Fisher 0-1 Punjab United - I think this will be our best season this year and everyone needs to watch out, warns Fisher boss Ajay Ashanike

Fisher 0 – 1 Punjab United
Location	St Paul's Stadium, Salter Road, Rotherhithe, London SE16 6NT
Kickoff	27/07/2024 15:00

FISHER  0-1  PUNJAB UNITED
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Saturday 27 July 2024
Stephen McCartney reports from St Paul’s Stadium

FISHER manager Ajay Ashanike says a lack of concentration killed his side after they lost their opening game of their new Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division campaign.

Jugjit Sian’s Punjab United grabbed the victory through central midfielder Jack Hopkins’ free downward header, which was their first effort on goal in the 67^th minute of a cagey game in Rotherhithe.

Faversham Town, Tunbridge Wells, Larkfield & New Hythe, Lordswood, Punjab United and VCD Athletic all collected opening day victories, while Corinthian, Rusthall, Fisher, Lydd Town, Kennington and Glebe finished pointless after the first 90 minutes of the new ninth-tier season.

A sun-kissed crowd of 247 witnessed a cagey, hard-fought affair, which was played in 23 degree heat, as Hopkins, who scored one of his two goals here last season, as Punjab United claimed a 3-0 win here on 13 April, settled the game following a set-piece routine.

Punjab United were without suspended pair Wayne Bushell and Lea Dawson, while Sam Bailey was ruled out nursing a leg injury, while centre-half Kyden Lewin-Thomas made his debut, having signed one a two-month loan deal from Isthmian League Premier Division side Carshalton Athletic. 

“Gutted. Gutted. First game of the season.  I thought we done really well for a large spell but a lack of concentration killed us today, that’s all I can say, a lack of concentration killed us today,” said Ashanike, who operates without a budget.

“It’s something that we’re going to learn. It’s a new group. We’ve just got to be patient with it.

“What was missing today was the goals.  In pre-season we’ve done really well. We scored 20 goals in seven games and we just didn’t see that killer instinct today in us at all.

“Punjab had barely 11 players and the bench was really low as well so we should’ve taken advantage of that, especially with our fitness level.  I thought we done really well to contain and raise it.

“Punjab are going to go from strength-to-strength.  They’re not going to be near the bottom. I’m sure they’re going to be near the top. I thought we could’ve nicked it and got three points today.”

Punjab United manager Jugjit (Chipie) Sian sent out his assistant manager Jason Powell for post-match media duties.

“Tough. Hot. Hardest game is probably the first game. Just come after a pre-season.  We had a few missing today. I thought everyone worked extremely hard. It’s a hard place to come Fisher but the boys done well,” said Powell.

“I thought we were very good in all aspects to get a no-score here. We worked on a few things midweek. We played Barking last week and made sure we had a game on a 3G pitch again last week and beat them 3-0, so we’ve been on a bit of a roll for the last couple of weeks and it showed today.  We’re proud of the boys today.”

When asked why Fisher is a hard place to come to and claim three points, Powell replied: “As you can see, I think they’ve got them playing very well. They never give up. They play off the cuff.  Some teams in this league sort of play off the cuff and I think sometimes it’s hard to get tactical where you are so we’ve just got to manage the game.

“We’ve brought in Michael Azaiya during the last couple of weeks just to sit in there and manage the game for us in certain areas because last year, the year before we would’ve probably come away from here losing 2-1, so now we’re beating teams 1-0 we’ll take that and move on to the following week.”

Visiting goalkeeper Owen Bushell was the busier of the two and was called into making a comfortable save inside the opening eight minutes.

Bushell’s throw was intercepted by Fisher attacking midfielder Diego Makesa and the debutant hit a right-footed half-volley towards the bottom corner from 30-yards, which the goalkeeper stepped to his right to make a comfortable save at his near-post as the ball bounced once towards goal.

