain at the top of the ninth-tier Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table (23 points, seven wins, two draws and one defeat) after this outstanding game of football against Kevin Stevens’ Bearsted.

Fisher were 2-0 up inside 26 minutes, courtesy of a 30-yard strike from right-back Jack Gibbons, before right-winger Temi Alaka notched his fifth goal of the season.

However, fourth-placed Bearsted (13 points, four wins, one draw and two defeats) roared back and scored three times in the space of 12 minutes through strikers Diekonifeoluwa Falade (two) and Matthew Day to stun the large crowd.

Fisher then scored twice in six minutes in the second half through striker Festos Kamara and attacking midfielder Rafael Garcia, before Falade scored his hat-trick to make this blockbuster four-all with 19 minutes remaining.

Bearsted left-wing-back Tyler Hatton was sent off for violent conduct with seven minutes remaining and Fisher grabbed a trademark last-gasp winner through an own goal from Bearsted’s second-choice goalkeeper James Savage.

“If you’re just coming here to watch football, honestly, you must be enjoying it because goals are flying in!  Yes, it was interesting, interesting after Tuesday and obviously coming here again on Saturday and it’s still the same display.  Well done to the boys but it’s something we need to look at because we’re conceding too many goals really,” said Ashanike.

“Look, if you come to play against us and looking to win, we’re going to score goals but you’re going to score but we’re always going to out-score you, as soon as you want to play like that, so they’ve come out today to try to play and that’s a sign of a good team and they went 3-2 up and I knew we had enough character to come back into the game and get that victory.”

Bearsted's assistant manager Billy Jones said he was going to speak to the referee following his post-match interview.

“Just gutted, I think it’s a great advert for the League.  I think when you want an away performance, you kind of say ‘let’s be hard to beat, let’s not concede, let’s try and score’ and then you’re on the end of a 5-4 defeat!

“It’s just from our point of view, it’s just the manner of the goals. I don’t really know what’s happened at the end with Save(age) but you still feel with 10 men, which was never a red card by the way and I’m about to see the referee because I think that performance was as bad as we’ve had all season and we’ve had some bad ones.

“Listen, if you’re a fan and you’ve come here, I said to the boys at the end, if they’re currently sitting at the top of the table, you’ve got to give yourself more credit than you’re probably giving yourselves at the minute.

“I think sometimes we can be a bit, not negative, but I don’t think we quite believe that we’ve got a good side and a good squad and we have and it’s just getting to the stage and like I said to them there, you can’t cement play-offs on the 26^th of September but what you can do is you can learn from it and we can keep building and get better.”

Fisher created their first opening after exactly 60 seconds when left-back Kaylam Burgess’ fizzed in a low cross from the left and the ball was cleared out to Garcia, whose first time right-footed drive flashed across the keeper and past the far post from 18-yards.

Falade was a constant threat for the Fisher defence down the right and Bearsted midfielder Liam Parle released Falade, who curled his left-footed shot across the keeper and bouncing past the far post from similar distance.

Bearsted’s right-sided centre-half Sam Flisher intercepted Burgess’ throw in before playing a long ball down the line where Falade counter-attacked and his left-footed angled drive rolled into the gloves of Fisher keeper Zacharias Akinde for a comfortable save (8:30).

Jones said: “I mean, he’s been a threat since he’s come to us and Matty (Day) work very well together and they’re doing some serious work at the minute.

“They’re the only two fit strikers we’ve got. We’re still waiting for a couple to come back but they’re doing an excellent job for us and you could see, he’s scored a hat-trick and Matty scored another one.”

Ashanike acknowledged: “See look, Bearsted are one of the best teams that we’ve played against so far and I’ve told the boys as well.  They are really alive, they are going to go for it this year, they will be up there this year as well.

“I feel like my boys’ stood up for the challenge.  If you look about four or five years’ ago, we would’ve probably lost that game but the boys have matured into it.”

Fisher’s centre-half Joseph Denny, 28, making his debut having signed from Isthmian League South East Division side Herne Bay, was penalised for pulling back Day.

Akinde lined up a two-man wall and Hatton bent his low left-footed free-kick from 22-yards around the wall and towards the bottom near corner, only for Akinde to dive low to his right to push the ball around for a corner (16:43).

“Just trying to be clever, just trying to be clever in and around the box and see what we can create,” came Jones’ reply.

“I thought Joe done really well. He came in to training with us, we signed him last night from Herne Bay. He’s a top lad and you could see that was something missing as well in our team, said Ashanike.

