Fisher 2-2 Corinthian - The way the Tom Jones transfer to AFC Greenwich Borough was done was a slap in the face - the people who need to call me knows they need to call me, says Fisher boss Ajay Ashanike

Fisher 2 – 2 Corinthian
Location	St Paul's Stadium, Salter Road, Rotherhithe, London SE16 6NT
Kickoff	01/08/2026 15:00

FISHER  2-2  CORINTHIAN
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Saturday 1 August 2026
Stephen McCartney reports from St Paul’s Stadium

FISHER manager Ajay Ashanike says his side are three or four weeks from where they need to be after rescuing a point with a last-gasp penalty on their opening day of the new Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division season.

Last season’s runners-up took an early lead through impressive left-winger Alex Kozak, before fourteenth-placed finishers Corinthian levelled through their left-winger Asanti Amoah, who scored his first goal for the Fawkham-based club.

One-club man, Corinthian captain Jamie Billings, 35, scored direct from a free-kick to give his side a second half lead but the centre-half gave away a stoppage time penalty, which was tucked away by Fisher centre-half Donald MacAulay, as both sides had to settle for a point in front of 232 fans at St Paul’s Stadium, in 27 degree temperatures.

Both sides played this game in a high-tempo frenetic pace and what was refreshing was to watch two club’s that do not pay their players and are competitive in the ninth-tier, where some rival clubs pay their players £150 per week or more.

“Despite we didn’t have enough of the boys in pre-season, some of them only had their first 90, so Jack Gibbons, Conor Darwish, Charles Yiadom-Konadu and Festos Kamara only got their first 90 today,” revealed Ashanike.

“We’ve missed a lot of them in pre-season and now they’ve come in we’ve looked a lot stronger where we should be but fitness wise, we’re not but we’ll get there.

“It was a good performance today, I thought, as well. I thought we dominated the game really well. They had their patches where they’ve done really well but overall, I thought we looked like the team that wants to win it.”

When asked whether it was a case of two-points dropped or one gained, Ashanike replied, “Two points dropped but we could’ve gone away with nothing and what we’re trying to do is be a force at this level at home, especially at home and it’s character as well.

“While we’re here we know we can all get goals to the last second and you’ve got to be switched on for 90 minutes when you play against my team. They wasn’t switched on today, so they paid for it.

“We don’t make it easy for you here. We are absolutely full on for 90 minutes and you have got to be able to compete for 90 minutes against us.  I’m talking about technical ability. I’m talking about running off the ball, running with the ball.

“But we can be a lot better than what we was and we know that and it’s two points dropped. One point gained for them probably.”

Reflecting on the high tempo of the two sides, Ashanike replied, “Look, they’re always going to have their time in the sun but because of the way we play, because we’re not as fit as what we should be yet, they huffed and puffed and they done really well.  Half of my boys gave been on holiday the last few weeks so they’re coming back in now. I’m glad they’re in and this is off at 50 per cent and hopefully by the next three or four weeks we’ll be where we need to be.”

Corinthian manager Mason East was absent from his first game in charge due to being on holiday and the side were managed by assistant manager Myles Warren, with former manager Michael Golding, now director of football, assisting him in the dug-out.

“It’s a good point, yes, it’s a good point, we can’t complain too much in terms of, without looking at the game, you would come here, they’re a tough team,” said Warren.

“Fisher are really good. They’ve been in the play-offs for two seasons now, so you would expect a challenge so for us to come away here, we would’ve looked to come and take the three points but this is the start of the season, no one wants to lose, everybody wants to have a good performance and have a good result. But I thought we got that.

“I think it’s credit to our effort today, maybe we thought we were there but Fisher will keep going, so something was coming, it was a bit unfortunate.

“I think the killing part is the fact it was a penalty. They gave a penalty away. Was it a penalty? Was it not a penalty? That will forever be the debate but it was not as if it was open play and they just netted so that’s probably the killing point.

“The fact it was a penalty, which I don’t want to say my feelings on that. At the end of the day the referee’s, they try really hard, so I’m not going to get on to the ref too much, they try hard. What they see is what they generally get.”

