Fisher 3-2 Phoenix Sports - It was a performance I can't defend, it looked like we couldn't be bothered tonight, claims Phoenix Sports boss Steve O'Boyle

Fisher 3 – 2 Phoenix Sports
Location	St Paul's Stadium, Salter Road, Rotherhithe, London SE16 6NT
Kickoff	10/01/2023 19:45

FISHER  3-2  PHOENIX SPORTS
Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup Third Round
Tuesday 10 January 2023
Stephen McCartney reports from St Paul’s Stadium

PHOENIX SPORTS manager Steve O’Boyle says he can’t defend his side’s mediocre performance and claimed his players couldn’t be bothered during their deserved Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup exit.

Fisher deservedly booked their place in the Quarter-Finals after scoring three goals from set-pieces within a 13 minute blitz during a dominant spell in the second half.

Right-winger Isaac Thompson tucked home his ninth goal of the season, before big target-man Eniyelayefa Amgbanduba headed in his third goal of the campaign, before Michael Sarpong came off the bench to score from a free-kick, via the far post, to score his sixth goal of the season.

Phoenix Sports scored a couple of flattering goals during the final eight minutes with Tom O’Connor rifling in his sixth goal of the season, before centre-half Joe Denny came off the bench to bury a header at the death.

Reflecting on his side’s cup exit, O’Boyle summed it up his side’s sorry performance perfectly.

“Poor. I made a lot of changes tonight, they weren’t good enough and they’ve just been told that.  No one can really complain if they’re sitting next to me on Saturday, it was nowhere near good enough!

“Mediocre.  The performance wasn’t there all night. It didn’t look like we had a goal in us until the last 10-15 minutes and it looked like we couldn’t be bothered tonight.

“Maybe because making the five changes or whatever, maybe players think (the Challenge Cup) is not as important but it is a bit of silverware that I wanted to win.

“Basically the players out there were hiding, they didn’t want the ball. We wanted to pass the ball tonight, players didn’t want the ball , didn’t want to pass it and weren’t brave enough in possession of a football and Fisher worked hard, ran around a lot and we sort of played into their hands.”

Fisher made six changes to the side that beat second-from-bottom side Bearsted here 1-0 at the weekend, while the five subs that were on the bench for Phoenix Sports for their 2-1 home win over K Sports all started.

Fisher manager Ajay Ashanike said: “I was a bit disappointed that we allowed two goals in the last eight minutes. We should’ve shut the shop up. Three-nil would’ve been better.  I think after Saturday’s clean-sheet I believe we should’ve kept another clean-sheet today but it’s a cup game, what matters the most is getting through to the next round and we did.

“I had to give players more minutes under their belt and the squad I’ve got here is absolutely immense.  The boys are fighting every single week and all of them deserve to be playing every single week.

“I thought the first half was really cagey, both teams were checking out what they could do. It’s like boxing, the first five rounds, checking what your opponent can do.

“Second half, I thought we were the much better side anyway but first half when it was cagey, I still thought we were the better side.”

Fisher went into this tie on a rain-lashed night at St Paul’s Stadium sitting in fifteenth-place in the table with 22 points from 18 games, while Phoenix Sports arrived here in fifth-place with 31 points on the board from their 16 games.  They are only five points adrift of second-placed Rusthall but promotion back into the Isthmian League at the first attempt seems a long way off if they put in more lacklustre displays like this.

Fisher thrashed tenants Bermondsey Town 5-1 in the last round, while Phoenix Sports also thrashed First Division opposition in the shape of Bridon Ropes (7-1).

The first half proved to be a stalemate but Phoenix Sports will rue a decent opportunity to open the scoring after only 76 seconds.

Otherwise ineffective wide left striker Francis Babalola was released down the left and he cut the ball back for central striker Tashi-Jay Kwayie, whose first-time shot was gathered at the second attempt by Fisher’s second-choice goalkeeper Justice Owusu at his near post.

O’Boyle admitted: “I think he’s got to score.  He’s been injured, he done his groin earlier on in the season and when he came back he was back for a couple of games and then he done his ankle.”

Fisher were almost gifted the lead inside the opening nine minutes, courtesy of some woeful defending from centre-half Ryan Sawyer.

