Fisher 0-5 VCD Athletic - We'll pile on the pressure and carry on winning, says Ray Powell

FISHER  0-5 VCD ATHLETIC
Kent Hurlimann Football League
Monday 22^nd April 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Champion Hill Stadium

VCD ATHLETIC assistant manager Ray Powell says his side will keep piling on the pressure as they battle it out with leaders Erith & Belvedere for the Kent Hurlimann Football League title.

Erith & Belvedere remain top following their 2-0 home win over Tunbridge Wells tonight, two points clear of VCD Athletic, who eased to a comfortable 5-0 win at third-from-bottom side Fisher, who have suffered back-to-back home defeats after previously going on a six-match unbeaten run.

Uche Ibemere, who will be watched by Mark Goldberg, the manager of Conference South Bromley when Vickers travel to Beckenham Town on Thursday night, was immense and scooped the man-of-the-match accolade after scoring the opening goal and playing his part in their next three as Vickers’ extended their unbeaten run to fifteen games to keep them in the title race with three games remaining.

VCD Athletic had to wait for 33 minutes before they broke Fisher’s resilience when Ibemere rifled home his fifteenth-goal of the season.

But despite Fisher playing some attractive football, VCD Athletic proved that the real money is up front as their finishing during a one-sided second half was clinical.

Moriah Conteh scored his nineteenth-goal of the season (his first ten were for Cray Valley) in the 54^th minute to double Vickers’ advantage, before substitute Sherwin Stanley punished a mistake with the third.

Vickers’ wrapped up the game with two goals in the last five minutes through Jamie Humphris and substitute Sam Hayes.

Miserable Fisher had central defender Danny Willis sent-off for something that he said to referee Kevin Welsh just before the final whistle.

Former Fisher Athletic favourite Powell said he wasn’t happy with his side’s first half performance:

He said:  “Pleased with the result, not pleased with the performance at all!  First half we were all over the place to be honest with you in the final third.  It wasn’t happening for us in the first half, but we’ll take a 5-0 win and keep putting the pressure on, that’s all we can do.”

With Billy Walton unavailable through family commitments tonight, Fisher joint-boss Martin Ford was bitterly disappointed that his side were dealt a lesson in finishing by his former club.

“I didn’t think it was a 5-0 game if I’m honest with you,” admitted Ford afterwards.

“We knew they were a massive goal threat and to be quite honest with you there were one of the good sides that I’ve seen this year. They were massive, massive up front. Their movement is first class. I felt we held our own for an hour. The second goal killed us. The third goal, our heads went down and maybe at the end the fourth and fifth goal flattered them a little bit.”

Ford added: “We had a lot of young lads out there today, five youth team players and it was all a plus for me tonight.  I had a lot of players missing, six players’ not in the side tonight so if we were a little bit stronger with experience we may have took the game a little bit longer.

“I don’t think we was ever going to win to be totally honest with you there, but I said to the boys tonight I’m quite upbeat that we can improve on that. 

“This is not the standard of league that we’re in at the moment. Our league table is Greenwich Borough on Saturday and Beckenham the following week. That’s the games that we’re looking to win.  We’re not ready for VCD yet.”

VCD Athletic striker Conteh was guilty of cheating his way to an opening goal of the game inside the opening nine minutes.

Fisher played some neat one-touch football in front of the home dug-out but they lost possession and Ibemere beat right-back Danny Akers for pace to reach the by-line before whipping in a precise cross towards the far post which sailed over goalkeeper Billy Hensman and Conteh opted to use his outstretched right arm to punch the ball into the net from two-yards out.

Referee Mr Welsh rightly disallowed the goal and showed the striker a yellow card.

Powell admitted: “He’s lucky to stay on the field in the first couple of minutes for the handball and he had a couple after that.  I’m pleased he stayed on but the ref, what can you say?

“I can sort of understand it as a striker. I’ve been in that situation before.  You know you’re not going to get there, you’re hands tend to go up. I’m not saying he should’ve done it, but I can see where he’s coming from. He shouldn’t have done it, yes, he’s been booked for it and rightly so.”

Ford inevitably said: “He’s got to go, he’s got to go!  The last thing I’m going to be doing is to scream to get other players’ sent-off for another team for that. A crude tackle, over the top of the ball yes, but he’s punched it into the thing!