“There’s two positions that we can evolve in but a signing like that is really, really good for us and he controlled the back line really, really well today.  You can’t look at all the goals and say it’s his fault or any of it was his fault but we’re glad that we had him in today because if we didn’t, we might not be talking about the three points today.

“He won all of his individual battles but for my centre-halves in this club, they need to watch him, the leadership that he’s got and everything that he’s got in his locker, especially Donny, playing with someone as experienced as that, he’ll start learning from it and hopefully he does learn from it and that’s why we’ve brought him in.”

However, Fisher produced a well-worked goal to take the lead with 19 minutes and 27 seconds on the clock.

Holding midfielder Aaron Archibald played the ball into striker Kamara, who played the ball inside to Bessey-Saldanha and the Bearsted defence failed to close down their former team-mate.

Bessey-Saldanha rolled the ball out to Gibbons, who shifted the ball out to Alaka, who cut inside and rolled the ball back to Gibbons, who swept a sublime first-time right-footed curler past and over the diving keeper to find the top far corner from 30-yards for his first goal of the season.

Ashanike said: “If you look at the goal, that’s the same goal we scored on Tuesday. It’s something we work on in training.  They are really good kids.  They follow instructions and they execute the instructions really well and that is why I like about them, yes, it’s a good goal.”

Jones added: “We said we’re going to come under some pressure so just be behind the ball but I think sometimes it’s taken too literal.  Be behind the ball but still put pressure on the ball. We didn’t do that enough and to be fair he’s put it in the top corner, so yes, you can’t do much about it apart from put pressure on the ball I suppose.”

Bessey-Saldanha was surrounded by three Bearsted players before he worked the ball into Garcia, whose right-footed drive was comfortably gathered by Savage, who made his only save of the game and will continue to be on the sidelines once Adam Molloy returns from his weekend away because the stand-in keeper was not up to the level required.

However, Fisher doubled their lead just 17 seconds later (25:09).

Garcia played the ball in behind a high Hatton and left-sided centre-half Ryan Blake to find the unmarked Alaka, who took a touch before emphatically drilling his right-footed shot in off the underside of the crossbar and the ball had already crossed the line before Kamara could stab the ball over the line.

“There’s no foul in there. I understand their frustrations but there was no foul in there,” insisted Ashanike, who was interviewed after Jones was.

“The ball’s already gone over the line as well, on top of it. Temi scored the same goal on Tuesday. He’s another one that we’ve worked on in training.  That set-piece was done quickly and the boy’s come in and he’s really done well, so well done to Temi.”

Alaka has been on fire during these last two nine-goal thrillers this week.

“We always knew. Last season we tried to go for him (when he was playing for then First Division side SE Dons) but he went to Ilford and this season I knew I had to do everything to get him into the club and he’s showing the reason why we wanted him at the club.”

Jones added: “I mean the lino (Timothy Odofin) flagged it as if it’s in.  They fouled Sam Flisher on the goal-line, whether it’s in our not, again, I don’t know. Maybe it has, maybe it hasn’t.  We don’t have VAR in this League, so I’m hoping they’re going to get it right, so that will be one question Ill be asking when I go in.”

Fisher were now starting to turn it on and Bessey-Saldanha’s diagonal pass was worked over to Alaka, who put it on a plate for Garcia, who cracked his first-time right-footed drive over the crossbar from the curve of the D.

However, Bearsted went direct for their first goal when it arrived with 32 minutes and 58 seconds on the clock.

Flisher came up from defence and threw the first of two long throws into the Fisher penalty area from within the right-channel.

Ross Ibbertson hooked the ball towards goal from within a crowd, before Day kept composed to lay the ball off to Falade, who cut onto his right-foot before drilling his angled drive into the far corner from 15-yards on the angle.

Jones said: “Really good finish, he’s good at that. He’s getting goals when he’s poaching at six-yard out and he’s getting goals when he’s drilling the ball inside the bottom corner, so a really good finish from him.”

Ashanike added: “That was our mistake. Before that we had a corner, no, they crossed the ball. Zach didn’t catch it but he palmed it for a corner and from there it was chaos.

“The boy’s a young keeper and I’m not going to bury a keeper when he needs me the most. We know how good he can be but he’s had a really bad one today. He just needs to stay focused and he’ll be ok.”

