Beckenham Town 3-1 Fisher - It's so special to get one over on Fisher, says Beckenham Town coach Jason Clews

Beckenham Town 3 – 1 Fisher
Location	Eden Park Avenue, Beckenham, Kent BR3 3JL
Kickoff	24/02/2016 19:45

BECKENHAM TOWN  3-1  FISHER
Southern Counties East Football League
Wednesday 24^th February 2016
Stephen McCartney reports from Eden Park Avenue

BECKENHAM TOWN coach Jason Clews says his players know what it means to beat their bitter-rivals Fisher.

Jason Huntley’s side claimed the local bragging rights with a 3-1 win at Eden Park Avenue to remain in sixth-place in the Southern Counties East Football League table on 38 points from their 24 league outings.

Jamie Humphries scored his 24^th goal of the season to give Beckenham Town a deserved lead going into the break.

Beckenham Town doubled their lead through central midfielder Harry Draper, before central midfielder Chan Quan came off the bench to score a sublime 30-yard chip to bring Fisher back in the game.

Marvin Alebiosu ended Fisher’s hopes of coming back into the game by drilling home Beckenham’s third, while Fisher captain Alfie Nunn was sent off for swearing at the referee with eight minutes left.

“Tremendous performance tonight by the boys, really, really pleased with the performance against our local rivals,” said Clews after Beckenham’s 10^th league win of the season.

“They all know what it means to the club, they put a good, solid 90 minute performance out there.”

“A crowd of 210, that’s what it means to the fans of  both sides, turning out on a cold Wednesday night.”

Dean Harrison left Beckenham Town to manage Fisher and he was bitterly disappointed to lose the derby.

“Lacked a little bit of quality in the right areas tonight,” Harrison said after his side’s 14^th league defeat that leaves them in fourteenth-place in the table on 29 points from 27 games.

“I don’t think there was a lot in it. I think we lacked a little bit of quality and I think they had a little bit more quality on the ball and they’ve got boys that put the ball in the back of the net and that’s something that we’re not doing at the minute.”

When asked about losing a game that means so much too both clubs, the Fisher boss replied: “It’s not nice! It’s not nice to lose anyway. You don’t want to lose to your local rivals. It’s not a nice feeling is it? That’s football, highs and lows.”

This fixture between these two bitter rivals attracted a crowd of 210 to Eden Park Avenue and the opening exchanges were a frenetic affair with the ball whizzing all over the pitch without anyone putting their foot on the ball to slow things down.

“I thought it was a bit of a hot potato in the first 10-15 minutes and then it sort of settled down a bit,” said Clews.

“I think we created the more better clear cut chances if I’m honest.  Going in with the lead, it could’ve been a bit more as well.”

Harrison added: “I told the boys at half-time that we just needed to slow it down a little bit, get on the ball and get our feet on it and relax, especially Max (Rothwell) in the middle, which I thought he did a little bit better in the second half.  I think he slowed things down and picked better passes.

“It was like a cup tie in the first 20 minutes, it was end-to-end.”

Fisher created the first chance inside 11 minutes where left-winger Calvin Ekpiteta’s right-footed free-kick from 25-yards dipped just over the top of the right-hand post.

Harrison admitted: “It was one of them. It cleared the wall and he didn’t hit the target. You’ve got to hit the target!”

Central midfielder Max Rothwell then pinged a lovely diagonal pass to the lively Ekpiteta who cut inside and drove his shot past the near post.

Beckenham Town started to settle down and it took them 21 minutes to create their first chance.

Humphries swept the ball out to impressive left-winger Archie Sutherland, who cut inside Jeff Allen to unleash a left-footed drive from the corner of the box which screamed across goal and harmlessly past the far post.

Fisher keeper Joel Hannington pulled off his first save of the night shortly afterwards.

Jamie Turner floated in a cross from the right, striker Alebiosu brought the ball down under his spell to hook a powerful right-footed drive towards goal from 18-yards, which forced Hannington to palm the ball away high to his right.

