Fisher 2-3 Greenwich Borough - It's obviously nice to win here, says Gerry Cox

FISHER  2-3  GREENWICH BOROUGH
Kent Hurlimann Football League
Saturday 10^th March 2012
Stephen McCartney reports from Champion Hill Stadium

GREENWICH BOROUGH joint-manager Gerry Cox says he was delighted that his side have been rewarded with climbing off the foot of the Kent Hurlimann Football League table following their deserved victory over rivals Fisher.

Greenwich Borough went into the game having picked up seven points from their last four games and they were full value for their 3-0 lead, as Rob Depeaser (penalty), Mathieu Ramsamy and Ashley Wright stunned the Champion Hill faithful with goals in a devastating twenty minute spell after the break.

Poor Fisher pulled two goals back in the final seven minutes, substitute Alex Ball scored his first goal for the club and Adam Wadmore scored against his former club with a deflected header from a corner, as tenth-placed Fisher slumped to their fourth successive defeat.

“Yes, on reflection on the day, I did think we did shade it,” said Cox after his side’s fourth league win of the season, which saw them leapfrog over Deal Town, who are now at the basement.

“It was close.  We left it a bit scary towards the end. It was heart in mouth type of thing but I thought we thoroughly deserved to win it actually on the overall play.

“Fair credit to some of the Fisher boys, they didn’t give up.  I just felt some of the Fisher players were a little bit out of their depth.”

When he was told that his side were off the foot of the table, with 16 points from 24 games, a point ahead of Deal Town, who do have three games in hand, Cox replied, “Oh, are we?  We didn’t know that!  We were talking about that in the changing room so if we are that’s fantastic!

“That’s a bit of, how can I say, reward for all the hard work that the lads have put in over the last few weeks.  It’s a good spirit we have in the changing room and we’re looking forward to the remaining (six) games of the season.”

Fisher boss, Steve Firkins, was fuming, following this sorry defeat against his former club.

He said: “Not good enough!  Simple as that!  We weren’t good enough!  They were better than us!

“If you look at what’s happened to us this season, when I look back at it, the amount of changes and disruption we’ve had, it’s a wonder I’m struggling to get a team out.

“I’m disappointed with the things that have happened.  I’ve brought players to the club and most of them decide to move on for whatever reason and it just left us in a bit of a state.  No disrespect to the lads who have stayed here, I fully appreciate what they’re trying to do, but it’s hard when you start off with a pool of players like what we had and I’ve had to draft in Tom, Dick and Harry to just make the numbers up, which is not an ideal situation.

“We’ve got to get over it. There’s no relegation problems or anything like that.  We still want to finish as high as we can, which at the moment is a little bit of an impossible task, but we just have to plod on.”

The opening exchanges were hard-fought, typical of a local derby and real clear-cut goalscoring chances were at a premium and it was no surprise that it was goal-less at the break.

Greenwich Borough had the first glimpse of a chance inside the opening eleven minutes when James Parkinson released Ramsamy down the left and his cross took a deflection off Frankie Warren, the Fisher skipper tracking back from the middle of the park, and goalkeeper Billy Hensman gathered at his near post.

Fisher’s lone-striker, Danny Hunt, who was way off his best after coming back from injury, smashed a right-footed shot towards goal after the ball ricochet off Leighton Francis and visiting keeper John Beale brought the ball under control with his chest before gathering.

In fact it was Greenwich Borough skipper, Kris Hollidge, who had the best chance in the 19^th minute. He charged down the ball and sprinted forward into the box and his low right-footed angled drive from 15-yards forced Hensman into making a low save to his right.

Parkinson then swung in a corner from the right and Mike Burton ghosted in at the back post but he could only direct his header wide of the near post from an acute angle.

Former Fisher skipper Hollidge then whipped in a free-kick from the corner of the box with his right-foot, which Hensman stooped down low to save at his feet inside his six-yard box.

Cox said: “He got forward a lot, Kris.  He’s experienced at this level. As I said to you before, Kris has been an asset to us since he’s been to us.”

Francis, who had an excellent game at the heart of the Greenwich Borough defence, made a last ditch saving tackle to thwart Hunt, who was about to pull the trigger from inside the penalty box.