When asked about a familiar face of Golding beside him in the dug-out, Warren said: “We had the support from my director of football. You respect what he’s done and you could see already what he’s good at doing. Sometimes you can think ‘why are you not doing it?’  But there’s other things that take part in his life that takes us in different directions but him being here, stepping in, stepping out, giving his advice, even today he was massive. We needed him today. It was massive to the management team so him being here supporting everybody, everybody respects him and he’s really good.”

Corinthian striker Logan Wallace, 18, missed a decent opening at the near-post after central midfielder Oluwaseyi Adegbehingbe switched the ball out to high right-back Oliver Fryer, who cut in and put the ball on a plate for Wallace, who nipped in front of Fisher debutant centre-half Collin Skhoyimue and hooked his shot past the near-post with nine minutes and 52 seconds on the clock.

“He works hard and when he came off I think it’s the first time during the whole pre-season that I’ve seen him look annoyed, not annoyed at us because we took him off to a certain degree. He might’ve not been annoyed but he looked like that,” revealed Warren.

“We try to encourage him to take your chances, take your shots, be a bit greedy in there. He’s a young lad, he’s 18, so you will get used to that and I was happy that he was annoyed because my message to him is going to be ‘look, make sure you take your chances because you’re not going to have the whole 90 minutes potentially to do this.’”

Fisher produced a trademark goal, taking the lead on the counter-attack with 12 minutes and 57 seconds on the clock.

Left-winger Kozak gave Oliver Fryer a torrid time for the 78 minutes that he was on the pitch.

Midfielder Charles Yiadom-Konadu rolled the ball over to Kozak, who went on the outside of Fryer and cracked a left-footed shot from a tight angle, which took a nick of the full-back as it flew past the head of centre-half Celeb Afoke and beat a diving keeper Hugo Webb at his near-post.

Ashanike said: “Honestly, it’s what we work on in training. Get the ball out wide, we do it really, really well. That rotation between the full-back and their wingers. We get to where we needed to get to and whatever happens after that we don’t coach that and we can’t coach that but as long we they do the right things, the positive things will happen and they know that.

“Alex was unbelievable. He’s someone I’ve tried to keep. Everyone else decided to go and Alex was one that we fought to keep and Festos as well.  You could see why we tried to keep them.”

Warren added: “I feel like we could’ve done better in that moment, especially front post. Hugo will probably say he could’ve done better in hindsight.  We’ll have to look back at the game to see exactly what happened.

“Fisher are strong at that break, so we discussed it at half-time. That we need to make sure we’re organised and if we’re not organised we can be punished – that was unfortunate.”

Corinthian attacking midfielder Oscar Housego was his usual impressive self and he played a one-two with Amoah before sweeping his 25-yard drive from outside the D harmlessly wide, as both sides utilised the artificial playing surface.

When asked about the high-tempo, Warren replied: “Do you know what, that’s credit to all of them out there, both teams. They’re showing at this step level but we take fitness serious.  I thought the fitness was high, especially for the heat. It wasn’t a slow pace. Everybody pressed, they pressed us, we pressed them. It was high-tempo. It’s credit to the league, the step that we’re at. The energy to work and show quality on top. 

“I think it was a good quality game.  I said to the lads, there’s not many that had seven or eight out of 10, it was lower than that but collectively I think both teams worked really hard.”

Referee Richard Myers sensibly decided to have a two-minute water break in each half and Corinthian grabbed a counter-attacking equaliser with 34 minutes and 25 seconds on the clock.

Billings drilled a long ball out of defence to release Amoah down the line and the winger cut inside and prodded the ball through to Wallace and Amoah pounced on the loose ball before placing his right-footed shot across debutant Fisher goalkeeper Zacharias Akinde to find the bottom far corner from 12-yards.

“Similar to their goal, defending turning into attack. We done it quickly. We try to get our forwards, we say to our front line, ‘look, when you get the ball in the final third, you’ve got to go out and do something. You can’t have an attack and not let nothing come from it so that was a similar thing.

“Asante’s been doing well in pre-season, not quite the final third but we said ‘look, we’re building up to this game.’  I’m pleased he got the goal because I’ve been onto him this week in the final third, make a name, do something, show your abilities and he’s done that.”

