Fisher 0-1 Deal Town - Ultimately if we want to stay in the hunt for second place you have to come to places like this and win and I was really pleased with how we did that, says Deal Town boss Steve King

Fisher 0 – 1 Deal Town
Location	St Paul's Stadium, Salter Road, Rotherhithe, London SE16 6NT
Kickoff	14/03/2023 19:45

FISHER  0-1  DEAL TOWN
Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Tuesday 14 March 2023
Stephen McCartney reports from St Paul’s Stadium

DEAL TOWN manager Steve King says there is no pressure on his side in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division promotion race after sealing their first league win at Fisher since October 2016.

Striker Ben Chapman headed in his 18^th goal of the season after only 118 seconds to settle this game, as visiting goalkeeper Henry Newcombe kept his sixth clean sheet in a row (555 minutes) as Deal Town extended their unbeaten run to 12 games.

Managerless Erith & Belvedere, who parted company with interim manager Andy Constable, after 14 games in charge, last Friday, have had their 20 point lead narrowed to just eight points as they have 68 points with nine games left.

Deal Town remain in second-place with 60 points (eight games left), followed by  Erith Town (56 points with 10 games left) and Phoenix Sports are on 55 points with 11 games left, with the league title now up for grabs for all four sides.

“It’s a massive win for us.  I think this is one of the hardest places to come in the league. Fisher at home are always a strong side and for us having to travel on a Tuesday night, we didn’t make a big deal out of it but it’s tough,” said King.

“I thought we worked so, so hard. I thought it was a decent game. Fisher caused us threats throughout but (we’ve picked up) another clean-sheet, got the goal early and just our desire and determination is what pleased me most.

“Fisher play their 3G very well, they know how to play it. It’s tight, they’re sharp. We came fourth last year and had a really good season and came here and lost 3-0.

“We pinpointed this as a really difficult game so to take three points home is really important.”

Fisher boss Ajay Ashanike said: “The referee decided what happened in that game today and it was really heart-breaking to see.

“We had a lot of chances to score goals today. I counted about four in the second half but we weren’t clinical enough to score goals today.

“It hurts. We should be working the keeper a lot more than we did, especially in the second half.  First half was cagey but second half I thought we were the better side.”

Fisher came out of the traps with all guns blazing, creating their first chance after only 18 seconds.

Striker Malaki Coker played the ball out to right-winger Andres Felipe Losada Tobon, who teed up called-up Montserrat International Lewis Duberry but his left-footed drive from 25-yards was comfortably held by Newcombe, low to his right.

Ashanike said: “It was a comfortable save for the keeper. It wasn’t a great shot at the end of the day.  They’ve got to do better than what they did. We’ve got to dust ourselves off and go again.”

King added: “I think that was pretty comfortable but Harry has been brilliant for us since Christmas and it’s another clean sheet for him tonight.

Deal Town sealed a massive three points with their first attack of the game.

Central midfielder Jack Hanson played the ball out to left-back Jack Penny, who was within the left channel and he put over a quality cross with his left-foot towards the near post where an unmarked Ben Chapman looped his free header past the stretching goalkeeper to find the top left hand corner from six-yards.

“It was a brilliant cross from Penny, he’s quality was outstanding again,” said King.

“Ben Chapman has been short of goals recently. He scored loads at the start of the season so it was great for him to get one. He’s such a key man for us. It was a great header and to score so early.

“We made sure we were professional as we could. We were here on time as well so we did a full proper warm-up, which isn’t always easy to get everyone here from work and I was really pleased with how we started the game and credit to the boys.”

Ashanike added: “That goal really annoyed me because we spoke about that goal from last Thursday (at training), about the way they set-up.  If they’re going to score today, it would be from there. When we talk in the changing room, I think the boys don’t believe it and today showed again. We were right, we do our homework on teams and they’ve scored the same goal we said they were going to score.”

Coker launched six long throws into the Deal Town box, while Deal Town centre-half Alex Green launched the same number into Fisher’s box during this battle.

Fisher went close to equalising in the 11^th minute when Michael Sarpong played the ball out to right-back Prince Imoru, who cut the ball onto his left foot and whipped in a cross towards the near post. The ball was sliced towards Isaac Thompson, whose overhead kick screamed past the right-post from six-yards.

Coker’s long throws were mainly aimed for big targetman Luke With at the near post but on this occasion the player-assistant-manager failed to get his head to the ball but it dropped kindly for Thompson, whose flicked a hooked shot, which was grabbed by Newcombe as he stepped to his left.

Deal Town almost grabbed a second goal in the 20^th minute.

Fisher centre-half Joseph Adenunmi brought down Tom Chapman on the edge of the D and Penny bent his low left-footed free-kick around the five-man wall towards the bottom left-hand corner, only for Fisher goalkeeper Samuel Amedu to get down low to his right and use a strong right hand to push the ball towards safety.