Clark Woodcock (right-wing-back) and Ibbertson linked up down the right, as clinical Bearsted restored parity with 37 minutes and 25 seconds on the clock.

Ibbertson played a deck pass in from the right and Samuel Stace (attacking midfielder) joined in with the attack before Alaka swept his right-footed shot in off the inside of the left-hand post from eight-yards.

Fisher’s left-sided centre-half Donald MacAulay was thrown in the sin bin by referee Jack Motram (37:35-48:59) and stepped back on the pitch just a second into the second half as he waited on the other side of the touchline in line with his defensive team-mates.

“Again, just good play. I’ve just said to them, in terms of how we want to play, we want to get down the sides of teams and get crosses in and work the ball,” said Jones.

“It showed really good character. This is a tough place to come. There’s not many teams that are going to win here at Fisher and we haven’t today but we’ve given a good account of ourselves, especially to go 2-0 down. You could go three and four and you’re completely out of the game but to get it back to two-two, it was excellent from us.”

Ashanike claimed: “Look for me that’s a foul on JD (Denny) there. I thought that was a foul, so if you’re not giving the foul there, then it’s going to be a goal but for me I don’t think the referee had a good game today but who am I to complain about it?

“But we’ve got to make sure we control what we can control and I can’t control how the referee performs.”

Stace was impressing in behind the front two of Falade and Day and he played in Falade in behind Denny but the striker’s drilled right-footed shot was palmed away by Akinde with two-hands raised above his head.

Bearsted stunned the expectant home faithful by taking the lead two minutes and 33 seconds on the clock, as Denny opened the gate again as Stevens’ side proved they are serious promotion contenders.

Woodcock played a lovely through ball in behind Denny to put Day through on goal. His initial shot was parried by Akinde but Day had a second bite of the cherry and slammed his right-footed shot into the net from inside the six-yard box to score his seventh goal of the season.

“Again, really good play. Real good calmness from Clark. I think he broke forward probably about 10-15 yards and a nice pass through to Matty with his good movement and he took it well in the end,” added Jones.

Ashanike went back to MacAulay being sin-binned for asking the referee a question out on the pitch.

“Matt Day always comes here and scores against us but if you can’t ask the referee questions, how do you even play the game?

“Sometimes we think we’re bigger than the level we’re playing at and we just have to remember the level we’re playing at, is Step Five and if players can’t talk to you (referee Jack Mottram), then you’re always going to be at Step Five, so it’s something for the referee to take on board.

“You need to talk to players and that’s all the boys want and you’ve got to respect them and they’ll respect you back as well, so respect goes both ways.

“Bearsted are a good side and they’re going to be up there as I’ve said and they’ve scored a lot of goals (18) this season already – but if they leave themselves open like that, people will punish them and that wasn’t their goalkeeper today as well. I don’t think if Adam Molloy was there today it might’ve been a different game but we’ll never know.”

Both were asked their thoughts going into the interval following five goals, with no idea how many goals would come during the second half either.

Ashanike said: “You think I’m going to go in there and through the kitchen sink at them – but we actually didn’t.

“We were really calm in here. The boys knew exactly what to do.  Look, if you’re not out of sight in the first half, the second half is going to be a long 45 minutes when you play against us because we’re going to keep coming and that’s what we did, attack after attack and we’re going to keep knocking on the door until it opens and we did.”

Jones added: “We said ‘well done, good character’ to get back from 2-0 down and then to be leading 3-2.

“We just needed to get through the first 10-15 minutes because they’ve got a good crowd behind that goal and they kind of roar the ball over the line sometimes and you’ve just got to deal with it.”

Fisher were ruthless in front of goal and levelled the game up at 3-3 with six minutes and 31 seconds on the clock.

Kamara hooked the ball from inside the Bearsted half out to Alaka, who burst towards the by-line before cutting the ball back for Kamara to sweep his first-time right-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner to score his sixth goal of the season.

“Great finish but that’s the work from Jack and Temo on that side, absolutely superb.  The running off the ball, we’re a well-drilled side. Honestly, that side is really well drilled and to get that composure in there to slap it, the way Festos did, was absolutely unbelievable,” added Ashanike.

Jones added: “Yes, one to look at I think. Probably poor from us in terms of maybe first contact, not being aggressive to win the ball back, not winning headers, stuff that we were actually alright at today but yes, we’ll have a look.”

Bearsted skipper Ryan Blake was also thrown in the sin-bin by the referee (7:25), but didn’t return to the pitch as he was substituted when Stevens brought on three new players.