Ashanike added: “Very, very ugly, cagey goal. Donny should’ve just left it on him early doors but he didn’t and that’s where we need to start manning up.  When we played against the boys who have gone up, so Whitstable, Punjab, if you want to mirror what they’ve done, you’ve got to start putting someone in car parks and that’s what we didn’t do then.

“We allowed them to run and run and run and create a chance from nothing, absolutely nothing.  They were not in the game up until that chance but we have to learn from it.”

Fisher cleared Housego’s sixth corner of the game and hit Corinthian on the counter-attack calling Webb into making a comfortable save into his midriff.

Fisher right-back Jack Gibbons hooked his clearance upfield and striker Festos Kamara (who missed the whole of pre-season as Ashanike looked at 65 trialists) chased the ball alongside last defender, Corinthian left-back Oluwaseun Konu.

Kamara held his composure and held the ball up and waited for support from Flavio Jumo and the central midfielder’s first time right-footed half-volley from 16-yards was comfortably gathered by the goalkeeper, much to Ashanike’s frustration.

“I thought that should’ve been better!  There was an extra pass in that box as well. I think Charles was near him but an extra chance for us to finish that game off there and the amount of entries that we had is embarrassing! We’ve only scored two goals today with the amount of entries that we’ve had today.”

Warren added: “They’ve got to do their job. Hugo’s in there. We think he’s a good lad.  We’re saying to (goalkeeper coach) Peter Burke, make sure the goalkeepers are competing with each other. We like to say ‘look do your job for yourself and for the team’ and they’re doing that.

“Fisher were nothing that I didn’t expect, high energy, a bit more direct than I thought, which I think they’re good at that.  They done that the last time we played them.  They’re very good, they’ll be up there, I’m sure they’ll expect to be up there.  They’re a good side.”

Debutant Akinde dived to his left and used a strong left hand to prevent Housego scoring from 30-yards as the first half ticked into stoppage time.

Housego played the ball out to Amoah, who then played the ball back inside to Housego, who was in space some 30-yards out in a central position and his right-footed drive appeared to be heading wide but Akinde dived to his left to make the save to deny his former club.

Warren said: “Having Oscar is a massive plus. We need him here. His quality speaks for itself, so when he’s out there, we can say ‘can we get the ball to him?’ and he finds those pockets and he’s one of the experienced lads so the job isn’t just for him to be creative now in this group. His job now is can he influence everybody and make sure that they’re ready and I think he’s taken that on board.”

Ashanike said: “Zach’s a good player, he’s come from them.  Isaac (Ogunseri) is someone that I love really dearly. Isaac has been with me for the last two years and him going we needed to bring a goalkeeper in.

“We’ve brought Samuel Amedu in with Zach, which they’re both going to compete but Zach’s a young keeper. He’s got technical ability, he’s good in here (the dressing room) as well, a brave young man as well. He’ll want to grow and I’m looking forward to working with him.

“Isaac’s gone to Folkestone, Step Three. He’s gone in there as a number two. I can’t do that to the kid and bring him back again for another season at Step Five. He’s way too good for this level and I’ve asked him to stay there and fight for his place, which he’s going to do well.”

Both were asked their thoughts going into the interval.

Ashanike said: “Just more of the same. Keep the ball, move the ball, don’t get desperate. We’re better than them and they know we were better than them and just keep moving the ball and I think second half we done it as well.”

Warren added: “We just said look we can’t be happy to compete for 45 minutes. When I say compete, it means have a fairly good performance for 45 minutes. We have got to do that for 98.

“So the message was clear. Can we make sure we be close to them, be ready on the transition.  They’re very quick and direct at corners and stuff.  They keep a high attacking line so transition is very important. We just challenged the boys to say ‘look, let them beat us by having their quality rather than us having a mistake’

Wallace took the wrong decision inside the opening five minutes of the second half after Konu travelled over the half-way line and put Wallace through on goal.  Goalkeeper Akinde was in no-mans land but Wallace lacked the conviction to shoot at goal and decided to pass to Harrison Fryer instead, who swept the ball into the empty net and up went Said Akinwunmi’s offside flag.