He was pressed by Amgbanduba on the edge of the Phoenix Sports penalty area and the ball fell to Billy Brown inside the D but the attacking midfielder swept his shot across Andy Walker and past the far post.

Ashanike said: “We’ve worked with Eni since the start of the season. We had to get Luke With (player-assistant) on the pitch so he can mirror what Luke is doing.

“Today Eni has put no foot wrong, he’s done everything that we asked him to do, even done more than what we asked him to do, which I’m really proud off.”

Montserrat-born central-midfielder Lewis Duberry drilled a right-footed free-kick into the Phoenix Sports penalty area and it was no surprise that Amgbanduba won a header and sent it looping over the crossbar as Fisher started the game on the front foot.

The game then turned into a cagey stalemate before Phoenix Sports created another decent opening in the 28^th minute.

Thompson hit the ball high up in the air close to the half-way line and Kwayie failed to head it and the ball bounced and O’Connor pounced on the loose ball, took the initiative to run straight down the heart of the pitch before laying the ball to Conor Johnson on the inside and the attacker’s left-footed angled drive forced Owusu to get down low to his left and use a strong hand to parry.

“I think we’ve got to score that as well.  If not the first one, the follow up,” said O’Boyle.

“The first half was ok. It was a bit of a scrappy first half if I’m being honest.  The boys were being encouraged to pass the ball and that’s not down to the management team, that’s down to the players.  They’ve been encouraged to pass the football and play football and it’s down to the players, they didn’t want to do that.”

Ashanike added: “I’ve got three good goalkeepers here in Ted McDonald, Samuel Amedu and Justice Owusu and they’re all pushing each other as hard as they can and Justice is absolutely brilliant.  Some of the decisions can be better but he’s someone I can rely on every single week and that’s a massive save because if they were 1-0 up the game will change and he’s kept it nil-nil and we were still on top of it.”

Kwayie then rolled a 10-yard pass inside to right-back Henry Douglas, who clipped the ball in behind Duberry and into the box but Kwayie’s hooked his shot into the side netting from a tight angle.

However, Fisher goalkeeper Owusu made a comfortable catch in his midriff after Phoenix Sports’ right-winger Ryan Hayes drilled a left-footed free-kick towards goal from a central position some 40-yards out in the 43^rd minute.

Ashanike said: “Hayes is a class player. We all know about him, he’s been around the league a number of years now so for us to deal with him, the way we did tonight. I’m really proud of young Conor Darwish, he’s only 17 and he’s put in good work against one of the best wingers in the league and he should be proud of himself.”

Fisher were the more dominant force during the second half, as Phoenix Sports’ players failed to turn up for large chunks of it.

Ashanike said: “Like I said to them, first-half, keep it tight as we can and second half we wanted to go at them and we pushed them a bit higher up the pitch as well with Billy Brown and Lewis Duberry’s energy, which was helping us a lot.”

O’Boyle said: “The way we win the game would be to play football, don’t go toe-to-toe with them physically.  Get it down, pass it and that’s the way I think we win the game – and we never done that!”

Nine minutes in, Michael Sarpong played a 10-yard pass out to right-back Inesh Sumithran, who was in space and unleashed a right-footed drive from 35-yards, which forced Walker to dive low to his right and make a comfortable save to prevent the ball nestling inside the bottom far corner.

“Inesh is a top player. I’ve worked with him at Tower Hamlets before and I know what he can do. He’s a really, really talented player. He’s another good talent that we’ve got at the club,” added Ashanike, who performs miracles bringing such players to the club without a playing budget.

Fisher snatched the lead with 10 minutes and 45 seconds on the clock and at this point it appeared very unlikely that the game would have five goals in it, such was the lack of quality from both sides.

Sumithran smashed a right-footed 30-yard free-kick into the four-man wall and no one had picked up Thompson, who pounced on the loose ball and hooked the ball over Walker and into the bottom far corner from a tight angle on the corner of the six-yard box.

“Isaac can’t do nothing wrong now,” said the Fisher boss.

“Since he’s come back from injury, he’s been a different player. He went to Chatham and it didn’t work out for him, lost a bit of momentum and lot a bit of confidence and he’s got that back after Christmas scoring against Erith & Belvedere and since then he’s not look back and scored in every game now.”

