Fisher 7-1 Stansfeld - Not all of the boys come from Bermondsey and to show the pride and hunger they've shown in a derby is absolutely immense and they've made us really proud tonight, says Fisher boss Ajay Ashanike

Fisher 7 – 1 Stansfeld
Location	St Paul's Stadium, Salter Road, Rotherhithe, London SE16 6NT
Kickoff	07/02/2023 19:45

FISHER  7-1  STANSFELD
Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup Quarter-Final
Tuesday 7 February 2023
Stephen McCartney reports from St Paul’s Stadium

FISHER manager Ajay Ashanike dedicated their victory over local rivals Stansfeld to his goalkeeper Justice Owusu, who is mourning the loss of his younger brother, who sadly suffered a fatal heart attack while playing basketball.

The Fish booked their place in the Southern Counties East Football League Challenge Cup Semi-Finals for the third time in their history with some help from an awful goalkeeping performance from Stansfeld's Cemal Osman, who suffered a chastening experience in his second game for the club, on a freezing cold night at St Paul’s.

Fisher have beaten Bermondsey Town (5-1) and Phoenix Sports (3-2) at home and joined Kennington in the last four, with Sutton Athletic, Punjab United, Hollands & Blair and Bearsted vying for the other two spots.

Stansfeld beat their landlords Glebe 8-7 on penalties after a 1-1 draw and suffered their worst night as a Step Five outfit, as Fisher claimed the local bragging rights against a club with Bermondsey traditions.

However, this was a night when the 16 players who represented Stansfeld failed miserably to play for a club that prides itself on playing for the shirt, as they lost key battles all over the pitch and lacked the heart and desire that you associate with the club.

Joint-managers Jamie Phipps and Billy Hamlin declined to comment on their side’s humiliating defeat.

Fisher took 17 minutes to open the floodgates with big targetman Eniyelayefa Amgbaduba capitalising on a mistake from Osman, who was then beaten by a header from the same player, following a set-piece.

Osman produced more Sunday League goalkeeping as he gifted Fisher a third goal, as the home side hit Stansfeld on the counter-attack, which was clinically slotted home by pacey left-winger Cedric Nganga.

Stansfeld scored a consolation goal just three minutes into the second half through Ryan Fowler’s clinical finish following their fifth corner of the game.

Amgbaduba buried a second header to score his hat-trick, taking his tally to six for the season, before Nganga drilled in his eighth goal of the season.

Central midfielder Michael Sarpong tapped in his ninth goal of the season as Fisher scored an easy sixth goal, before Osman allowed a long-range drive from Montserrat International Lewis Duberry creep inside the bottom corner at the end.

“The boys done the club really proud tonight, absolutely immense from all of them,” said Ashanike.

“Not all of these boys come from Bermondsey and to show the pride and hunger that they’ve shown in a derby is absolutely immense and they’ve made us really proud tonight.

“They gave us commitment, they gave us hard work. There’s no question about that.  They wanted it more than Stansfeld and it showed on the pitch for 90 minutes.

“We asked the boys for a good cup run and they’ve given us fantastic cup runs this season and from now on, who cares what happens. We’ve just got to go and enjoy the semi-final.  Some have never played in a semi-final, some will never play in a semi-final again so now we’re in one, we’ve got to enjoy it the best we can.”

Ashanike added: “That win was for goalkeeper Justice (Owusu).  Justice lost his brother during the week through a heart attack playing basketball.  That was for Justice.”

Both sides made just a couple of changes from their sides at the weekend, with Fisher coming away from Sutton Athletic with a 3-2 win, while Stansfeld held Deal Town to a goal-less draw at Foxbury Avenue.

Fisher went into this Quarter-Final sitting in eleventh-place in the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table with 31 points from 22 games, with Stansfeld in seventh-place with 36 points from 23 games.

Fisher took only 39 seconds to create their first goalscoring chance as left-back Conor Darwish sent Nganga on his way down the left, the ball was worked to Amgbaduba, who laid the ball off for Isaac Thompson to drill a first-time right-footed drive flashing past the foot of the near post from 25-yards.