King said: “I think Pens hit the target, which is what we want him to do and the keeper saved it and it bounced out and I think it’s dropped to one of theirs, rather to one of ours. It was a good strike and a good save.”

Ashanike added: “Sam was always going to save that. He’s got to hit it sweet for it to go past Sam, so it was really good from Sam.”

Amedu launched a right-footed kick upfield, With dropped deep to flick the ball on (with Billy Munday close by) and Duberry latched onto the ball and after cutting the ball onto his left-foot, pulled his shot past the near post from 25-yards.

Excellent Deal Town centre-half Kane Smith launched a long diagonal ball, which sailed over the head of Fisher’s left-back Conor Darwish to release Tom Chapman running down the right-channel and his swept right-footed half-volley from outside the box trickled into the gloves of the Fisher goalkeeper on the half-hour mark.

“I thought Tom’s movement was brilliant all night and we looked to get him in,” said King.

“Maybe he was a little bit frustrated that he didn’t really connect, he dragged a couple. He’s so important to us and he offers that threat in behind.  I thought he was excellent tonight and he was a bit unlucky with that one.”

Penny then launched a long ball over the top of the Fisher back-four but Deal Town striker Connor Coyne’s chip from 22-yards sailed over the crossbar.

Fisher called Newcombe into making a big save in the 38^th minute of the game.

Deal Town had bodies on the edge of their penalty area but referee Marian Stoichitoiu awarded a free-kick and Duberry’s right-footed drilled free-kick from 22-yards was destined to nestle inside the bottom right-hand corner, only for Newcombe to swiftly get down low to his left and use a strong left-hand.

“The keeper done well there, he’s a good keeper and you can tell straight away today why they’ve been keeping a lot of clean-sheets and winning games because of him.  He’s a really big unit and he done really well to get low to save that,” added the Fisher boss.

Ashanike revealed that three of his players, Luke Thomas (hamstring), Coker (groin) and Darwish (groin) picked up injuries tonight, while Deal Town lost wide striker Riley Alford (cramp), while Newcombe and right-back Sam Taylor also received treatment later on in the game.

Thomas was forced off in the 35^th minute so on came Inesh Sumithran at right-back, so Imoru slotted in at centre-half alongside Adenunmi and Darwish retained his left-back berth.

Fisher called Newcombe into making a comfortable save inside the final five minutes of the half.

Sumithran floated a cross in from the right, With flicked the ball on inside the box and Coker, with his back to goal, hit a shot on the turn from eight-yards, which was comfortably plucked out of the air by the visiting goalkeeper above his head.

“Luke With’s about seven foot five isn’t he and he was a theat.  They looked to hit diagonals and looked to play off him,” said King.

“We thought in the first half we probably actually tried to win too many balls off him, which is a little bit stupid because we’ve got Billy Munday and Kane Smith who are very good in the air but they still haven’t got a chance against him.

“We talked at half-time to actually worry about the second ball a little bit more and letting him win the first one and make sure we didn’t get caught out with the ball coming off it and I thought we did that better in the second half.

“The boys have been outstanding defensively. It’s a whole team effort when we defend, it’s not just the goalkeeper and the centre-halves but as a group, we’ve been outstanding defensively for quite a while now.”

Reflecting on With’s contribution for 90 minutes and Coker’s chance, Ashanike replied: “Luke done well. He was as last minute change because Nadir Zeddini became ill this afternoon so we had to change it around.  To be fair to Like, he won his battle and you can’t ask for no more from him,

“Coker could’ve had a touch and spun properly. He’s had a shot but trying to shoot and make it look like a great goal when you could just put the ball in the back of the net. It’s that easy. You don’t have to hit it so well, trying to look pretty, just turn and shoot on and put it in the back of the net!”

Ashanike was clearly a frustrated figure during the half-time interval, perhaps guilty of playing too many long balls towards With’s head during the first half.

He said: “It’s frustrating, I’m frustrated because I know we’re better than that and I know they can score goals but they just want to make it look so wonderful in the final third.  We’re good at what we do, we want to score good goals all the time, just score the rough goals, just score the silly goals.

“I wanted them to give me more energy, more of the same. If you’ve got a shot, shoot early and I think second half we had about four or five efforts, some of them went over the bar, some the keeper saved.”

King added: “There was a bit of tactical advice, just talking about dealing with the big man (With) and really for us to keep working and showing that desire.

“Ultimately, if we want to stay in the hunt for second place you have to come to places like this and win and we just said to the boys it’s another test of character.  Could we get through to the end of the game and come home with three points? I was really pleased with how we did that.”

Fisher created their first second half chance inside the opening six minutes.