Harrison said: “Joel is in good form at the minute. He’s only 19 and he’s going to be a good keeper. He’s one for the future, he’s doing alright.”

Clews said: “The keeper pulled off a good save there. We created probably a few chances but Marvin’s strong points is not finishing at the moment. He made a few chances for himself but he’s got to be more clinical, I think, in front of goal.”

Beckenham Town were the dominant force by the time the game reached the half-hour-mark and a mazy run from man-of-the-match Sutherland saw him lay the ball into Draper, who took a touch before curling his shot around the diving Hannington and agonisingly past the far post.

Clews added: “Harry worked his socks off tonight as well, against one of his old clubs.  He doesn’t score many chances but he did tonight but he don’t get that far forward normally.”

Humphries, who was attempting to shake off an injury after going down in the box as he broke down the right, played the ball through to Alebiosu, who took a touch before dragging his shot across the keeper and past the far post.

Beckenham Town keeper Lewis Moore was a virtual spectator until he was called into action in the 39^th minute.

Nunn’s diagonal  pass found Ekpiteta down the left and he dinked the ball across the face of the goal-mouth for Danny McKone to hit a first time right-footed shot, which forced Moore to dive quickly low to his right to make a vital block.

Harrison said: “He should’ve scored. He knows he should’ve scored. He just said in there. It weren’t going to be tonight.”

Clews added: “He’s pulled off a good save. We knew he’d be a little bit of a threat Bolder (McKone).  Again, he’s good in the air.”

Beckenham Town raced up the other end and just 19 seconds later Sutherland’s left-footed angled drive screamed just over the crossbar as Hannington attempted to flick the ball over his own crossbar.

But Beckenham Town deservedly broke the deadlock with 40:22 on the clock.

Again, it was good wing play from Sutherland down the left that saw him get the better of right-back Allen, before slipping the ball into Humphries’ path and he drilled a deflected shot (off Robert Curtis) from 16-yards across the keeper and the ball nestled into the bottom far corner of the net.

“It got deflected but he’s going to claim that all day Humphries,” said Clews.

“I thought Archie had a great day, him and Justin Hemmings is my man-of-the-match for me, they were both superb.

“Archie created a lot of problems for them on the left-hand side and we knew he was an outlet but for the first sort of 20-25 minutes we didn’t use it enough. It was probably going down the middle quite a lot with Humphries and Marvin but then we got it out to him and he created that chance and we could see from then onwards that was our outlet.

“We said to them at half-time just get the ball out to him, let him go because he’s got pace and he’s got skill and he does like taking on a player. He’s a great player for us.”

When asked about how the club retain the services of 24-goal striker Humphries, Clews replied: “He should be scoring more goals! I think he’ll be pleased with his little tally at the moment, 24 goals, he’s finding a little bit of form.

“Let him get away with murder! No.  We’ve got him playing for us but he finds it hard to train so we relax it a little bit for him. He works in Scotland, Ireland, so we probably do relax it for training sessions with him. He’s happy with that. A goalscorer like that, you can’t turn down. That’s how we keep him.”

Harrison added: “It started on the left with Archie, he had a 50-50 with Jeff (Allen) and Jeff should’ve smashed him. He needed to win the ball and Archie came away with the ball and from there they got the little bit of space they needed.

“I don’t think we’ve pressed quick enough and done enough to block the shot, hence the deflection.”

Both were asked their thoughts at half-time.

Clews said: “Keep it going. A great second half of the first half. The last 25 minutes we thought we was all on top and created a lot of chances.

“It was the left-hand side with Archie and we told them to get the ball to him and let him do all of the work. He was creating a lot of problems there and I think they sort of realised that as well.”

Harrison added: “There wasn’t a lot wrong to be honest! A little bit of shape, a little bit more composure on the ball like picking better passes at the right times, just a couple of little things to touch on but apart from the goal, there weren’t much in it.”