Warren said: “Do you know what, maybe that’s what he’s upset about, just thinking about it, maybe.  Maybe he could’ve shot. I think Harrison probably ran too early, too soon. It’s one of those things because if it’s not offside and it goes in, it’s excellent team play.”

Ashanike added: “I feel they moved the ball really well. They moved it in the third really, really well with pace and power but we should be dealing with things like that.  That’s not a good attack but they moved the ball well at that point but there’s no much we can say about it, it was offside.

“I think the striker should have more confidence to score because if my striker would’ve passed that, we’ll be having that difficult conversation!”

Fisher left-back Conor Darwish fed Kozak down the line and he hung over a great cross towards the near-post for an off-colour Kamara, whose left-footed shot on the turn was plucked out of the air by Webb (7:25).

“I thought Hugo was good in goal today. He’s someone that we’ve been watching for years as well and he pulled off a really good save there,” said Ashanike.

“Festos has not had a pre-season with us, so it’s his first game so I’ll allow him but with more games we know how he started last season as well.  Hopefully he can get the ground running as long as he scores the first goal, he’ll be ok.”

Housego rolled a shot into Akinde’s gloves for a comfortable save but he was caught by Yiadom-Konadu after he got his shot away so referee Richard Myers brought the game back.

Corinthian scored from the resulting 25-yard free-kick, timed at 18:31 on the clock.

Akinde lined up a three-man wall but Billings stroked his left-footed kick around the wall and the ball went in off the left-hand corner and nestled into the opposite corner of the goal to stun the Fisher faithful, who saw their side lose only four League and Play-Off games here last season.

“Do you know what, Jamie, he’s not just a one-club man, whatever he does, he tries to do it at 100%, so whatever top he puts on, he will do it at 100%, thankfully for us,” said Warren.

“He’s a fantastic captain and sometimes he’s annoying because he wants it so much that he will do something rogue but do you know what, the intent is always there, so I back that 100 per cent.  I kind of like that because we need people are going to take initiative on the pitch and he does that.  He’s still going, he’s 35 and he’s still good.”

When asked whether Billings is future Corinthian manager material and the role he has in the dressing room, Warren replied: “You’ll have to ask him. All I know, he probably play until he’s forty!

“He talks, he gets people going. He’s even coaching players now, especially in the defensive third. His experience is massive at the level above as well. He’s been about.

“When we talk about away from football, he’s getting the group together and he’s getting to know everybody about their life and how we work. It’s just not the football.  The whole package of a captain, it’s a breath of fresh air. It’s something that’s very common in terms of the captain’s role but he cares a lot.”

Ashanike admitted: “We knew they were going to score from that free-kick.  I knew that was going in anyway straight away. 

“We huffed and puffed in there really well. But you can’t give free-kicks away in those areas, especially with his quality as well there.  With his quality, we had to be careful what we did there and it wasn’t good enough from us and we gave them that goal because all he had to do was hit the target there and he did a really great free-kick.

“I knew as he picked it up, I said ‘number five, he’s going to score.’  We was just planning what was going to happen after that and we made a sub after that and got back on top.”

Fisher continued their threats down the flanks with former Bearsted winger James Bessey-Saldanha and Rafael Garcia (who replaced Jake Lovell, who let the game pass him by), giving Konu and Oliver Fryer problems.

Fisher right-back Gibbons joined in with attacks in the final third the longer the game went on and he played the ball inside to Jumo, who played the ball out to Garcia and the former Everton man cut inside Oliver Fryer (Corinthian’s weak link in defence) and Webb held the shot as he dived to his left to prevent the ball finding the bottom corner.

Corinthian missed a glorious chance to change the outcome of this game with a counter-attack with 30:14 on the clock.

The Hoops cleared the ball upfield from their crowded half of the pitch and substitute striker Samuel Sarpong just about won a foot race with last man Darwish (who made up plenty of ground) but lacked composure and dinked his shot straight at Akinde when he only had him to beat.

