Fisher 1-2 Tunbridge Wells - We'll keep going until the medals are given out, says Martin Larkin

FISHER  1-2  TUNBRIDGE WELLS
Kent Hurlimann Football League
Monday 4^th February 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Champion Hill Stadium

TUNBRIDGE WELLS boss Martin Larkin says he will not give up on winning the Kent Hurlimann Football League title until the medals are handed out.


The Wells leapfrogged over Corinthian into sixth-place in the table, with 30 points from sixteen games, eleven points behind leaders Erith & Belvedere, at the halfway stage of their campaign.

Larkin’s men hope to lock horns with holders Dunston UTS in the last 32 of The FA Carlsberg Vase at the fourth attempt on Saturday and they are still involved in the Kent Senior Trophy and Macron Kent League Cup.

Target-man Andy Irvine was given a helping hand by the Fisher defence to slot into an empty goal to give Tunbridge Wells an early lead, before central midfielder Carl Cornwell finished off a three-man corner with twenty minutes remaining, before spirited Fisher scored a consolation through substitute Nathaniel Bell at the death.

”I thought first half we were really good,” Larkin said afterwards.

”Defensively we were superb for the whole game.  Attacking in the first half we were brilliant up until the penalty box.

”We came in at half-time and I said to them it should’ve been over. It should’ve been five or six-nil.

”Their goal spoils it for us at our end, but we deserved the three points.”

This was to be Fisher’s second defeat in the three games that joint-managers Martin Ford and Billy Walton have been in charge since Steve Firkins’ departure through family concerns.

”I am disappointed because I felt we tried to play,” said Ford.  “I felt we looked the better side at times today.  I thought we came out second half, we made the mistake in the first half and I thought to a certain extent the lads’ done alright.

”We’re a young side. I just felt the experience in the Tunbridge Wells side saw them home if I’m honest with you.

”I thought we played well. The football we played was good. We’ve just got no cutting edge up front at the moment.

”It’s not easy. Me and Bill said when we came here, we’ll give the lads’ that we’ve got on board a fair crack of the whip. I don’t think none of the lads’ can be disheartened when we say they might not be good enough.”

Ford added: “The problem that we’ve got when you’re down at the bottom of the league, attracting players is a lot harder when it is when you’re midtable or at the top, but me and Bill have many contacts in the game and I’m quite certain we’ll have a few new players on board before we play Erith & Belvedere next Monday.”

Tunbridge Wells went agonisingly close to taking the lead with their first attempt on goal when a loose pass from Fisher right-back Danny Akers was picked up by Andy McMath, who took a touch before smashing a right-footed drive from 35-yards, which flew over Alex Hyde’s left shoulder and crashed down off the underside of the crossbar.

Larkin revealed he may not have the central midfielder’s services for much longer.

He said: “He’s quality. He scored a goal in the League game at Lordswood and he wasn’t given full credit in the match report.  He hit it from 35-yards into the top corner.

”I’ve had a chat with him because I didn’t think he was good enough tonight. He gave the ball away too much in the second half, but he’s very important to us.

”It’s his last year before he emigrates to Australia. He’s had a good four years with us. He’s been fantastic. He’s a very good player.

”He scores fifteen goals from centre midfield. The running joke is no one comes in for him. He lives in Tunbridge Wells and he loves it. He loves the environment. It’s a little bit too late now because he’s emigrating.  We’ve got one or two pans in the fire I suppose to try to block that gap but that’s a long way off.”

Fisher lacked a leader at the back and their defending was poor all night and the second-from-bottom hosts gifted Tunbridge Wells the lead inside the opening nine minutes.

Scott Whibley sent a ball over the top from the heart of the Wells’ defence and Fisher central defender Femi Olugbemi missed his clearance and collided with goalkeeper Alex Hyde as he came rushing out and the ball ran loose for Irvine to simply tap the ball into the back of an empty net with his right-foot.

Larkin revealed he had done his homework on Fisher, saying, “I’ve watched them twice and Sevenoaks came here and sat off and let them play from the back and got beat and Cray Valley did the same Saturday and took their chances quite well and actually won on Saturday.

”I thought being an evening game we’re good when our work-rate is up so I thought if we go and press them early doors and really get into their back four it might cause them problems and get on top so wingers had jobs to do, the front two had jobs to do and we squeezed and we pressed and that’s where the goal came from and that makes the difference to most teams.”

Ford was bitterly disappointed with the manner that his side gifted Tunbridge Wells the lead.

He said: “We’ve brought Femi in tonight for his debut, if you like, he’s been on the bench for us, and we’ve lost our centre half Billy Walton (junior) whose been there since we’ve been here and we’ve brought young Femi in tonight to give him a go.