“I think it was like a boxing match for the first 20 minutes, just testing each other out,” admitted the Fisher boss.

“No one wants to make mistakes in the first game of the season.  There was no risk taken by both teams. I thought both teams were managing it really well in these conditions. It was really boring, the first few.

“Diego’s just finished school. He’s going to be a great player for us this season, if he carries on with what he’s been doing.  His energy in midfield is really, really good. We won a lot of second balls because of him in there, he was really good today.”

Fisher produced a well-worked three-man move in the 33^rd minute when holding midfielder Billy Brown fed left-winger Armani-Jordan Martin, before Makesa struck a speculative right-footed drive towards goal from 30-yards, which was comfortably gathered by Bushell.

Ashanike said: “That’s us, that’s us.  I sat their last week and I watched a video of what we did last season and even the season before that. We dominate games and we just don’t score enough as a front line and in midfield some of them need to chip in and score.

“We had a lot of chances today and we should’ve put some balls away. It’s something that we’ve got to learn, something we’re going to train and something that I’m going to be demanding, is more goals.”

Powell added: “I thought they had some good chances in the first half Fisher and they were unlucky.  If they had a proven goalscorer they probably would’ve nicked a goal, but so be it and they never and you progress during the game.”

Punjab United striker Reece Deakin was living off scraps as wingers Neil Spencer and debutant Ryan Hayes lacked service during an uninspiring first half from both sides.

“We just wanted to get in 0-0. We knew that some stage during the game we would get a chance and like I said to the boys, if we walk away 1-0, we’ll walk away 1-0, 2-0, 3-0. It doesn’t matter. A win’s a win on the road,” admitted Powell.”

Fisher striker Thomas Ngegba easily cut inside Punjab United’s right-back Jordan Campbell but Bushell stood his ground at his near-post to narrow the angle and slam the door shut as an awful first half came to a close.

“I wanted just more of the same and if we go a goal down we had a Plan B for it and they knew that.  I thought they carried it out really well.  Punjab’s back line was really, really deep and they done really well physically and they were more focused than us,” added Ashanike.

When asked what was missing from his side during a poor first half performance, Powell replied: “The first game, you’re very nervous. I think first game is to not to concede and concede and concede before you know it you could be 2-0 or 3-0 down and looking around and you’ve got no outlet or you’ve got no options.

“We only had three subs today, so we just thought we’d go light today. We tried to nick a win. If we can get a draw, we’ve done well to get a draw and we’ll walk away and luckily we got the win.

“Just keep doing what we’re doing. We’re quite happy with Reece Deakin and Cruis (Nyadzayo) up top. We’ve got two forwards. We always know if you get half-a-chance, they’re going to score.”

Fisher went route-one as they attempted to smash the deadlock inside the opening six minutes of the second half.

Goalkeeper Samuel Amedu launched a big kick straight down the middle, the ball was flicked on by Ngegba outside the box and central midfielder Nathan Tshola’s right-footed half-volley from 20-yards brought another comfortable save from Bushell.

“Just lacking composure, just lacking effort, lacking belief,” admitted Ashanike as another chance went begging.

“Some of them haven’t played in front of a crowd, so the occasion got to a lot of them. It’s something they’ve got to learn and deal with.

“I believe that chance comes again in a couple of weeks, we put it away, so I’m not really fussed about it.  It’s the first game, like I said to them in there, it’s a marathon and not a sprint and we’ve got loads of time to rectify this and we’ll beat a lot of teams this year.”

Punjab United were playing like they were 11 strangers out on the pitch but they started to spark into some form of life after an idle opening hour.

Hayes clipped a left-footed free-kick into striker Cruis Nyadzayo, who hooked the ball back to Hayes, who dinked a cross in with his right-foot from within the right channel and the ball sailed over Fisher goalkeeper Amedu and bounced off the top of the crossbar before dropping behind for a goal-kick.