Warren admitted: “There was a little moment there, where he was within himself. He’s making his debut. It was a shame. If he looked back at it, when we do look back at it, he’ll be gutted because that’s a chance. He scores that, he changes the game. That was a massive chance. He was trying to score obviously but he should’ve have scored in that moment but didn’t and he’ll have to learn from that. I think he will, hopefully, he has to learn to do better.”

Ashanike added: “Good defending from Conor, really, really good defending. We are brave, we’re very brave. We leave one-v-one at the back. We don’t care, we want to go forward and Conor did really, really well there. That’s how you defend and we mastered them really well.”

Fisher’s attempts tended to go over the bar during the game. Bessey-Saldanha’s corner with nine left was met by Skhoyimue’s towering header in between two Corinthian players which cleared the crossbar but Fisher were dominant.

“The last 15 minutes became a training session and that’s how we train, defence-versus-attack and that’s what it became for the last 10-15 minutes because they were just ready to take their three points,” said Ashanike.

“They wasn’t looking to attack and the more they were getting deeper, deeper and deeper, we were getting stronger and we were getting more confidence with them going deeper because we’ve got players that can open you up. It was only a matter of time.”

It looked as though Corinthian had done enough to spring a surprise victory in Bermondsey but there was still to be one more big moment in this game.

Darwish drilled a long ball forward out of defence and into the Corinthian box and a large cheer went up when referee Myers pointed to the spot after Billings was adjudged to have pulled back Fisher substitute striker Temi Alaka.

A full 93 seconds had to wait before Fisher centre-half MacAulay held his nerve, stroking his right-footed penalty into the bottom left-hand corner, although Webb guessed the right way.

“With Jonsey gone and we were looking for the next one in line and he’s picked it up and slotted it. He’s never missed a pen, touch wood but we’ve got to keep him grounded and just keep him focused,” said the Fisher manager.

“But there will be more penalties playing against Fisher. We’re going to give penalties away, we’re going to force mistakes out of people and that’s what we did.”

Warren added: “I don’t want to put down the refs because they try. I’d like to think they’re not trying to make mistakes. It’s like the players. I always say this is the level that everybody all makes mistakes as well.

“I didn’t feel like it was a foul and from the foul that happened in the game, it wasn’t very consistent. I didn’t feel like the consistent calls our fouls was across the game but that was gutting.

“I didn’t feel like it was a pen. Maybe we should’ve dealt with it when it dropped in there.  I said in the changing room 98 minutes was how long we had to work for. It’s one of those things. I didn’t think it was a pen but the ref has obviously given something and we’ve got to get on with it.”

Corinthian could have snatched it at the death too, but substitute Fletcher Carnell-Davis cracked a left-footed half-volley over the bar from outside the penalty area, which turned out to be the last kick off this decent game of football, miles better than the two clubs that won promotion last season!

Tom Jones was expected to play for their Isthmian League Premier Division neighbours Dulwich Hamlet this season – having impressed for Fisher last season where he scored 18 goals and helped them finish runners-up.

The 23-year-old turned out for AFC Greenwich Borough last night in their 2-1 win over Erith & Belvedere in the division, which was a big surprise especially as he should be testing himself at a much higher level than this one this season.

“Good luck to Tom, good luck to Tony Russell as well. He’s someone I like really well,” said Ashanike, who revealed he is not best pleased with Hamlet manager Mark Dacey in the way he conducted the transfer of the division’s best player.

“The way the transfer was done was a slap in the face and it is what it is.  We know who to trust next and we know who not to trust.

“At this level I feel loyalty of my boys and are really loyal to me. When I talk about my boys, I talk about people like Jack Gibbons, Conor Darwish. No matter what happens, I’m apart of the conversation. Even the boys have left we’ve had a little bond and this one, I can’t believe what happened there.

“The people who need to call me knows they need to call me. If I borrow you something, take it. If you’re going to borrow to someone else, let me know!  The player should’ve let me know as well that he was going to play against us and he’s going to play in my league.

“Like I said to Tom, if they (Dulwich Hamlet) weren’t going to take you, give me a call. I’m the one who looks after all of them and not giving me a call first and me getting to the next club, but to come back to this level is very disappointing but if that’s how he wants to run his career…

“The boys that trust me are going to do well for themselves. If you trust me, you do well for yourself and that’s not the end of it.  It’s about trust levels there.