However, Stansfeld should have grabbed the lead inside the opening 10 minutes, following the first of six corners.

Dan Parkinson (who played on the left of three central defenders) delivered a deep ball in from the left and Macey Malyon’s half-volley from a tight angle clipped the near post before his second bite of the cherry was comfortably held by Samuel Amedu at his near post.

“It’s something that I knew was going to happen.  Their set-pieces are absolutely different class.  They’ve got good set-pieces on them and they will put balls into the right areas and we have to be more clued up as a team to make sure we defend that really well,” said Ashanike.

Amgbaduba linked up well with Thompson (who played behind him) and Thompson’s right-footed drive from 25-yards was initially spilt by Osman, who grabbed hold of the ball at the second attempt.

However, Osman gifted Fisher the lead with 16 minutes and 43 seconds on the clock.

Right-winger Billy Brown’s sublime through ball from close to the halfway line went through a crowd of players and was latched onto by Amgbaduba.  However, the hapless Osman rushed to the edge of his penalty area and his woeful kick was charged down by Amgbaduba, who gleefully slotted the ball into the back of an empty net from 20-yards.

“When you see Eni’s running at you, a lot of people don’t want it and Eni’s just an absolute powerful human being and he’s done really well to get the goal in the first place,” said Ashanike.

“We’ll take any goals right now in the cup. It’s a cup game and we don’t care how we score, we just have to score.”

When asked why he selected Amgbaduba and left player-assistant manager Luke With (another targetman) on the bench, Ashanike replied: “We’ve got him and we’ve got Luke up top and they’re sharing the minutes between themselves and they’re really doing well both of them and we’ve given Luke a rest because Luke will now be ready for Saturday.”

Fisher right-back Malaki Coker threw the ball into the six-yard box, the ball was half-cleared by Stansfeld’s left-wing-back Joe Borland and Amgbaduba hooked his volley over the top of the near-post from eight-yards.

Thompson counter-attacked straight down the middle of the pitch and played the ball on the outside to Brown, who took a touch inside the box and with his second whipped in a cross-come-shot, which was palmed away by the stretching Osman.

Fisher doubled their lead with 31 minutes and 51 seconds on the clock, as Malyon lost his man inside the box while defending the set-piece.

Duberry and Sarpong stood over the ball.  Duberry stabbed the ball a couple of yards in front of Sarpong, who floated a fine ball towards the back post for Amgbaduba to steer his towering header across the keeper and into the far corner.

“That’s something that we didn’t work on in training,” revealed Ashanike.

“I think I was losing my mind when they were doing a short one but an absolutely great ball from Sarpong to the far post for Eni to score that goal, absolutely brilliant.

“It’s like the boys know each other so well now, they know what position they’re all going to be at and they’ve done really well there.”

The less said about Osman’s role in Fisher’s third goal the better, when it arrived with 37 minutes and 3 seconds on the clock.

Stansfeld packed the Fisher box as Parkinson looped a throw in and Fisher headed the ball away and Nganga collected the ball inside his own half.  He charged forward on the counter-attack and Osman raced out like a headless chicken towards the centre-circle, slid in and failed to clear his lines and Nganga kept composed, sprinted forward, beat the last defender and clinically slotted the ball into the bottom left-hand corner of an open goal from 16-yards.

“That just reminds me of 1998 when (Nigeria striker) Jay-Jay Okocha did that in Germany, it was class,” added Ashanike.

“Cedric is a different type of player, someone that we are lucky to have at this club and Cedric is a talent.”

Hackney based Ashanike is gaining a reputation of finding gems from London and showcasing their talents in the ninth-tier of English football for a club without a playing budget.

Jedidiah Brown signed a one-year contract at League Two side Crawley Town yesterday.

“It’s myself and my team, we do really well. On our days off we’re out scouting players, we’re talking to managers from Step Seven, Step Eight to try to see who is the best player in that league to bring up,” said Ashanike.

“I’m very, very proud to be a manager to actually push somebody in to a professional league. that's the third one that we’ve pushed into a pro league, both myself and Luke With since we started.