Beckenham Town doubled their lead just 223 seconds into the second half.

Sutherland floated in a cross from the right towards the near post, which was brilliantly brought down by Alebiosu and the ball fell at Draper’s feet, who steered his first time drive into the bottom right-hand corner.

“Harry’s getting forwards on a rare occasion, he’s pleased with a goal against his former team,” said Clews.

“We had a little pop at him afterwards because we told him not to go too far forward. He was trying to close down. That is Harry’s game really, he likes to close down and be a little bit of a pest in there, a little bit of a nuisance, closing down players, but he also gets too far forward for us for my liking so we told him to rein it back a little bit and help out in midfield.”

Harrison added: “He’s got too much time to put the ball in, the boy down the left hand side, our right-hand side. It went back to him and he’s just picked the pass out to put into the boy in the danger area.

“We just told him that you can’t have too much time, you’ve got to press him and get his head down.

“It killed us, it murdered us so we had to start again.”

Fisher created an opening following their third and last corner of the game in the 53^rd minute.

Harry Bugden swung the ball in from the right with his left-foot towards the near post where central defender Daniel Flemming rose and planted his header over the crossbar from eight-yards.

Turner swept a free-kick into the Fisher box from the right, the ball was headed clear by Curtis, the ball was picked up by an unmarked Humphries, but Hannington made the near post block.

Draper played the ball out to Turner on the right, who cut the ball back for Alebiosu to hit his first time shot over with his right-foot.

Fisher produced a moment of class to bring themselves back into the game in the 66^th minute.

Rothwell played the ball into substitute Quan, who noticed that Beckenham’s keeper Moore was off his line and produced a high-quality right-footed chip from 30-yards, which dropped in over the stranded goalkeeper.

Harrison hailed Quan’s second goal for the club since his move from league rivals Sevenoaks Town.

He said: “It was a great goal. It was nice little bit of link up play, which was what we was asking them to do, settle down on the ball and pick your passes in those areas.

“Chan scored a fantastic goal. He’s done the keeper, caught him off the line. It was a great goal.

“He made a difference. He’s good in that final third in and around the edge of the box.”

Clews added: “Good finish! When he come on I knew he was a good player so I said to Harry and Phil McBean to stuck on him and don’t give him any space or time on the ball because he will create things and cause you problems and that’s when we switched off.

“The ball got laid back into him and we didn’t close him down quick enough. We gave him options to look up and strike the ball.  The keeper maybe was a little bit off his line but we had a little chat with him after we thought he was flapping a little bit because he was too far off his line but he’ll learn from that.”

Quan almost rescued his side a point when he cut inside and curled his shot agonisingly past the far post from the left-hand corner of the penalty area.

Fellow substitute Deshane Dalling cut inside from within a similar area but he ballooned his shot high over the crossbar as Fisher pressed for an equaliser.

But poor play from Nunn on his return to Eden Park Avenue cost Fisher any chance of claiming a point.

Harrison was unhappy with his skipper for giving the ball away inside his penalty area and seconds later Alebiosu sped past left-back Bugden and beat the keeper at his near post with a drilled right-footed angled drive.

“Near post is criminal from a goalkeeper’s point of view, shouldn’t get beaten at your near post but he’s hit it with a lot of power and he’s got a good shot from him. It was a great finish from him,” said Clews.

Harrison added: “But it starts on our right-hand side where Luke’s gone in and got the ball, protected it well, set-up Alfie Nunn and all you’re asking Alfie Nunn to do is just put his foot through it and we get Shelton (Gooden) running onto it down the channel.  He’s tied to have a touch inside in a crowded area.  I’ve got no idea why and he’s lost the ball and from there they’ve gone on and scored and that’s it.

“At 2-1 we’re on the ascendancy. We were the better team at 2-1 and I think we were going to get another one and then he goes and does that, instead of clearing his lines and that’s the end of that - game done.”

If that was bad enough, Nunn was shown a straight red card for swearing at Polish-born referee Marcin Indyk after both camps admitted he was fouled by Alebiosu.