Sumithran and Thompson linked up well within the final third and the ball was worked along the deck to central midfielder Sarpong, who controlled the ball before sweeping a right-footed drive towards the bottom far corner from 25-yards, which was comfortably held by Newcombe, smothering the ball low to his right.

King hooked Coyne and brought on diminutive striker Lenny Atherton, who is on dual-registration terms from Isthmian League Premier Division side Folkestone Invicta.

Penny drilled in a cross with his left-foot into the Fisher box and Atherton found a pocket of space inside the box but could only steer his header sailing past the far post.

“Folkestone were looking to get him out and get him a few more minutes and with the injuries we’ve had in the forward line we thought it would be a good option,” said King.

“I thought he did well when he came on tonight. He’s lively and he worked very hard and I thought he caused them a few problems and he was a little bit unlucky with that header.”

Fisher created their best chance of the game in the 59^th minute when Thompson’s lovely through ball split open Green and played in substitute striker Ollie Milton - but Newcombe came out and narrowed the angle and smothered the ball low to his right to deny the former Stansfeld man in a one-v-one dual.

“Ollie knows he should be doing better than that. He should be putting the ball in the back of the net,” said Ashanike.

“He’s a striker and he knows that and he will be kicking himself tonight. He’s one-v-one with the keeper and I expect him to hit it in to the back of the net there.  No matter what happens, if you’re a striker you’ve got to be scoring at this level and he knows that.”

King added: “We played Stansfeld a couple of weeks ago and he was there then and he came off the bench and caused us problems. He’s a lively player.  I haven’t seen him this season but he’s got a bit about him.

“We switched off a little bit there but if you want to be successful your goalkeeper has got to make saves at important times haven’t they and I think Harry, in this run of form, has shown that he’s probably the best goalkeeper in the league.”

Halfway through the half and Fisher continued to probe for an equaliser.

Sumithran threw the ball short to Milton and Duberry’s first time cross was smashed into the Deal Town box for With to steer his header across the keeper and past the far post from six-yards out.

Ashanike said: “I thought they weren’t clean headers because Deal are really good at what they do. They’ve were really, really good. They were really solid, they are big lads.  They won their personal battles really well and they were challenging. They really competed and made it really hard for Luke tonight.”

The referee threw Duberry into the sin-bin for dissent in the 71^st minute and Deal Town created just one glorious chance with a well-worked move when they had the numerical advantage.

Penny cut in from the left and threaded the ball through to Atherton, who cut the ball back for substitute Joe Reeves, who lacked composure and drilled his first-time shot high over the crossbar from 22-yards.

“We worked it really well. I’m not going to be critical of people.  People on the bench are moaning at me, I’m expecting them to be Premier League footballers but I think we can hit the target there and work the goalkeeper but it was a good bit of football,” said King.

“It would’ve been nice to get that second goal but it didn’t come but we held on.  We were really resilient tonight so the boys deserve full credit.”

Ashanike replied: “That sin-bin. I don’t really understand it. I’ll have to see what Lewis has actually done. I can’t really comment on it.”

Ben Chapman released his brother Tom down the right but the winger dragged his shot across the keeper and flashing past the far post from outside the corner of the penalty area inside the final four minutes.

Deal Town were content to sit back and protect their slender lead, and With was still a threat in the air with his aerial advantage.

Duberry played the ball out to Sumithran on the right and he drilled a long ball towards the back post for With, who steered his towering header just past the near-post from eight-yards.

“You’re looking to play away on a Tuesday night who have been on a really good run of form and have won their last two home games 4-0 and 3-1.  You’re going to have to weather a little bit but I thought we stood up to it,” said King.

“They had a few, what I call, half-chances that they might look at and should’ve hit the target and worked us a little bit more but I don’t think there was anything clear-cut than the (Milton) one-v-one that Harry saved.  I was really pleased with how we defended at the end.”

Ashanike added: “They went into a low block and they were really hard to break down and we could not compete with it.  They won their personal battles and they were strong in their challenges and they were on the front foot when we should be on the front foot and that was it.”

Fisher’s three-match winning streak has come to an end and Ashanike takes his side to play Welling Town (at Chatham Town) on Saturday.

Ryan King-Elliott has been in charge of the Boots for five games and won his first game in charge last time out, beating Stansfeld 5-4 at home.

Holmesdale are in seventeenth-place in the table with 30 points from 29 games, while Welling Town follow with 27 points from 30 games.

K Sports (22 points from 30 games) and Canterbury City (19 points from 30 games) haven’t been able to claw themselves out of relegation trouble.

Fisher, meanwhile, are sitting in 12^th place in the league table with 39 points from 29 league outings.

“I’ve got to look at the squad. The squad is very thin at the moment.  We’re going to have to play people out of position. We’ve just got to do our best on Saturday really because we’ve lost a lot of players, we lost three tonight, so we have eight players out,” revealed the Fisher boss.