“I’m really proud of him, a massive achievement. Somebody who wasn’t playing football a couple of months ago and we brought him and his brother Manny in, boys who weren’t playing football.  Look at the confidence that we gave him and look at where he is now. I’m really proud of him.”

Coker fed the ball into Thompson, who played the ball in behind Borland but Duberry drilled his shot into the base of the side netting from 15-yards as dominant Fisher went into the interval with a commanding three-goal lead.

Ashanike said: “I just said to them, be wary, the game wasn’t finished.  Be wary of their threats because they are dangerous. They’re a dangerous animal, especially at 3-0.  They will come out with all guns blazing so what you saw in the first half will not be what you see in the second half and it proves it because they scored a goal straight away.”

Max Conor – who played behind Stansfeld’s front two of Rob Hughes and Tommy Whitnell – was hooked at the interval and Ollie Milton came on, having passed a pre-match fitness test.

Stansfeld pulled a goal back just 142 seconds into the second half.

Parkinson drove in a corner from the right towards the back post and Fowler hit a first-time drive through a crowd of players into the back of the net from 15-yards.

“I was really disappointed that we didn’t keep a clean-sheet,” said Ashanike.

“A great finish, a great finish. Again, we should’ve sorted out at the front post. When we played against them (losing 2-0 away on 4 October), they scored two goals identical to the same goal they scored tonight, so it’s something that they’ve worked on as a team.

“We just have to make sure we’re switched on because we have to play them one more time again and that will be a feisty game.”

With the artificial playing surface starting to turn white with frost, Fisher killed the game off by scoring their fourth goal with eight minutes and 27 seconds on the clock.

Some quality wing-play from Brown within the right channel saw him twist and turn Ezekiel Miller, before hanging over a cross towards the near post for Amgbaduba to bury his towering header, beating two defenders and the hapless Osman from inside the six-yard box.

"Eni's been doing really well for us," said the Fisher boss.

"Eni is someone that we've had all season and he's been learning his trade and I pushed him back from injury and he's waited patiently and I'm so happy for him to get three goals today.

“Billy Brown is class. Billy Brown is absolutely class.  His crosses are on a different level and it’s someone who didn’t play football for ages and we got him back playing again and I’m happy that he is happy,” said Ashanike, on the former Croydon man.

“You can see the joy in his face when that went in for Eni. I’m happy that Billy is with us now. He’s a top talent.”

Stansfeld should have scored a second goal just before the hour-mark through route-one football.

Osman launched a big kick straight down the middle, the ball was flicked on by Hughes and Milton latched onto the pass but Amedu came rushing to the edge of his penalty area and his poor clearance fell to Fowler whose shot from 18-yards took a deflection and looped over the crossbar.

Stansfeld then made a tactical change with Frankie Beale coming off the bench to slot in at left-wing-back, with Borland switching over to right-wing-back, while Fisher went more attacking in a 4-2-4 formation.

Coker’s long throw was laid off by the excellent Amgbaduba but this time Brown drilled his low shot into the side netting.

Dominant Fisher notched their fifth goal of the night with 23 minutes and 50 seconds on the clock.

Coker’s throw came in from the right and Amgbaduba drilled a low shot which was actually saved by Osman, diving full-stretch to his right to parry but the ball rolled into Nganga’s path and his first time right-footed drive nestled into the back of the net from 16-yards.

“It sounds stupid. They work on little stupid things like that in training and it works on match days,” said Ashanike.

“I feel we’ve scored the same goal twice with that throw that we’ve got and we work on that and they’ve done really well with it.  For Cedric to be where he is, it’s all planned anyway, so it was a good finish.”

Osman was beaten for a sixth time when the easy goal arrived with 30:09 on the clock, following Fisher’s second of three corners.

Thompson’s corner from the right was cleared out to Amgbaduba, who laid the ball back to Darwish, who floated a left-footed cross back into the penalty area.  Joseph Adewunmi flicked the ball on for Thompson, who put it on a plate for Sarpong at the far post, who was left unmarked and simply tapped the ball into the bottom left-hand corner from six-yards.