“Ryan gives us a bit of belief when he’s actually on the ball in certain areas,” said Powell.

“He’s probably the best person I’ve ever seen on a football pitch to be honest. He just brings that belief in players. If you give it to him, they know they’re going to get something off him week-in-week-out.  He gives you eight or nine out of 10 every week.

“We’ve got to use him in certain areas. Hayes isn’t good chasing the ball down and keep chasing their wingers and their full-backs. We try and press him high to get him on the ball and make things happen.

“I think after 62 minutes, I think, like I said, game management, we came into our own a little bit after that. We had more of the play than Fisher.  To be honest, they’re was only going to be one team that was ever going to win it.”

Punjab United grabbed the victory, following their first attempt on target, with 21 minutes and 9 seconds on the clock.

Expecting left-back Stephen Ratcliff to launch a long throw into the Fisher box, the Fisher defence switched off as Ratcliff threw the ball short to substitute left-winger Rajan Sahni.

Sahni easily cut inside Makesa before cutting the ball onto his right-foot and floating a cross towards the edge of the six-yard box where Hopkins guided his free-header across the keeper to find the bottom far corner.

“Jack Hopkins got the goal because he’s a sort of player who runs late into the box and that’s why he gets so many goals,” said Powell.

“He’s come back from a terrible injury, the last couple of years he got injured at VCD and he’s had a couple of operations and the boy, week-in-week-out, he’s at training, he does everything and he runs and runs and runs.

“As you probably saw second half he never lost a header, so when he steps back and wins all the headers, that helps out the back four massively.”

Ashanike added: “Tyron’s been (on trial) with Carshalton Athletic the last few weeks and he’s come back to us this week and he wasn’t quite too sure about the press that we were having on that throw, so he was late getting out.

“Diego was late getting to it as well because Diego tried to help him but he was too late and he put the ball in the box and you can’t have a striker at this level or any level with a free header and he just taps it in.

“That really is a kick in the teeth for me but they had a good game apart from that.

“You can’t let people walk past you. Physically we are stronger than them, we’re faster than them but they just think one step ahead and that’s what killed us today.”

The Gravesend-based visitors’ produced a well-worked move in the 32^nd minute when holding midfielder Michael Azaiya headed the ball forward, before Nyadzayo played the ball out to Hayes, who cut inside Fisher left-back Edward Sata to float in a cross but Deakin knocked his header over the crossbar from six-yards.

Nyadzayo hooked a sublime 60-yard diagonal from left-to-right towards Hayes, who controlled the ball and easily cut inside Sata and curled his left-footed shot just over the top of the far post from 15-yards.

The former Phoenix Sports midfielder then tried to score from 45-yards with his left-footed wand, only to see the ball just clear the top of the right-hand post as Punjab United started to boss the game for the first time.

Fisher kept plugging away, but they were wasteful in front of goal when three late chances came their way.

Three of Fisher’s substitutes linked up with a decent chance in the 81^st minute.

Teddy Jones clipped a ball towards Alvin Reji and Sebastian Boyd inside the box but Boyd lacked composure inside the box and his right-footed shot was hit straight at Bushell, who made another comfortable save.

“Seb’s one was the most clear chance that we had. Seb should be scoring that, that’s got to be hitting the back of the net,” admitted Ashanike.

“That’s the minimum that we ask for, is to make the keeper work and they didn’t do enough of that.

“It’s something that we’ve got to look at, that’s the difference in being in the play-offs and outside the play-off’s, those kind of chances.  The boys who want to be in the play-offs scores them and that’s what we’ve got to look at.”

Left-winger Jones then hit a sublime diagonal cross, which sailed over Ratcliff’s head on the edge of the penalty area and was driven towards goal by striker Reji, but Bushell made another comfortable save, to his left.

Fisher debutant centre-half Ange Djadja, who suffered from a dead leg during 13 minutes and 54 seconds of stoppage time, was penalised by referee Tom Nicholls for fouling Nyadzayo on the edge of the Fisher penalty area.