“I expected him to get a straight red. He gave him a yellow card and he just played the game on.  I said to the referee at half-time and he just felt the ball more than less hit him on the arm rather than him punching it in but that’s not what I saw out there tonight!”

Ford agreed that any form of cheating must be wiped from the game.

“If it creeps in at this level – I’ve had six players tonight under 19 tonight and three players’ under 21 and you try to teach them to play the right way and you see things like that!

“We’re holding our own for the first 30 minutes and if he got sent-off you never know what may have happened but at the end of the day the referee just deemed it a yellow card so it’s not worth moaning about it!”

Fisher failed to penetrate a solid Vickers’ back-four, well marshalled by Nick Reeves and Billy Manners.

But they did create a chance in the eleventh minute when Sam Ryan hung a free-kick into the penalty area and midfielder Adam Wadmore, who passed a fitness test on a knee injury before the game, looped his header into Nick Blue’s hands from 14-yards.

Marvin Alebiosu then played the ball outside to Fisher right-back Akers, who floated in a cross for Bryan Zepo to send his downward header into the gloves of the former Beckenham Town keeper.

Ford added: “The system that we play, we played with just the one up front.  We’re trying to analyse it a little bit trying to get bodies behind the ball, which I thought we done well in the first half.

“But you understand we had five players out there tonight that played in the Youth Cup Final (a 4-1 win over Corinthian) yesterday and then they played Saturday for us so there’s a few tired legs out there. 

“Unfortunately I didn’t have the senior players that I needed to bring in tonight.  We was lacking in that a little bit but we were missing Ben Frempah, our main man at centre half. 

“All in all, it was an exercise to prove to our young lads that the standard of football that they’ve got to get used to if they are to compete in this league.  I think it’s done them the world of good.”

VCD Athletic missed a gilt-edged chance to break the stalemate when skipper Nick Reeves’s right-footed ball over the top released James Duckworth down the right and after beating the offside trap he dragged his right-footed angled drive across the keeper and just past the foot of the far post from a tight angle.

Another good opportunity came the visitors’ way in the 27^th minute.

Dean Carpenter played the ball inside to Humphris, who played the ball into Conteh, who twisted and turned Willis inside the box before stroking his left-footed shot across Hensman, who did well to dive low to his left and stuck out his left arm to gather the ball before it crossed the line.

VCD Athletic took the lead in the 33^rd minute when Fisher skipper Mark Lewis was punished for losing possession in midfield.

After the left-back gave the ball away, Duckworth played the ball outside to Ibemere, who ghosted in from left to right before drilling his right-footed shot into the roof of the net, beating the Fisher keeper at his near post.

Powell said: “As I said to you a couple of weeks back about Uche, he scared the right-back again. Uche on his day, he will ruin players. He’s on form.  It must be the strappings I’ve been giving him. Let’s carry on doing them!”

Ford admitted Ibemere has a good future in the game and can easily play at a higher level of football.

“Great player!  If VCD can keep him, fantastic.  I feel they need to get promoted to keep him. I don’t know what they pay him or what he gets but he was immense tonight.  He gave our young full-back Danny Akers a little bit of a lesson tonight, but Danny’s only 19-20 so it’s another experience in his football career. He’s come up against a class player. 

“VCD are a decent team. They can move the ball around well and they keep it when they have to and they’re such a threat in front of goal.  Every time the ball drops to the three lads up front they’re going to stick the ball in the back of the net.”

Unfortunately Fisher didn’t pose the same quality in the final third and didn’t look like scoring all night.

Powell admitted he wasn’t happy at the break and said: “Basically the long and short of it, it was not good enough all round! Take away the back four, the back four were steady shall we say, but the final third, it wasn’t happening for us today.”

The home side did crack a couple of speculative efforts narrowly wide from at least 30-yards out inside the opening five minutes of the second half, but Wadmore and Ryan couldn’t find the target.

But the game ended as a contest when Vickers’ doubled their lead in the 54^th minute.

They built down the left channel with Conteh playing the ball to Humphris, who played a pass in behind Akers to release Ibemere, who cut towards the by-line before looking up and cutting the ball back for Conteh, who placed his right-footed shot across Hensman to find the bottom far corner from eight-yards.