Cox added: “Leighton‘s come back into as a centre half.  He’s a character Leighton. He’s very laid back, he never seems to play with any urgency. He plays one dimensional but since we’ve converted him from a midfield player to a centre half – he doesn’t want to be – he’s an automatic choice in there now in that position and that’s probably been one of the other things over the last four or five games.

“We’ve basically been able to virtually field the same team, maybe one or two changes, but we’ve had choices on the bench.”

And just before the break, Taylor’s driven free-kick fell at Mel McCann’s feet and he cut the ball back to Burton, whose right-footed angled drive whistled past the far post.

Fisher were poor all over the park for the first 80 minutes and they switched off straight at the kick-off when the diminutive Ramsamy picked the ball up and ran at the Fisher defence, who were relieved when the lone-striker was wayward with his speculative shot.

However, Greenwich Borough deservedly drew first blood, taking the lead with 2:27 on the clock.

And it was the nippy Ramsamy, who cut inside both Fisher central defenders (Anthony Green and Billy Walton) before being tripped just inside the box by Green.

Depeaser, however, kept his composure and stepped up and smashed his right-footed penalty high into the right-hand corner of the net, sending Hensman the wrong way.

Cox said: “Which is pleasing because Rob has missed a couple of penalties this season so very pleased that he had the bottle to step up and take the penalty.  He despatched it very well, so we’re pleased with that.”

Firkins added: “The penalty was a bit harsh. It’s the way things go when your luck’s not going. We just ended up having to chase the game.”

There was no further incidents before Greenwich Borough double their lead in the 64^th minute, thanks to leading goalscorer Ramsamy’s seventh goal of a difficult season.

Central midfielder McCann sprayed a diagonal pass across to the striker out on the left, who stole the ball off Green, cut into the penalty area and smashed a right-footed shot, beating a flat-footed Hensman at his near post.

Cox added: “He can be a little frustrating (Mathieu) because the talent, he’s so talented, he’s very quick as well. Sometimes he doesn’t apply himself in the right areas. He’s still very, very young and when he gets his man-strength he will be a very, very useful player.  He does play prominently up by himself up front.”

Firkins said: “It’s not good enough when you’re trying to get yourselves back in the game.”

And Greenwich Borough sealed the points when they scored their third goal just 200 seconds later.

Parkinson released Burton in space down the right channel and Burton cut into the penalty area and Hensman did well to push the ball away as he dived full-length to his left.  But the Fisher defence failed to track back and Wright was left unmarked and smashed a left-footed shot into the net.

Cox said: “Very pleasing at that stage. We were looking to make changes. We had a couple of players on the bench to have  a look at as well but I was in two minds with certain players looking like they needed to come off with injuries because we didn’t know whether to take those players off, who are tried and trusted or to try the new players.

“But 3-0 up after 68 minutes we did have a look at the new players.  I don’t think the new players can be at fault for any of the drama that took place in the last 10-15 minutes and we certainly, as a management team, we will learn from that.”

Firkins added: “To go 3-0 down I’m disappointed with some of our defending. Our defending was poor, no excuses.”

When asked what he was feeling at the time that the basement side romped into a 3-0 lead, the Fisher boss replied, “I wished it was summertime basically!”

Greenwich Borough then went close when Corey Knight came up from the back and met Parkinson’s driven corner from the right with a glancing header, which went over and Burton clipped the ball over the advancing Fisher keeper but Green managed to get back and hooked the ball away from two-yards from his own goal-line.

Frankie Warren cracked a right-footed drive wide of the left-hand post for Fisher.

Firkins said: “Frankie Warren now, to be honest with you, it’s not worth it him playing the rest of the season. He’s struggling with tissue damage in both of his ankles. He’s due for an operation in May and I don’t think it’s worth risking him. He’s got a ban coming up. I think it will be best for him to sit out the rest of the season.”

Greenwich Borough brought on in-experienced heads towards the end of the game, which allowed Fisher to grab two late goals.

Substitute Lari Yao, while under pressure, curled a low right-footed shot around the far post from the edge of the Fisher penalty area as the game entered the final fifteen minutes.

Fisher’s versatile winger Kennickson Jarrett-Elliott cracked a speculative effort from the corner of the penalty area, which screamed wide.

Fisher pulled a goal back in the 83^rd minute as Ball, plucked out of local football, scored in his second game for the club.