O’Boyle said: “Not alive was he? Not the keeper, I’m on about my defenders.  The ball’s alive and that’s what they done all night, they won the second ball. We didn’t win no second balls, they won the second ball.”

Fisher doubled their lead, however, with 21 minutes and 7 seconds on the clock, following another set-piece.

Left-back Conor Darwish – who had Hayes in his pocket – threw the ball into the Phoenix box and left-winger Cedric Nganga clipped the ball towards the near post for an unmarked Amgbanduba to loop his header from inside the six-yard box past the diving Walker and into the left-hand corner.

Ashanike revealed the move was a training ground routine.

“That throw was something that Luke With and Michael Williams worked on in training the other day but they take credit tonight. It worked really, really well.  Good movement from Cedric and Eni headed it in. When you work on something and it works, I’m proud of them.”

O’Boyle added: “Too much room out wide, we didn’t stop the cross, a free header, middle of the goal, poor defending.”

Beleaguered Phoenix Sports were facing a mountain to climb as clinical Fisher raced into a three-goal lead with 23:22 on the clock.

Sarpong, who was now playing at right-back, whipped in a quality free-kick from within the left-channel with his right-foot, the ball crashed against the far post and  crossed the line before Fisher centre-half German Petrov could prod it over to make sure.

“Sarpong is a top player and he should be playing higher than what he is right now,” added Ashanike.

“He scored a good goal in the Vase with a free-kick and I’ve never trusted him before that and he’s put a free-kick in and we won that game and today he said ‘he fancied it’, so I gave it to him again."

O’Boyle added: “At that stage it was becoming embarrassing, wasn’t it?  I can’t honestly tell you what was going through my mind at that time!

“I wanted us to show a bit of fight really, a bit of character.    Towards the end we got back into the game. It was the only time we started playing a bit of football wasn’t it?  Towards the last 10 minutes of the game, making subs, making changes, changing formation.”

The 41-year-old visiting goalkeeper was to deny Fisher a fourth goal inside the final 14 minutes, using his left-foot to keep out Duberry’s drilled angled drive which was heading towards the bottom near corner from the right-hand side of the penalty area after being released by substitute striker Henry Adeniran.

“Lewis has come from an international background (Montserrat), he’s a different level. We’ve missed him massively in the last three games and having him back today shows what he can do.  There’s a lot of battles in centre midfield but he’s doing really well every single game,” added Ashanike.

O’Boyle brought on three subs in the 73^rd minute and changed formation to three at the back (Denny, Sawyer and Lewis Clark) and with Dave Martin now on the pitch at left-wing-back and Babalola in as a central striker and Phoenix Sports put in a vastly-improved performance.

They salvaged a goal back with 36:44 on the clock, following a throw-in from right-wing-back Alfie Evans, the ball was worked within a crowded penalty area and O’Connor rifled his shot into the top near corner from a tight angle at the far post.

“A bit of a consolation goal with eight minutes to go,” admitted O’Boyle.

“We didn’t create nothing! You’ve seen on paper the front line I’ve got today (Babalola, Kwayie, Hayes with Johnson in the number 10 role), didn’t create nothing, not good enough!

“I thought the referee would’ve added on a little bit more time than he did (50:19).  We made four substitutions, they made five and they must’ve had about 17 players go down injured in the second half with cramp.”

Ashanike added: “I thought Justice could’ve done better there. I’ve got to look at the back four as well. They’ve got to be doing better there. We’ve got to learn how to defend. If we can defend one-v-one and set-pieces like that, then we’ll be alright.”

An unmarked Martin then dragged his low left-footed shot across the keeper and past the far post, before Fisher went up the other end and Sarpong cut the ball onto his left-foot and forced Walker to get down low to his left to comfortably hold.

“I think Dave’s got to hit the target,” admitted O’Boyle.

“Joe Denny and Dave Martin have come on (with 17 minutes remaining) when it’s been 3-0 and I wanted to give them a rest tonight and they had to come on and I didn’t want them to play any part tonight at all.”

Phoenix Sports scored a flattering second goal, two minutes and 58 seconds into stoppage time, following their third corner of the night.

Martin whipped in the ball in from the left towards the back post and a towering Denny buried his header into the top right-hand corner.