A poor by-line clearance from Bearsted centre-half Daniel Keyte was intercepted by quiet Fisher left-winger Tyrese Briscoe, who lashed his right-footed rasping drive over the crossbar.

Flisher was at fault for the home side’s fourth goal of the game, timed at 12 minutes and 53 seconds.

Gibbons and the dangerous Alaka linked up well down the right before Gibbons floated in a cross, which sailed over Flisher’s head close to the 18-yard line and Garcia chested the ball before smacking his right-footed volley past the poor Savage in a one-v-one.

“Look, again, if you’re going to leave yourselves open and play a high line against us, you’re going to get punished,” warned Ashanike.

“Look, we are a team that just wants to score goals. We’re a team that’s exciting and if you give us a chance, we’ll take it and that’s what they’ve done, they’ve given us a chance.

“Look, it got really heated in the changing room between me and Rafa (Garcia) in there and I expect more from Rafe for the level that he’s played at and I just feel in the second half he showed the Rafa that we needed and the Rafa that we was asking for and to get that composure to put that in the back of the net as well.

“It was a great take actually. What a great pass from Jack by the way. Hit Rafa in the chest, brought it down really well and slotted it past the keeper. He should be doing that every single game, but we’ll see.”

Jones added: “I think if that was a goal going our way, I probably think it was a good pass over the top of Flish’s head and he took the goal well to be fair to him.

“We’ve got to be better and I think the goals are really sloppy for them to go 4-3 in front.”

Hatton was struggling to stem the flow of attacks down his side of the pitch and Alaka cut the ball back from the right towards the D where Garcia went close to scoring with a first-time right-footed drive, which flashed just past the foot of the right-hand post (14:27).

Bearsted manager Kevin Stevens, who was cautioned during the first half and was shown a red card after the final whistle, changed momentum by bringing on three players, Conrad Lee (left-sided centre-half), attacking midfielder Liam Gillies and central midfielder Billy Lewins.

“We’ve done it once, let’s go and do it again. I think it’s so important to remain positive in any games and you’ve gone and done it once, go and do it again and we go and do it,” added Jones, when asked about his side’s attacking momentum at this stage of the game.

Fisher did come close following their third corner, which Alaka played short to Gibbons, who laid the ball off for Bessey-Saldanha, who drilled a right-footed deflected drive that narrowly missed the foot of the right-hand post from 22-yards.

Falade – who was a lot more quieter during the second half – pounced to score his hat-trick from close range, as Bearsted made this remarkable game 4-4, with 25 minutes and 56 seconds on the clock.

Flisher drilled the ball down the line, a high Woodcock hit the ball into the Fisher box and Day took a touch inside the penalty area and rolled the ball across the keeper towards the back post where Falade swept his left-footed shot into the goal from a couple of yards out to take his goalscoring tally to 11 goals.

To score a hat-trick away from home, to score four goals away from home and not pick up any points with an impressive, outstanding away performance, was hard to take for Jones.

“It’s one of those clichés, you go away from home and score four, you don’t expect to lose the game,” admitted Jones.

“I think at that stage of the game, although we were 4-3 down, we had some really good play. We were dominant on the ball. I think we had some really good play.  We had them moving around quite a bit and we were really troubling them with what we were trying to do.

“We create quite a few chances and it’s fallen to Dieko and he’s taken it really well and he’s gone and got his hat-trick and then you just think have we got the ascendancy to go and half of you think a point’s a great result here and then it’s unfortunately not to be.”

Ashanike said: “Look, for someone to score a hat-trick against us, is so embarrassing for me but the boy’s a good player. He’s a seasoned Step Five player. He’s done really, really well for the few years that he’s been at Step Five and he’s done really well today, he’s done really, really well.

“He must be gutted. Last season, we were so unlucky not to sign him but good luck to the boy. He’s gone to Bearsted and he’s showing value for money.

“I’m really disappointed with that, between JD and Donny, I think they should’ve done a lot better. Zach, the goalkeeper, should’ve done a lot better as well but we’ll learn from it and move on from it.”

An impressive Bearsted then created three chances to go on and win this thriller.

Lewins and Day produced a slick one-touch passing move inside the Fisher half and Hatton put a left-footed ball into the penalty area where Lewins swept his first-time left-footed shot across Akinde and past the far post (31:26).