Hayes stroked the resulting left-footed free-kick over the four-man wall but Amedu dived to his left and used both hands to push the ball towards safety (43:07).

“Once again, that’s exactly what he brings in that level and that’s why we’ve brought him in to be honest.  He just brings that experience and hopefully he can carry on doing that week-in-week-out,” added Powell.

Ashanike added: “Ryan’s Ryan. You know what you’re going to get with Ryan with that left-foot.  No matter what you do, Ryan will always show that quality. That quality is always going to be there, no matter what happens.

“He’s had a good career. You have to respect what he’s done in the game and what he’s done at this level.  You can’t show him too much respect and I think we showed him too much respect. He’s a quality player, that’s the kind of player we’ve lost to today, so you can’t feel really bad.

“I thought that was a goal but Sam was equal to it. Sam done really well with that save, got both hands on it and parried it towards safety as well. That’s why he’s skipper, Sam. Sam’s going to go a long way. I don’t think we’re going to have him for long but while we’ve got him, let’s use him.”

Fisher’s last chance to salvage something from the game saw Brown recycle the ball back into the box from the right, the ball was cleared by Punjab right-back  Campbell but Sata clipped his first time left-footed shot from 20-yards, which was gathered at the second attempt by Bushell.

“To be fair to Owen, he’s done really well. He’s come in, he’s a young lad. We just want him to do well and he’s done himself proud today,” added Powell.

With centre-half Djadja unable to continue, Fisher substitute goalkeeper Samuel Nwabuko grabbed the number nine shirt from the dug-out and played the final three minutes of stoppage time as an emergency attacking player but the home side lacked the quality to get past a resilient Punjab United back-four, well marshalled by Jack Barry.

Powell said: “We’re building a youngish team with flair and we’ve also got some experienced players, so that helps.

“Jack Barry was probably a cut above everyone to be honest with you. I thought he was outstanding. When he was at VCD, he came down to Punjab and he’s enjoyed his time down here and Chipie loves the boy and he does the club proud really week-in-week-out. You can’t fault what the boy brings to the club really.”

Ashanike added: “I thought we done everything well. We carried out the game plan really, really well.

“We’ve got to be absolutely throwing our body on the line. Three crosses flashed across the goal and no one’s on the back post to tap it in because that’s the kind of goals that gets you far and you can win 1-0 doing that.

“The boys are going to start learning and the quicker we can gel together as a combined, the better it is, the club is going to go but it’s going to be a good season for us, 100%.”

Both club’s embark on their FA Cup campaign’s next Saturday, 3 August, with home ties in The FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round.

Fisher welcome Redhill to St Paul’s Stadium, a side that finished in sixth-place in the Combined Counties League Premier Division South last season, finishing four points adrift of the play-off zone.

Ashanike explained why his assistant manager Michael Williams will be in charge for what will be Redhill’s first competitive game of the season.

“I’ve not been on holiday, everyone else has been on holiday because if you take a holiday during the window shop, you’re going to miss a lot of players, so I’ve worked really hard to make sure I’ve got the right players in that makes the club really proud.

“I’m going on holiday on Monday and it’s down to Michael again to lead the ship for us. I believe in what he’s got and Michael will do really well.

“Redhill are a really good side, a really, really good side and they had a really good season last year. They were unlucky not to get promotion last year as well.

“It’s whoever shows up. It doesn’t matter what level you are, two season’s ago we should’ve beaten (National League South) Welling United at their ground, so whoever shows up on the day wins the game.

“I think the boys will and are going to be bang up for it because they know what the level is now.”

Fisher finished in fourteenth-place last season, picking up 48 points from their 40 league games and Ashanike was asked what can we expect from his Fisher side this season and what kind of League he is expecting this season.

