Fisher 1-1 VCD Athletic - We're in March, we're still top and fighting for our lives and if Faversham want to come and take it they're going to have to come and take title of us because we ain't going to roll over, insists VCD Athletic's Danny Joy

Fisher 1 – 1 VCD Athletic
Location	St Paul's Stadium, Salter Road, Rotherhithe, London SE16 6NT
Kickoff	08/03/2025 15:00

FISHER  1-1 VCD ATHLETIC
Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division
Saturday 8 March 2025
Stephen McCartney reports from St Paul’s Stadium

VCD ATHLETIC joint-manager Danny Joy insists his table-topping side are fighting for their lives and if Faversham Town want to come and take the title they’re going to have to come and take it off them because they are not going to roll over in this exciting two-horse title race.

 

Both Crayford-based VCD Athletic and Tommy Warrilow’s Lilywhites were held to away draws (Faversham Town were held to a goal-less draw by Billy Shinners’ Stansfeld) as the warmest day of the year (17 degrees) brought the Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division title-race into the business end.

Ajay Ashanike has taken Fisher from the foot of the table after six games into third-place (54 points from 21 games - 16 wins, six draws and nine defeats), a miracle as the club do not pay its players, like Corinthian and Stansfeld.

Fisher took the lead inside the opening four minutes through central midfielder Armani-Jordan Martin’s tenth goal of the season, a sublime volley, but VCD Athletic dominated the second half and deserved a share of the spoils through centre-half and captain Ben Fitchett, tucking home with the side of his right-foot following their eight and penultimate corner of the St Paul’s stalemate in the 87^th minute.

“Point gained. For me one of the toughest away days of the season, if not, the toughest,” said Joy, who lost his unbeaten home league record on Tuesday night, losing 2-0 to Whitstable Town at Oakwood.

“Fisher are always in the game for 90 minutes, they’re always athletic, they’re always well-organised and yes if you would’ve offered us a point at three o’clock, we would’ve taken it!

Joy explained why he and Ross Baker and coach Martin McCarthy decided to change their tactics in Rotherhithe.

“After Tuesday night, our style is to try and play but we thought Fisher would come sniffing blood after a defeat, so we tried to take the issue out of the boys’ hands from playing for the first hour.

“We went a little bit more direct. I thought it was a different performance but we were pleased with it.   We felt that we had the better chances through the game but it was a different style of performance today.”

Fisher boss Ashanike added: “Overall, I thought it was two halves of football.  First half we were really dominating and they came out second half and they dominated really, really well. 

“Credit to the boys, they’ve dug deep and they’ve done really well to get something out of it.

“I think it’s two points dropped, especially where it was the last three minutes where we could’ve sealed it out.  We could’ve done better there but it’s football, isn’t it? I don’t think anyone’s beaten us home and away this season, which is credit to the boys.

“Our game plan was to just be our normal selves.  We don’t plan nothing to them. It might be a big game to them, it was just a normal game for the boys. There’s no pressure on us. Everything that we’re getting is a profit for us now and they went out there and just be themselves and they got a result from it.”

VCD Athletic started the game on the front foot before Fisher opened the scoring with a stunning strike with only three minutes and 56 seconds on the clock.

Left-back Edward Sata threw the ball into the pacey winger Courtney Barrington within the left channel and Fitchett failed to get any meat on his clearance and was punished by Martin’s right-footed volley, which screamed over Walker’s left shoulder and hit the top far corner, on the angle from 15-yards.

“It’s a great finish by Armani, really, really tidy finish there,” said Ashanike.

“We knew we could catch them cold. At the start of the game we said if we get the first goal, they’ll be cagey and they’ll start losing their head, which they did.

“Credit to the boys. The game plan worked really, really well. We knew they would go long first half and we dealt with it really well.”

Joy added: “I thought we should’ve dealt with it really. I think (it was) early in the game. I think maybe we weren’t switched on as quick as we should have been.  Ten minutes later that probably would’ve been dealt with bit it was early enough in the game that we could still recover from it and obviously we did. It was a sloppy, sloppy goal.”

The large crowd of 248 inside the stadium hoped that would light the ignition paper for an epic – but they witnessed a cagey stalemate with both sides cancelling each other out.

Ashanike said: “They’ve got a lot of quality in there like Babs (Babalola) and Bethel (Gboda). They’ve got really quality players in there so it was always going to be like that.

“But as long as we were so disciplined, which I’m so proud of them. Like we just said to them, I can’t really complain really, they’ve done really well.”

Joy added: “It’s hard. We felt we made a mistake for their goal, so obviously we didn’t want to make another one.

“It’s a tough place to come. I don’t think anyone’s going to come here and pass them off the pitch and you’re never going to out-work them, so for us to go toe-to-toe, the way they play, especially at home, I’m proud of them.”

VCD Athletic’s back three of Michael Fenn (right), Fitchett (central) and Dexter Peter (left) were not their usual playing out from the back and often long balls were overhit and were comfortable for the Fisher back four, with Ange Djadja and Donald Macauley forming a special relationship for Ashanike.

Peter should not be playing in the ninth-tier of English football – club’s in the Isthmian League Premier Division or National League South should be ringing him up in the summer once this title race has concluded.

The game sprung into life with the game’s next chance (31:23) when Fisher’s 13-goal central striker Kesna Clarke spun Fitchett, that the number four fell to the ground and Clarke’s 25-yard drive flashed across the diving Walker and past the far post.

VCD Athletic took a risk by leaving their 21-goal striker Ollie Freeman on the bench until the 62^nd minute and playing two wingers in central attacking positions in the shape of nine-goal pair Charlie Heatley and Francis Babalola with the 13-goal Bethel Gboda in behind them.