Woodcock put over a cross from within the right-channel, where Lewins’ flicked shot at the near-post was flicked away by Akinde and the ball came out to Parle, who went to pieces on the edge of the box and drilled his drive over.

Hatton, Lewins and Falade then linked up well down the left and the ball was played into Hatton, who put his head in his hands after hitting his left-footed drive over from 25-yards.

Referee Jack Mottram spoke to assistant referee Alexis Stacchini before pulling  out a red-card to send off Hatton for an incident with Gibbons right in front of the away dug-out (37:15).  The Fisher captain required treatment and Hatton left the pitch 75 seconds later.

“From where we were, in front of the dug-out it looked like two genuine people going for the ball and to cry out that there’s an elbow and it’s not Tyler Hatton to put in an elbow in anyone,” insisted Jones.

“The linesman’s asked the referee to come over and the linesman’s actually the wrong side of where Tyler’s arms supposedly would go, so I’ll be very surprised when I go in (to see the referee) in a minute to see what they actually saw.”

Ashanike said: “From where I was standing, I don’t think it was a red card.  They’ve both jumped for the ball…..Jack wasn’t milking it because he (Hatton) did heavily hit Jack but for me I think a yellow card would’ve been a fair decision there.”

Fisher went on to score the game’s ninth goal of the game, timed at 44 minutes and 24 seconds on the clock, with Savage clearly at fault.

Burgess played the ball down the line, Kamara swept the ball out to substitute left-winger Eden Deh, who cut inside Flisher and floated in a left-footed cross, which was heading past the top of the far post.

However, keeper Savage raised both of his arms above his head and allowed the ball to flick his gloves and sail into the top far corner of his goal for an own-goal.

Deh entered the pitch (41:58), was booked for a minute later for kicking the ball away before crossing the ball for the last-gasp winner before the game finished at 51:01.

“Eden’s been knocking on the door.  Eden went a couple of weeks ago to (Kent County League Division One West) Bermondsey Town, done really well, scored a goal and he’s had an opportunity to come in to win the game for us and credit to the boy,” said the Fisher manager.

“He’s worked really hard, he’s listened to everything that we’ve got to say. He will be a good force at Step Five, if he comes on and listens to what we are advising him to do. It’s all about game time and he will only improve the squad when we do need you.

“We’re going to look stronger once everyone gets fit and we’re having that headache picking the team but for now we’re doing really well.”

Savage leaked five goals from all of the shots that Fisher created on target today and made just the one routine save and will not be troubling Molloy for the number one jersey.

“I thought his performance was fine,” insisted Jones, refusing to throw the understudy under the bus, which is the norm for managers.

“I think from our side it looked like it was one of those crosses coming out and I don’t know if his hands have gone back, I don’t know.  I’m gutted for him because he’s waited a long time to play and then he feels like he’s let the group down – but he hasn’t.

“Listen, we’ve conceded five goals. It’s not him. It’s us as group but we go again.

“The boys are massively deflated.  When you’re coming to (the side that are) top of the table and they’re a really, really good side. I went to watch (their 3-1 win at) SE Dons when they were excellent.  I said to the boys, ‘it’s going to be tough’ and you’ve got to match them for everything.  They’re quick, they move the ball well, they want to get in behind and they can play and you’ve got to do all of that and we’ve done that and I think that’s the most disappointing thing.

“If we’re having this conversation and it’s four-all, I’d be delighted with that. It’s just the fact that we’ve taken nothing and scored four away from home.”

Fisher head into October four points clear of the top of the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division, with the four play-off sides Hollands & Blair (19 points from nine games), Kennington (14 points from nine), AFC Greenwich Borough (14 points from seven) and Faversham Strike Force (14 points from 10 games) – while Bearsted are now in sixth-place.

Fisher travel to Larkfield & New Hythe on Saturday.  Tony Reid’s side are languishing in the bottom four with nine points (two wins, three draws and five defeats) and lost 1-0 at Phoenix Sports today.

They have Beckenham Town (eight points from nine), Petts Wood & Holmesdale (seven points from seven) and Erith & Belvedere (three points from eight) beneath them in the table.

“Like I said, (the league table) don’t mean nothing right now. What we need to focus on is just playing football matches every week and giving that more, more, more, more every single game and understand what a mean means and when a tackle’s there to be won, we’ll win it.

“But look, credit to the boys, they’re doing really, really well this season. I’m nothing but proud of them. They’ve started really well but my question now is just carry on with the momentum.”