“I feel sorry for him. The ball’s dropped in no-mans land and he’s gone for it, the goalkeeper’s gone for it and it’s one of those mistakes.

”We’ve been talking about it before the game. It was the same thing on Saturday (during our 2-0 home defeat to) Cray Valley. We’re given a sloppy goal away first half and we played really, really well for 20-25 minutes second half and we didn’t score and it was very similar tonight, very similar circumstances tonight.

”We’ve come out second half (tonight) and we’ve played well, passed the ball around and just didn’t have that cutting edge in front of goal.”

Tunbridge Wells, who went into the game on the back off a 4-1 League win at Lordswood eight days ago, almost doubled their lead in the fourteenth minute.

Tom Davey, who was on the receiving end of five challenges from Fisher players during the first half alone, which went unpunished by referee Alexis Stacchini, swung in his corner from the right towards the near post but Perry Spackman sent his free header wide.

Fisher’s first chance finally arrived in the 34^th minute when Adam Wadmore’s defence splitting pass was latched onto by lone striker Danny Hunt – who was making his return following his spell at Cray Valley – but his dinked shot was blocked by advancing goalkeeper Chris Oladogba.

Ford said: “It’s awkward for Danny because we’re bringing in players at the moment because we’re not blessed with many centre forwards at the moment.  I’ve been trying all week to get a centre forward on board but as you know the good centre forwards are playing for clubs and their scoring goals.

”We’ve been trying to beg, steal and borrow some players off some clubs at the moment but because of the games, the fixtures and the weather it’s been a little bit hard.

”We’re confident enough that we can get two or three players’ in. We had 32 players when we got here. We’ve whittled it down now. I think we’re down to 23-24 squad players. We’ve got a few injuries and suspensions.

”We just need to strengthen. It was obvious to everybody who was watching we need some experience in the side. Tunbridge Wells had it in abundance.” 

Fisher were guilty of more sloppy defending and they were almost punished for it when Josh Stanford played the ball inside to Irvine, who controlled the ball before flicking the ball inside to Cornell, who cracked a right-footed volley from sixteen-yards, which sailed past Hyde and agonisingly clipped the outside of the right-hand post.

Larkin added: “He did well. We’re expecting Hooley to finish to be honest.  He didn’t quite get there. He worked so hard. He was fantastic. We gave him a certain role to do without the ball and he was brilliant. He worked really, really hard.”

Central midfielder Davey played a sublime ball over the top to release winger John Pilbeam down the right and his hooked right-footed shot bounced just wide as the Fisher goalkeeper advanced off his line.

Stanford and Cornell then combined just before the break to put Irvine through on goal but the former Herne Bay striker sent his left-footed chip narrowly over the bar from the left-hand side of the Fisher penalty box.

Ford was delighted with his side’s spirited second half performance, yet they still lacked quality in the final third.

”Once we gave a sloppy goal away like that, you could talk for hours in the changing room, it all goes out of the window so we had to change the game plan tonight and for a little while it didn’t suit us so we changed it again at half-time and it did.

”I thought we gave them a more of a game second half, but they were big and strong and they cleared their lines and the goalkeeper done a good job for them tonight.”

Fisher called visiting goalkeeper Oladogba into action 138 seconds into the second half when the stopper dived to his right to push away Jason Mabbs’ swerving left-footed volley from 40-yards.

And Hyde made a fine save at the other end to deny Stanford scoring with a deflected shot (off Frempah) with his legs after the Tunbridge Wells winger pounced on a loose ball just inside the box in a central position.

However, to their credit, Fisher performed much better after the hour mark and put in a much better spirited display, but they lacked the quality needed in the final third to prize open up a well marshalled central defensive partnership of Whibley and Spackman.

Ford said: ”Their big centre half was heading the ball, the big centre forward and they’re a very direct side and we knew that. We knew if we could get the ball and play around them we’ll be alright, but we done that in certain spells but we got to the edge of the eighteen-yard box and it was a big clearance away and it was hard to keep building on that all night.”

Fisher right-back Akers was given time and space to drill a speculative right-footed angled drive from 35-yards, which forced Oladogba into making a comfortable low save to his left at his near post in the 65^th minute.

But Tunbridge Wells sealed the three points in the 70^th minute, courtesy of a three-man set-piece.

Davey swung in a corner from the right towards the near post, which was flicked on by man-mountain Spackman and the ball sailed across the face of goal and Cornell had the simple task of nodding the ball past Hyde.

Larkin said: “We work on it a lot. We’re a decent sized side to be fair We’ve given Perry a new role at set-pieces this year and he’s been a lot more productive from it. With (Andy) Irvine, Davey and Barts (Jason Barton), we’ve got some good headers of the ball so we do score our fair share of corners.”