O’Boyle said: “A good header by Joe.  Like I say, it maybe it gives us a little bit of a chance towards the end. Did we deserve it? Not really!”

Ashanike added: “That’s why I’m disappointed. We’ve got to be challenging, we’ve got to stand up tall and start to fight for the battle. If we didn’t put our three goals away that would’ve been two-all, easily.

“The boys have to understand that top teams are going to go to the end. They’re not going to give up, until the last minute, good teams are going to keep coming at you and that’s what we’ve got to understand as a team.

“They gave me energy, they gave me heart. They knew what that game meant to me as well.  The boys gave me what I wanted of them today and I’m so proud of them today that we’ve won the game.

“That’s our first Quarter-Final since we’ve been here. The squad that we’ve got can do really well in this cup so hopefully we get a good draw at home because if you come to St Paul’s it’s going to be a nightmare for you because we are making this place a nightmare for everyone that comes here.”

O’Boyle, meanwhile, takes his side to bottom-of-the-table side Canterbury City on Saturday (14:00) before a trip to managerless Lordswood seven days later.

Canterbury City have 14 points from 21 games, three points adrift of Bearsted (who have two games in hand), who are two points behind Welling Town.

Dan Lawrence has come in and the side have been held to a couple of goal-less draws by Lordswood and Holmesdale and have extended their winless run to seven.

“Reaction time.  Let’s see what we’ve got about them on Saturday.  They’ve been told,” warned O’Boyle.

“Canterbury have got a new manager. We’ve got Lordswood the week after and they’ve got a new manager coming in.  There’s been a lot of changes with players.

“We don’t have a divine right to turn up to any football match at this level and just think we’ve got a divine right to turn up and win, especially not from the management team point of view.

“The players’ have got to roll their sleeves up and have a battle and I don’t think we’ve done that tonight.”

When asked about bringing in fresh blood, the Phoenix Sports manager replied: “There’s one that I want to talk to.  I’m maybe looking to bring one in.”

Several clubs are vying for second-place, especially as leaders Erith & Belvedere are 20 points clear of Rusthall after 21 games.

“How do we get there? By winning 80 points! That’s what wins you second place and after tonight’s performance, we’ve got a long way to go,” added O’Boyle.

Fisher, meanwhile, travel to bottom-four side K Sports (19 points from 21 games) and Ashanike has challenged his side to reach the top half.

“We’ve just got to go there, play our game and be ourselves and if we play ourselves we’ll win the game easily,” said Ashanike.

“We’ve got to make it as ugly as we can for them on the pitch and the boys will do really well.  I believe there’s goals in us and I believe we can keep a clean-sheet as well.

“What’s success for Fisher? That’s a good question! I think so far we’ve over-achieved but it’s to carry on and climb up the league.

“I think the highest I’ve ever done is thirteenth (last season) and the year Covid finished the season we could’ve done really well. We had top players but this team can go as far as midtable and finish tenth in the league. If we finish tenth and do really well in this cup, I’ll be so proud of them, especially after what we done in The FA Cup and FA Vase.”

Fisher: Justice Owusu, Inesh Sumithran (Julio Da Mata 63), Conor Darwish, Lewis Duberry, Luke Thomas, German Petrov, Cedric Nganga, Osemen Usifoh (Michael Sarpong 38), Eniyelayefa Amgbanduba (Nader Zeddini 80), Billy Brown (Patrick Hoy 90), Isaac Thompson (Henry Adeniran 72).

Goals: Isaac Thompson 56, Eniyelayefa Amgbanduba 67, Michael Sarpong 69

Booked: Lewis Duberry 12, Cedric Nganga 26, Justice Owusu 84

Phoenix Sports: Andy Walker, Henry Douglas (Joe Denny 73), Tom Cousins (David Martin 73), Tom O’Connor, Ryan Sawyer, Lewis Clark, Francis Babalola, Alfie Evans, Tashi-Jay Kwayie, Conor Johnson (Teddy McIntyre 73), Ryan Hayes (Kieran King 81).
Sub: Andy Pugh

Goals: Tom O’Connor 82, Joe Denny 90

Booked: Tom O’Connor 23

Attendance: 124
Referee: Mr Samuel Hall
Assistants: Mr Bogdan Khimych & Mr Gavin Farrington