“Joseph Adewunmi went to Dulwich, he wanted to move again, he gave me a call and he moved away (Chesham United, National League South).  Look at the great move Ange Djadja has got. Merstham to Braintree now, Step Twp.  So look at those boys are making.  Tom Jones is that level.  Jonsey should be at that level but if he wants to stay at this level for the money, then that’s down to him.

“Honestly, it is what it is. We’re not going to fight over players. We’ve got over 21 players signed again, no player is bigger than the club and understand that very well and we’re going to make the next Tom Jones again.”

Ashanike sent left-wing-back Lorenzo Duncan to Isthmian Premier Division side Dartford this summer, having scored 23 goals for Fisher last season.

When asked how he will replace the 41 goals that those two players brought to the side last season, Ashanike replied: “Look, we’ve got players that can do it. We’ve got Festos Kamara, who scored 21 goals last season. We just need everyone else to chip in so Rafa (Garcia), Jake (Lovell) need to add more goals into their game but we’ll be ok.

“We might not be able to replace that many goals but we’re not going to concede that many goals as well.  Football’s about winning games, so if you’re winning a game 2-1 or 1-0, you should be ok.”

Both sides are in FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round action next Saturday.

Tenth-placed Fisher travel to newly-promoted Isthmian League South Central side Cobham and Ashanike is looking forward to their trip to Surrey.

“It’s going to be a big game for us next week in the FA Cup. We know that Cobham’s going to be a really, really good side.  They’re going to stretch us.  They’re going to come out with a bang but it’s good to be a part of the FA Cup and that’s what I’m looking forward to, whatever the result is. We’re going to go out there and we’re going to enjoy every single moment of it.”

Corinthian, meanwhile, welcome bottom four Southern Combination League Premier Division finishers Lingfield to Gary Dawn Farm.

“I said to the lads at the end, we can’t wait for it.  We’re expecting to go home to the Farm and get a win in however way. We’ll prepare this week on Tuesday and Thursday and be ready for Saturday,” said Warren.

“I think it’s a game for us to get momentum and you want to win. As long as the teams are around us in that competition, let’s win those games.  When it comes to playing teams that are higher than us, it’s a different conversation.

“It’s historic.  We all want to be in this FA Cup, so we’d love to go as far as we can. I think last year we had a replay (against Horley Town and Egham Town, going out in the Preliminary Round) so hopefully we can do better than that so then we’ll be pleased with it.”

Fisher: Zacharias Akinde, Jack Gibbons, Conor Darwish, Tyron Mbuenimo, Donald MacAulay, Collin Skhoyimue, Alex Kozak (Temi Alaka 78), Flavio Jumo, Festos Kamara, Charles Yiadom-Konadu (James Bessey-Saldanha 65), Jake Lovell (Rafael Garcia 56).
Subs: Alimamy Taylor-Kamara, Eden Deh

Goals: Alex Kozak 13, Donald MacAulay 90 (penalty)

Booked: Rafael Garcia 60

Corinthian: Hugo Webb, Oliver Fryer, Oluwaseun Konu (Luke Mandry 69), Oluwaseyi Paul Adegbehingbe, Caleb Afoke, Jamie Billings, Asanti Amoah (Alfawaz Dada 83), Noah Kelo (Alfie Cragg 59), Logan Wallace (Samuel Sarpong 59), Oscar Housego, Harrison Fryer (Fletcher Carnell-Davis 88).

Goals: Asanti Amoah 35, Jamie Billings 64

Booked: Logan Wallace 45, Samuel Sarpong 72, Oliver Fryer 86, Harrison Fryer 87, Jamie Billings 90, Peter Burke (goalkeeper coach) 90

Attendance: 232
Referee: Mr Richard Myers
Assistants: Mr Ronald Albert & Mr Said Kayode Akinwunmi
Observer: Mr Tunde Adebayo

Match Duration:
First Half: 47:53 (water break between 24:16-26:07)
Second Half: 52:36 (water break between 22:07-2413)