Conteh repaid the faith shown in him by manager Tony Russell and Powell revealed: “Me and Tony were saying shall we play him?  He’s been knocking on the door and he wants to play in that position so we’ve given him the chance tonight and he done ok. He didn’t do himself any harm. Yes, he needed a goal and once he gets a goal he gets going sort of thing.”

Ford added: “We concentrated really well for an hour and when the second goal went in I thought we were chasing the game a little bit.  We opened up a little bit and we lost our discipline, maybe, a little bit, but all these kids want to play.  They want to get the ball down and play.”

Ford admitted VCD Athletic’s finishing was top drawer – and when you work without a budget, it’s hard to attract such players to the club.

He said: “Unfortunately if you’ve got a few quid that’s the sort of players that they’ve got in their side. You can’t get those players for nothing.  They’ve got that little bit of quality about them in the final third and they showed it tonight and it’s money well spent I would’ve thought for VCD.”

Fisher had to score to make a game off it but Josh Witter passed to Richie Monan, whose left-footed drive sailed wide of the near post.

VCD Athletic made it 3-0 in the 66^th minute and poor defending from Willis allowed Ibemere’s low cross from the left to fall at the feet of the unmarked Stanley inside the box and the former Tonbridge Angels striker buried his low right-footed drive past Hensman to score his seventeenth-goal for the club.

Powell said: “I’m pleased that Sherwin has broken his duck a little bit. He’s had below par performances since he’s been with us.  He’s been around, Tilbury I think, he’s been at Tonbridge and teams like that. He’s come to the right club to play football.”

Ford added: “I was surprised when they didn’t start him tonight, maybe they just wanted to rest him, I don’t know.  It’s the clinical element again. If you make a mistake, if you just touch the ball a yard wider and you can’t get it back, bang, it’s in the back of the net.”

Fisher defender Willis cracked a speculative driven right-footed free-kick from 40-yards, which only just missed the bottom corner of the Vickers’ net.

Karl Dent played a precise long diagonal pass straight to Duckworth, who hooked a first time pass to Stanley, whose first time shot flashed wide.

But Vickers’ fourth goal duly arrived in the 85^th minute.

Duckworth played the ball to Ibemere on the right, who beat Willis for pace and he slid a low centre across the face of the penalty area, which was dummied by Duckworth at the near post and found Humphris unmarked at the far post, who stroked his right-footed shot into the bottom near corner.

Powell said of Ibemere, “Shall we give him man-of-the-match?  I think Jamie Humphris is in a bit of form himself, which is good to see. We’ve got three games left and we need our front four or five to be in form. 

“We got it right at the back at the moment keeping clean-sheets but we need to carry on scoring goals.”

Ford explained his thinking bringing off Lewis for another youngster.

“I was keen to have another look at a couple of the youth lads that were here tonight.  I wanted to have a look at Jake Palladino at left-back for Mark Lewis, the captain, tonight so we got them on at the end just to let them have a bit of experience, a little bit of senior football.”

Stanley then carved open the Fisher defence to put fellow substitute Sam Corne through on goal but the youngster’s effort sailed just past the post.

But Vickers’ wrapped up the game with a fifth goal inside the second minute of time added on.

Duckworth floated his deep right-footed free-kick towards the far post and substitute Hayes ghosted in unchallenged and rose to glance his header beyond the exposed keeper from close range to score his first goal for the club.

“I’m pleased for the boy, he’s young, he’s going to be a good player,” said Powell.

“We’ve sent him out on loan to Seven Acre & Sidcup (in the Kent Invicta League) this year to get a bit of experience in senior football and he’s come back, he’s looked strong and he’s going to be one for the future.

“Also Sam Corne, the youngster, when he came on he done really well.  Same again, he’s going to be one for the future as well.”

Ford added: “To be honest with you, for the fifth goal, I was a bit disappointed. I just felt we lost our shape and discipline a little bit. I think for the last fifteen minutes our legs went. Some of these boys have come through tough games Saturday, Sunday and Monday and they’ve all got to play again tomorrow night, five of them, in a youth team fixture as well.”