“We’ve got to patch them up and see where we can go but I’m not going to risk anyone for that (Challenge Cup Semi-Final Second Leg at Sutton Athletic on 28 March, with Fisher leading 3-1).

“I believe we’re safe in the league anyway so the rest of the boys have got to come in and do well for us.

“We need one more win to secure our place in this level next year and the rest of it is to let the boys enjoy themselves really because they’ve played in my system for the whole season so the boys will express themselves in the way that they want to express themselves.

“They’re only one win away so the quicker they get it the more I can allow them to express themselves and enjoy the last couple until we get to the semi-final and god willing we get to the final.

“I think the injuries stops you from enjoying it. It’s all good when you’re winning every single week but when you lose games, when you know you can win if all the boys are there, it’s really frustrating.

“All of us need a real good break from it. We had a break on Saturday but it wasn’t enough. We need a couple of weeks off to go and recharge us and go again.”

Deal Town travel to Chislehurst on Saturday to tackle sixth-placed Glebe (47 points from 31 games).

King’s men have remained unbeaten since their 1-0 FA Vase exit at Corsham Town on 28 January.

“Well, we’re in it now (the promotion race).  I think the boys played really well at Corsham and we could’ve so easily come back and felt sorry for ourselves but I think we’ve come back and we’re 12 unbeaten and we’ve won 10 of them.  All credit to the boys. We’re going into our last eight league games and we’re in it and I think at Christmas we weren’t in it, so we’ll see how we go,” said King.

“We’ve got the Kent Senior Trophy Final (against Punjab United) to look forward to as well but we’re just taking every game as it comes because we know we can’t afford to slip up.

“Phoenix have got Canterbury on Wednesday, K Sports on Saturday, two games that on paper you expect them to win so we’ve got to keep winning, otherwise they’re going to end up five or six points ahead of us.

“I still think Erith & Belvedere will win the league. I think we will probably have to win every single game to catch them because they probably only need four wins to finish above us and the quality they’ve got in their squad, I think they will do that.

“But with Phoenix and Erith Town, let’s see how deep we can take it for second.  I know we’ve still got to play them both, they’ve got to play each other.  There’s going to be twists and turns and points dropped and all three of us are going to drop points between now and the end of the season, so let’s just see who comes out and prevails and gets that second.

“I don’t feel pressure. I think pressure is when you’re at the bottom, pressure when you’re going down. Pressure’s when you’ve got to get promoted because you’ve got a massive budget, that’s pressure.

“For us, it’s enjoyment. We enjoy the games meaning something.  If we’re looking at any pressure between now and the end of the season it’s probably the cup final because a lot of people will look at that and make us favourites.  We know we’ll have a lot of our fans there.  I don’t see pressure with the league situation.

“Glebe is another tough one isn’t it? I know they’ve changed a little bit this year, a little bit younger at the minute but they’re in sixth-place in the table and you never get an easy game there.

“We have to go and get a result there on Saturday. I expect Phoenix to pick up six points this week, I hope they don’t, that means that we’ll probably need six points as well.

“The bonus for us if we can get a result on Saturday, five of our last seven games are at home and we’ve got a good home record, we’ll be in with a squeak.”

When asked how many points he believes will clinch the promotion play-off place of second (which will give them a trip to a Step Five struggling side in a one-off shootout), King replied: “You look at sort of 80, which will give you a really good chance, so that will be six wins, two draws maybe seven wins and we think we’ll have a good chance when you think we’ve got to play Phoenix, Erith Town, Erith & Belvedere and Tunbridge Wells still.

“I think you get 80 points and you don’t come second with how it’s gone, you’d probably be disappointed but look we’re going to worry about Glebe because if we don’t win at Glebe we’re third favourites again.”

Fisher: Samuel Amedu, Prince Imoru, Conor Darwish (Emmanuel Shoderu 48), Lewis Duberry, Luke Thomas (Inesh Sumithran 35), Joseph Adenunmi, Isaac Thompson (Billy Brown 80), Michael Sarpong, Luke With, Malaki Coker (Ollie Milton 46), Andres Felipe Losada Tobon (Emmanuel Brown 67).

Booked: Joseph Adenunmi 18

Temporary Dismissal: Lewis Duberry 71

Deal Town: Henry Newcombe, Sam Taylor, Jack Penny, Billy Munday, Kane Smith, Alex Green, Riley Alford (Joe Reeves 56), Jack Hanson, Connor Coyne (Lenny Atherton 58), Ben Chapman, Tom Chapman (Alfie Foster 90).
Subs: Liam Hark, Alex Smith

Goal: Ben Chapman 2

Booked: Lenny Atherton 86

Attendance: 120
Referee: Mr Marian Stoichitoiu
Assistants: Ms Esther Perry & Mr Robert Hayes-Scott