If fans want to witness goal fests then Fisher is the place to be and attendances have gone from 238 on Tuesday to 337 today.

But Ashanike knows winning 1-0 and keeping a clean sheet wins titles.

“When you’re playing attacking football and it’s exciting, people will come and watch and I back myself to create a team that will attacking at all cost and that’s what we’ve done the last seven years I’ve been here is attacking football.

“We’ve had exciting wingers and exciting strikers the last few years and we’re always going to score goals and they’ve just got to keep going and keep the belief that they are a good force in this league and just carry on and get your head down.

“Because I’m an old school centre-half I want to win 1-0 but this generation is different, honestly, they’re an absolute different generation. They care about attacking football, than actually defending their own goal and if that’s working for them, what can we do? It’s working for them.

“But I just need to pat them down a bit more to understand the ugly side of the game of just winning 1-0 and keeping a clean sheet and enjoy keeping clean sheets – but they just want to score goals.

“Larkfield are a really good side. A physical side. Away from home, we’re back on the grass and we know we have to play differently on grass as well.  We just need to stay focused. If we stay focused, we’ll come away with three points, that’s all that matters.

“They were really good last season weren’t they? They were up there with us (finishing fourth).”

Jones, meanwhile, has promised changes for Tuesday night’s trip to First Division leaders Lordswood in the Challenge Cup First Round, ahead of Saturday’s home clash against Tony Russell’s AFC Greenwich Borough.

“It will be tough. It’s always tough going to them, especially when they’re on a good run in their league but we’ve got players that need to play, so we’ll be a totally different 11 from today.

“We’ll have a look at it. We’ve got players that need to play. We’ve got players that we need to rest. We’ve got some quick succession games, so we need to rest some. We need to play some. Some will get minutes that haven’t had some previously and then we’ll have a look ready for Greenwich at home next Saturday.

“You can’t win or lose anything in September. All you can do is keep learning and get better and keep building on what we’re trying to do and see where we are at the end of the season.

“Greenwich have started really well. I think they had a good little FA Cup run as well, so it’s just a matter off, we’ll train on Thursday, we’ll have the game on Tuesday and we’ll organise and have a look at some analysis on Greenwich and hopefully we’ll see what we can do.

“Nathan Light is hopefully not too far away. He done his knee (against Redhill in The FA Vase) and it wasn’t as serious as first thought.  Ashton Mitford is back from an ankle injury, he will be back in hopefully a couple of weeks, so two young strikers that I think will give the two older ones (Falade and Day), shall I say the experienced ones, a bit of a break if need be.

“Have I been involved in a 5-4 thriller? Not that I can remember, no.  You try not to be in too many. What a good advert for the League. If you’re a fan and you’re coming in and you’re a neutral, you think ‘cor, I’ve got my money’s worth today!’

Fisher: Zacharias Akinde, Jack Gibbons, Kaylam Burgess, Aaron Archibald, Joseph Denny (Conor Darwish 72), Donald MacAulay, Tyrese Briscoe (Mekhi Clarke 80), James Bessey-Saldanha, Festos Kamara, Rafael Garcia (Eden Deh 88), Temi Alaka (Jake Lovell 77).
Sub: Alimamy Taylor Kamara

Goals: Jack Gibbons 20, Temi Alaka 26, Festos Kamara 52, Rafael Garcia 58, James Savage 90 (own goal)

Booked: Temi Alaka 61, Jack Gibbons 77, Eden Dah 89, Jake Lovell 90

Temporary Dismissal: Donald MacAulay 38

Bearsted: James Savage, Clark Woodcock, Tyler Hatton, Daniel Keyte (Colby Wait 81), Sam Flisher, Ryan Blake (Conrad Lee 66), Ross Ibbertson (Liam Gillies 66), Liam Parle, Matthew Day, Diekonifeoluwa Falade, Samuel Stace (Billy Lewins 65).
Sub: Rueben Jones

Goals: Diekonifeoluwa Falade 33, 38, 71, Matthew Day 45

Booked: Kevin Stevens 22 (manager), Tyler Hatton 54, Ross Ibbertson 57

Temporary Dismissal: Ryan Blake 52

Sent Off:  Tyler Hatton 83, Kevin Stevens 90 (manager)

Attendance: 337
Referee: Mr Jack Mottram
Assistants: Mr Alexis Stacchini & Mr Timothy Odofin
Observer: Mr Mark Joy

Match Duration:
First Half: 48:58
Second Half: 51:01