“We judge our success in a different way to everyone else.  Like I said last year and it’s no different to that, as long as they’re doing what they’re doing and do what we’re asking them to do, it will take us better than what we was last year.

“There’s a lot of honest boys in there, who will do a honest graft for you. Compared to what we have had in the past, where people have put the graft in. We’ve got really, really honest guys in there this year and I think it will be our best season this year.  I think this will be our best season this year and everyone needs to watch out!

“I think it’s going to be an open league. What the first game said to us today, it’s going to be open. People are beating each other. This League is a joke. This league is absolutely one of the best league you’ve ever been around.

“Even though Faversham had the biggest money last season, you expect them to win it and they didn’t win it. They didn’t win the play-off’s as well. It’s a crazy league. Anyone can beat anyone and anyone can win this league and anyone can get into the play-offs.

“It’s wide open for anyone that wants to be consistent and make sure that you’re beating people who you are meant to beat and you’ll be in the play-offs or win the league and before you know it the season’s finished and you’re in a good place and that’s what we want to be, is make sure we beat the right teams we need to beat to put us in the right position to fight and look to go on.”

For Punjab United, Sian’s side finished last season in ninth-place with 65 points and welcome league rivals Snodland Town in The FA Cup next weekend.

Byron Walker’s first game in management ended with a 2-2 home draw against relegated Erith & Belvedere.

“It’s very pleasing, the last two games we’ve kept two clean-sheets. We move on to the FA Cup next week and then we’ve got Tunbridge Wells,” said Powell.

“I think we’ll be very difficult this year to beat at home, like we was last year.

“It’s ging to be very difficult.  We went down there last year and they beat us at home and I think we drew down there but listen, everyone’s building different sides this year as you can see throughout the league. Manager’s come and go.

“All you can do is try get some points on the board and get yourself safe and then progress, that’s all I ever tell the boys. Let’s get to 30-35 points then we can see where we’re going to end up.

“We’ve got no ambition of winning the league. We’ve got no ambition of going up. Where we end up is where we try and end up and that’s it. If we get in the play-offs, we get in the play-offs.

“As long as we end up top half, Punjab throughout the years’ since I’ve come down to the club have always fought relegation and I think with the payers we’ve brought in and some of the new boys, I don’t think  teams will want to play us.”

When asked what he is expecting from the League this term, Powell replied: “I think it will be up and down. I think some teams are going to be very hard.

“I think midweek games are very difficult. A lot of people work, some people get up at five o’clock in the morning and work hard all day.

“We played Lydd away midweek last year, it’s a horrible drive, an hour and 40 minutes to get there and I didn’t get home until 20 past midnight, so they’re the sort of games that are hit and miss in this level of football, but listen, let’s get to 35 points and let’s get safe and we’ll see where we are.”

Fisher: Samuel Amedu, Tyron Mbuenimo, Edward Sata, Billy Brown, Ange Djadja (Samuel Nwabuko 90), Mayvin Vigneswaran, Armani-Jordan Martin (Teddy Jones 54), Nathan Tshola (Abdoulaye Ly Athie 80), Thomas Ngegba (Alvin Reji 61), Diego Makesa, Joshua Duyile (Sebastian Boyd 74).

Booked: Billy Brown 71, Tyron Mbuenimo 90

Punjab United: Owen Bushell, Jordan Campbell, Stephen Ratcliff, Michael Azaiya, Kyden Lewin-Thomas, Jack Barry, Neil Spencer (Rajan Sahni 53), Jack Hopkins, Reece Deakin, Cruis Nyadzayo, Ryan Hayes.
Subs: Tunde Aderonmu, Ashley Probets, Jugjit Sian

Goal: Jack Hopkins 67

Booked: Jugjit Sian 32 (manager), Cruis Nyadzayo 90, Jack Hopkins 90

Attendance: 247
Referee: Mr Tom Nichols
Assistants: Mr Daniel Wyatt & Mr Said Akinwunmi