Ford briefly added: “Yes, yes, yes. It’s one of those things. Anything that seems to go for us at the moment just seems to go against us at the moment.”

With the Fisher faithful keeping their spirits and voices up, they witnessed substitute Richie Monan swing in a corner from the left which bounced off the top of the crossbar with Oladogba in no-mans land after being called over to the referee before not being allowed to retain his position in time for the corner kick.

Tunbridge Wells squandered an excellent chance to increase their lead further four minutes into time added on.

Substitute Keelan Mooney released right-back Jason Bourne on the over-lap who reached the by-line before whipping in a precise cross for the onrushing Stanford, who planted his header over from eight-yards, despite being unmarked.

Larkin said: “He’s getting better and better each week. He’s a good player. He’s had a while out off football. He was at Tonbridge Angels as a kid and he’s got such pace and he’s a good lad and he’s fitted in really well in to the group.

”We’ll keep working on him. He’s a little lad so heading’s a bit awkward for him. We’ll let him get away with it but he does provided a hell of a lot and he’s worked really hard tonight.”

Fisher scored a consolation with 51:26 on the clock when Bell lashed in a left-footed shot into the left-hand corner of the goal after substitute Chris Hubbard had initially played the ball in from the left for Bell to produce a fine powerful finish.

Ford said: ”We went positive. We want three up front for the last 20-25 minutes. We’ve been playing with the personnel that we’ve got. We’ve been trying to work the team against the players we’ve got available.

”We’ve only got a few centre forwards at the club so we have to play around our strengths and our strengths tonight was the way that we lined up.

”Whether we deserved to snatch a point (I don’t think so).  We’ve got a young side in there. A lot of Academy players’ playing and a lot around the 20-21 mark.  They just need a bit of help.  Hopefully now we’ve got the experience in off the pitch, but we need to bring the experience on it.”

Larkin was clearly disappointed not to gain a clean sheet tonight.

”Five or six times this year we’ve gone and scored six or seven and clean sheets is what I enjoy.  We’re very proud that we’ve got a very good defensive record.  We’re scoring a lot of goals as well. I was desperate for a clean sheet. It would be nice to keep a clean sheet going into the Vase game but it wasn’t to be.”

Tunbridge Wells substitute striker Jack Harris then drove his shot straight at Hyde, who made a comfortable save, before Fisher could have snatched an unlikely point when Akers fired a 25-yarder straight at Oladogba 58 seconds before the end of the game, which finished with 54:19 on the clock.

Larkin admits he still hasn’t given up on winning the Kent League title this season.

”We’ve got a lot of games left. That was only our sixteenth game We’re only halfway through and we’re in February so we’re playing Saturday-Tuesday for the rest of the season especially if we keep progressing in the Cups and The Vase.

”It’s going to be tough but we’ve got a lot of games to get up there and challenge. I think we’re only eight points off second and eleven off top. We’ve got a hell of a lot off games to go.  We’ve still got to play those guys as well.

”A lot of it will be dictated by how successful we are in the Vase and the Cups, but the League is very, very important to us as a group.

”No one’s won it yet. Until the medals are given out we’ll keep going. We’re a little bit under the radar I suppose but we’ve got a really good side and we’re proud with what we’ve built here over the last three and a bit years.

”I think we’ve got a decent side and a decent chance. Until those medals are given out we’ll keep plying for every point that we can get.”

Fisher: Alex Hyde, Danny Akers, Mark Lewis, Femi Olugbemi (Chris Hubbard 81), Ben Frempah (Richie Monan 66), Jamie Taylor, Adam Wadmore, Jason Mabbs, Danny Hunt (Nathaniel Bell 82), Sam Friskey, Marvin Alebiosu.
Subs: Bryan Zepo, Kyle Demetrius

Goal: Nathaniel Bell 90

Booked: Jamie Taylor 45, Adam Wadmore 49

Tunbridge Wells: Chris Oladogba, Jason Bourne, Lewis Mingle, Tom Davey, Scott Whibley, Perry Spackman, John Pilbeam (Jason Barton 71), Andy McMath, Andy Irvine (Jack Harris 75), Carl Cornell (Keelan Mooney 84), Josh Stanford.
Subs: Andy Boyle, Brad Large

Goals: Andy Irvine 9, Carl Cornell 70

Booked: Keelan Mooney 86

Attendance: 83
Referee: Mr Alexis Stacchini (Orpington)
Assistants: Mr Luke Challinger (Crayford) & Mr Thomas Marshall (Eltham, London SE9)