The striker picked the ball up and passed the ball inside to Hunt, who flashed the ball in behind right-back Hollidge and Ball latched onto the pass and kept his composure with a quality finish, rolling his shot into the bottom near corner, leaving visiting keeper Beale embarrassingly rooted to the spot.

Firkins said: “I just wondered where our threat was going to go. I brought young Alex Ball on to try and give us a little bit more pace up front and he came on and took his chance well. 

“He looks a lively young lad. It’s not an ideal situation, a pressure situation like we have done or what we had to do.  He’s had a baptism of fire. We had to draft him in for his first game against Woodstock and we got beat down there 4-1 but fair play to the kid he’s knuckled down and obviously he’s one for the future.”

Cox added: “The whole goal was disappointing to be honest because our centre half made a very good run out of defence with the ball, found himself on the left wing, played the ball into the left-back an then carried on with his run, didn’t receive the ball back and the pass infield was intercepted by one of the Fisher players, who promptly played it forward. 

“Then it was a catalogue of a series of mistake after mistake, players finding themselves out of their natural position.  It was very disappointing that no-one actually made the effort to cover for the player who was out of position.  There was no communication from the player who was out of position, he didn’t shout at anybody to get back into position.”

Fisher scored a flattering second goal, with 45:55 on the clock.

Ball delivered a right-footed corner from the left flank and Wadmore was left in acres of space at the near post and his header looped off a Greenwich Borough head in the goal-mouth and caressed into the roof of the net.

“Makes a change,” added Firkins. “We don’t score many from corners.  It’s too little too late really. We should’ve been doing that at the start of the second half.

“I suppose the only positive I can take really is we’ve pulled two goals back and maybe give ourselves a little bit of a lifeline but it was too little, too late really.”

Cox added: “I believe it was deflected in.  Kris Hollidge was moaning because he had to come off the near post because no-one was picking Adam (Wadmore) up.  I’ve known Adam since he was a boy.  Adam is always a threat at set-pieces.  Overall, Adam was their best player today in terms of he never gives up.”

Firkins, meanwhile, can have no complaints about the result and heaped praise on his opposite number, a close friend off the pitch too.

He said: “Gerry’s had to go through a lot.  They’ve been stuck at the bottom all through most of the season. Good Luck! They deserved it. They’ve turned it around the last four or five games I think it is, but they deserve everything that they get.

“We didn’t deserve nothing out of that game.  I think if we had snatched it in the end, If I was Gerry I’d be pretty disappointed.  I’d be relieved obviously, but coming back I think all we’ve done is add a little respectability to it.  Three-two is a lot better than 3-0!”

Cox, meanwhile, was satisfied that his side beat their rivals, especially after losing 6-2 to Fisher at Oakley Road back in their second game of the season back on 16 August, in front of their second highest home crowd of the season (45).

He said: “Very pleased with it. Any win’s a good win, but obviously nice to win here and nice that the last time we played we’ve turned a 6-2 defeat around.

“I know the team’s completely different from when we played them so a nice day, a pleasant day.  They’ve made us welcome here. I’ve got a lot of friends at the club so it’s fantastic.”

Fisher: Billy Hensman, Danny Taylor, Conor Bruniges, Adam Wadmore, Anthony Green (Bryan Zepo 90), Billy Walton, Thomas James Rose (Kane Chattey 61), Frankie Warren (Alex Ball 78), Ellis Wilson-Joseph, Danny Hunt, Kennickson Jarrett-Elliott.
Subs: Andrew Ball, Keiron Campbell

Goals: Alex Ball 83, Adam Wadmore 90

Booked: Kennickson Jarrett-Elliott 51, Adam Wadmore 60, Ellis Wilson-Joseph 68

Greenwich Borough: John Beale, Kris Hollidge, Sheriff Babatunde, James Parkinson (Lari Yao 76), Leighton Francis, Corey Knight, Rob Depeaser, Mel McCann, Mike Burton (Tyrone Powell 83), Mathieu Ramsamy, Ashley Wright.
Subs: Nathan Gee, Fabian O’Brian, Mike Akin

Goals: Rob Depeaser 48 (pen), Mathieu Ramsamy, Ashley Wright 68

Attendance: 92
Referee: Mr Christopher Myatt (Dartford)
Assistants: Mr Gerald Heron (Beckenham) & Mr Michael Dunne (Erith)