Harrison said: “There was a clear foul. Alfie’s running through the middle of the pitch and the boys fouled him and come away with the ball. It was ridiculous!

“I understand his frustration but he needs to know better you can’t do that. You can’t speak to the ref – whatever he said to him.

“Emotions are high but at the same time you’ve got to understand that you’re part of a team. Emotions are high for everyone so if you start letting yourself down and start getting yourself sent off, you’re letting your mates down.

“That was the end of that! 3-1 and sent off. It’s done. It’s just about getting in and getting a little bit of shape and not conceding another one.”

Clews added: “That’s Alfie! I thought it was a foul on him to be fair. It was a little coming together with feet. It possibly could’ve been Marvin’s second yellow as well if the referee seen him.

“I thought it was a foul on Alfie so it was a bit harsh on him because he’s reacted because he didn’t get a foul. Obviously he’s upset with not getting a foul. You could see his frustration because it was a little bit of inconsistency from the referee really. It’s a bit harsh. That’s Alfie. He reacts, he done that when he was down here. I feel sorry for him because the referee’s made a mistake there.”

Talented Adam Allen chopped down Dalling just outside the Beckenham penalty area at the death but Luke Haidarovic’s resulting free-kick was blocked by the wall and the ball came out to Allen, who produced a typical right-back’s finish by lashing his shot high over the crossbar.

These two sides meet again at Champion Hill on Saturday 12 March.

“It’s a couple of weeks away so we’re looking forward to that at their ground,” said Clews.

“Again, our boys will be up for that after coming off this result. They’ll be looking to get back at us.  I think we had a little bit too much in the locker for them tonight.”

When asked about the rivalry between the two clubs, Beckenham stalwart Clews replied: “It’s just the history between it really. You’ve got a lot of boys that have played (for both clubs).  Jason Huntley was involved in Fisher, he was a player down there. He knows a lot of the backroom people there.

“You hear a lot of it at the bar. I’ve learnt how the games were in the old days and it’s gone on from there really, with players being friends with other players that are in the other team, they want to get one over on each other so that’s why it’s so special for us.”

Beckenham Town play three more games travelling to Fisher, while Harrison’s men play a couple before trying to reclaim the local bragging rights from their bitter rivals.

The Fisher boss said: “We knew they’d be a good crowd here and Beckenham’s a great club and we enjoy playing these. It’s a shame we’re coming away without the points but we’ve got the return in a couple of weeks so we’ll try and get something back, get some points back.

“It’s one of those games that you don’t need a lot of geeing up for. If you can’t get yourself up for this game then you can’t get yourself up for anything so it doesn’t make any difference, the boys should be ready to go.”

Beckenham Town: Lewis Moore, Andrew Whorms, Marlon Patterson, Justin Hemmings, Aziz Kanu, Harry Draper (Frankie Warren 88), Jamie Turner (Adam Allen 75), Phil McBean, Marvin Alebiosu (Junior James 88), Jamie Humphries, Archie Sutherland.
Subs: Sam O’Keefe, Tom Skelton

Goals: Jamie Humphries 41, Harry Draper 49, Marvin Alebiosu 78

Booked: Marvin Alebiosu 76, Adam Allen 90

Fisher: Joel Hannington, Jeff Allen, Harry Bugden, Alfie Nunn, Daniel Flemming (Daniel Lawson 74), Robert Curtis, Luke Haidarovic, Max Rothwell, Shelton Gooden, Danny McKone (Deshane Dalling 60), Calvin Ekpiteta (Chan Quan 60).
Subs: Frazer Bent, Alfie Roche

Goal: Chan Quan 66

Booked: Daniel Flemming 70

Sent Off: Alfie Nunn 82

Attendance: 210
Referee: Mr Marcin Indyk (Maidstone)
Assistants: Mr Ashley Barnes (Bromley) & Mr Phillip Dunkley (Nunhead, London SE15)