Ashanike said: “Again, I’ll say it, Sarpong is the best central midfielder in this league by far. He’s just grown and grown and grown. He’s someone that we got from Step Six two seasons ago and look at what he’s doing this season! Sarpong is absolute class!

“I’ve got full confidence in my team and my management team of the work that they do on the training pitch and it’s showing.  It’s tough love that they’re delivering on matchday.”

Fisher goalkeeper Amedu made a comfortable save to deny Stansfeld a second goal in the 77^th minute.

Parkinson hit a free-kick into a crowded Fisher box and Miller steered his header towards the bottom far corner, which Amedu grabbed hold off.

“Sam has been injured for a while now and we’re glad to have Sam back in goal. He's our number one. Justice (Owusu) has done really, really well for us as well when Sam’s been injured for the last three months and to have him back, it gives us a massive rock at the back.”

Ashanike used four of his five subs during the final 22 minutes and Darnel Bromfield’s floated right-wing corner was met by centre-half Adewinmi, which he rose in the box and steered his header over the crossbar.

Stansfeld’s humiliating night was complete when Fisher scored their seventh goal of the game, two minutes and 15 seconds into stoppage time.

Nganga’s quickly-taken throw-in caught out the sleeping Stansfeld defence and no one pressed Duberry, who stroked a right-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner from 25-yards, with Osman rooted to the spot and should have gathered.

“I didn’t even see that goal.  I saw the keeper, I thought it was going for a goal-kick but Lewis is another player, an international, he’s playing for Fisher. I could say how lucky I am to have this calibre of players that we’ve got here, it’s unbelievable,” added Ashanike.

Brown and Amgbaduba both hobbled off with knocks after being treated and Ashanike revealed: “They should be ok. We’ll be having a look at them on Thursday so the physio’s will come in and have a look at them. 

“We’ve got to work quickly. We can’t afford to lose anyone. We’ve got to use that squad now as much as we can between now and the end of the season and they have to keep themselves fit and look after themselves and do the right diet as well.”

Stansfeld, now in eighth-place after tonight's league results, need a reaction for Saturday’s trip to fourth-placed side Phoenix Sports, while Ashanike welcomes thirteenth-placed Hollands & Blair.

Scott Porter’s men came away from Kennington with a 2-1 win tonight and are on 30 points from their 22 games.

“It’s going to be a hard game. It’s not going to be easy for us. We’ve got to be on our toes. We’ve got to be on the front foot and take the game to them. They’re a big, strong team.  They’re going to go direct and we’ve got to learn how to cope with it and if we do the same that we did tonight, I’m sure we’ll get three points on Saturday.”

Ashanike added: “For me, it’s more what we do in the league. My first aim was to be in the top 10 in the league and we’re pushing onto that and anything else that happens after that is just a bonus.  We’re one step closer to the final and we’ll take it game by game.”

Fisher: Samuel Amedu, Malaki Coker, Conor Darwish, Lewis Duberry, Luke Thomas, Joseph Adewunmi, Cedric Nganga, Michael Sarpong (Darnel Bromfield 77), Eniyelayefa Amgbaduba (Prince Imoru 80), Isaac Thompson (Andres Felipe Losada Tobon 83), Billy Brown (Jacob Katonia 68).
Sub: Luke With

Goals: Eniyelayefa Amgbaduba 17, 32, 54, Cedric Nganga 38, 69, Michael Sarpong 76, Lewis Duberry 90

Booked: Billy Brown 34

Stansfeld: Cemal Osman, Harry Day (Frankie Beale 58), Joe Borland, Ezekiel Miller, Dan Parkinson, Aidan Hayes (Billy Shinners 85), Macey Malyon, Ryan Fowler (Harrison English 71), Rob Hughes, Tommy Whitnell (Zach Garcia 71), Max Conor (Ollie Milton 46).

Goal: Ryan Fowler 48

Booked: Billy Shinners 90

Attendance: 165
Referee: Mr Abdul Olol
Assistants: Mr Jason Elliott & Mr Silvester Aina