Fisher almost pulled a goal back at the death when Ryan clipped a free-kick into the VCD penalty area and Willis’ header was brilliantly turned away by the diving Blue, who stuck out his outstretched left arm to prevent the ball sailing into the top corner, before the referee blew his whistle for a foul from Willis.

Willis said something to the referee, who showed him a yellow card, which brought another verbal attack from the defender, who was then shown a straight red-card for his sins.

Ford claimed: “Danny just said to the referee ‘you’ve been their 12^th man all night.”

“The last thing I want to talk about are officials. I’m sick and tired of them to be honest with you. I’m fed up with them. I’m not criticising because I know it’s hard to get officials but if they’re going to come to a football match and take money you just expect them to do their job. We’ve had six bookings tonight and there wasn’t one bad foul all night long. He seemed to book our players tonight and not theirs, but that’s football I suppose. I’m a bit frustrated.”

Powell gave his thoughts on the sending-off and said: “Silly red-card for himself.  He knows, the boy probably knows that what he done wrong. You can’t talk to the ref like that! It’s out of order!  I’ve known from experience that you can’t speak to the ref these days. You either put your hand up and say yes it’s a yellow card, bite your tongue.  It’s cost the club three games for his service, well probably one game because it’s only like two yellows. It’s going to be a miss for the club.”

Both Erith & Belvedere and VCD Athletic have three games remaining and the title race looks certain to go to the wire.

Vickers travel to Beckenham Town on Thursday night, before hosting Corinthian at Oakwood on Saturday, before completing their campaign at Lordswood on 30 April.

Micky Collins side, however, travel to fourth-placed Whyteleafe on Thursday and are at Lordswood on Saturday, before finishing with a home game against Greenwich Borough on 30 April.

Powell insists his side will take it all the way.

He said: “It’s a good run. I think we’ve got the club record for the most unbeaten run but same again, you take the three points (tonight) even if it’s one, two or three nil at this stage of the season.  All we can do is carry on piling on the pressure, that’s all we can do.

“It’s in their hands.  When we first came here we weren’t expecting to go for the league (title) straight away. We was more about next year but as we’ve said to the players’ we’ve put ourselves in this position, go and show people out there why you’re in this position because we’re doing well.

“Listen, we’ll pile on the pressure.  We’ll carry on winning. Whatever happens, happens and we’ll go from there.”

Ford said he wants to win his final two games of the season, but when asked his thoughts on the title race, he sided for his former club.

“VCD might miss the boat, which is a shame because they are the best side that we’ve played.”

And on his side’s performance tonight, he added: “We kept trying until the end and that’s why I’m here, trying to encourage these lads to come through. We inherited a squad halfway through the season that maybe wasn’t good enough to compete in this league but we’re definitely going to finish the league maybe fourth-from-bottom, so when we joined it we was rock bottom with points behind so maybe that’s a little bit of a plus for us at this time of the year.”

Fisher:  Billy Hensman, Danny Akers, Mark Lewis (Jake Palladino 82), Aaron Jeffery, Danny Willis, Adam Wadmore (Harvey Hanifan 68), Richie Monan, Sam Ryan, Bryan Zepo (Nathaniel Bell 68), Josh Witter, Marvin Alebiosu.
Subs: Benga Ogunseye, Javan Scott

Booked:  Danny Akers 25, Sam Ryan 27, Bryan Zepo 54, Adam Wadmore 55, Danny Willis 90

Sent Off: Danny Willis 90

VCD Athletic:  Nick Blue, Ryan Palmer, Lee Craig, Nick Reeves (Sam Hayes 86), Billy Manners, Karl Dent, Dean Carpenter (Sam Corne 72), James Duckworth, Moriah Conteh (Sherwin Stanley 58), Jamie Humphris, Uche Ibemere.
Subs: Peter Smith, Bradley McNamara

Goals:  Uche Ibemere 33, Moriah Conteh 54, Sherwin Stanley 66, Jamie Humphris 85, Sam Hayes 90

Booked:  Moriah Conteh 9, Ryan Palmer 90

Attendance: 83
Referee: Mr Kevin Welsh (Sittingbourne)
Assistants:  Mr Robert Preedy (St Pauls Cray) & Mr Kamen Kiryakov (Newham, London E16)