High right-wing-back Harry Lawrence put over a cross into the middle of the penalty box and Heatley (number nine) steered his header across Isaac Ogunseri and harmlessly past the far post (31:49).

“Charlie was put in, Charlie was better at pressing, Charlie works so hard and he doesn’t give the defenders a moments piece and we knew they’d probably want to play out from the back, that’s why we tried to play Charlie with a high press,” explained Joy.

“Nothing against Ollie. Ollie’s also played every Saturday-Tuesday, every Saturday-Tuesday for the last five weeks, so there was no harm in freshening it up and it worked because Charlie works so hard.

“After an hour their back four were tired and then Ollie came on with a little bit of quality and it sort of worked. It probably could’ve got us three points in the end.”

Joy added: “I think after the first half-an-hour, I think we really came into the game. I think they started to tire a little bit because we wes playing high pressure.  I think we’ve done enough today to win it, in a different style, so it’s pleasing.”

When asked about not seeing Freeman’s name beside the number nine on the team sheet, Ashanike replied: “I’m not surprised because the amount of games they’ve played this season.  Their squad is good enough to play, it doesn’t matter who they play but not to see someone like Ollie play, it gives us a really good relief.

“There was no danger there – if Ollie Freeman was there, that’s a totally different matter – I’d be losing my head.  Those two (centre-halves, Ange Djadja and Donald Macauley) were dealing well with him (Heatley).”

VCD Athletic then started to take control of proceedings with Gboda cutting in the from the right and releasing Babalola down the right-channel – an often occurrence for Heatley and Babalola – rather than sticking in the centre of the pitch.

Babalola’s cross was cleared out to Connor Dymond and the holding midfielder cracked a right-footed half-volley harmlessly wide of the goal from 35-yards.

The away side called Ogunseri into making a comfortable near-post catch following their second corner of the game in the 34^th minute.

Left-wing-back George Whitelock raised both of his arms before floating a left-footed corner in the from the right towards the back post where Dymond’s header from a tight angle was comfortably caught by Fisher’s number one.

“Yes, it’s another chance. We had a couple of chances from set-pieces today,” said Joy.

“We work hard on them, on another day that would go in the net but we’re pleased that we keep creating chances and that’s good.”

Ashanike added: “Isaac’s position was really good in that sense, so credit for Isaac for what he’s done today. He sees a lot of things that no one else can see and he’s done really well.”

Ogunseri went route-one and his big kick straight down the middle bounced over the head of Fitchett and Clarke brought the ball under control before stabbing his right-footed shot past Walker and watched the ball trickle past the foot of the left-hand post.

The Fisher boss said: “See, that’s the chances we should be putting away! That’s the only moan I’ve got today is the chances we created that we’re not putting away!

“No disrespect to the teams at the bottom of the league, we do that against them as well. We don’t put them away and that is why it bites us in the backside but they’ve done really well today but again if we put our chances away, we win this game three or four nil.”

Ogunseri pulled off a good low save to his left to deny VCD Athletic restoring parity in the 37^th minute.

VCD Athletic usually take their corners short and Whitelock played it to Gboda, who put in a low cross from the right and the ball finally fell to Lawrence who swept his shot towards the bottom right-hand corner, only for the ball to be held by Ogunseri.

“It was a good save. We were the side in the ascendancy and the hardest bit is putting the ball in the net. We all know that and today we didn’t do it. We’ve done it at the end but we’ve missed chances today but all the time we’re creating, we’ve got no dramas,” added Joy.

Ashanike added: “I said to Isaac, if he has a good game today, we get something out of the game and today he’s come out and he’s done really well. That’s a great save, a great save for a 19-year-old goalkeeper. His future is absolutely massive!”

Barrington was a threat down Fisher’s left and caused Fenn problems in the first half and he cut inside and laid the ball off to attacking midfielder Tyron Mbuenimo, whose right-footed drive from 25-yards flew straight down Walker’s throat.

Ashanike added: “Courtney was electric today. He’s been off-form last few games but against Glebe (a 4-1 away win in midweek) he came alive and I knew today was going to be a good day for him.

“If Courtney gets more direct and direct, I’m telling you he can go as far as much as he wants. I felt sorry for the number six (Fenn) today, Courtney absolutely terrorised him today!”

Both managers were asked their thoughts going into the interval.

Ashanike said: “I thought we were the better side. I thought we dealt with everything we knew they were going to do. We’ve done really well with them.  We won the first ball, we won the second ball, all over the park. We were absolutely bossing it. We pressed from the front, Kesna lead the line really, really well, coming in with Jake Lovell and Courtney, was really good.

“You have someone like Charles (Yiadom-Konadu) on the bench because we knew what kind of game it could be and we need someone to battle in there and that’s why Tyron (Mbuenimo) gone in there and I think between Tyron, Armani and Flavio (Jumo), I thought the three of them done really, really well (in the middle of the park).

“We wanted more of the same. We know VCD are no mugs, they’re top of the league for a reason, do you know what I mean and they’re not going to take losing back-to-back kindly and they’re going to come out second half, they’re going to change the pattern of play, they might change the system as well.

“The boys were really ready for it and I thought they done really well second half to cope really well.”

Joy added: “We were happy, we were happy. The game plan was to be direct, the game plan was to be high energy and we were still in the game at half-time.  The noise was to stick to the game plan and that we would change it later in the end, which we did.”

The second half, however, was disappointing with both of these sides often cancelling each other out but a draw was a fair outcome for these two promotion chasing outfits that are enjoying their lofty position without the pressure from their directors.

Ashanike said: “I was really pleased. They kept the ball really well, they wasn’t hurting us, our shape was good. They played in front of us, which was good.

“Even if you don’t have the ball, you can still control the game and that’s a credit for this young side to understand how to do that.

“If we can manage to keep these boys together for next season, they will walk this league!”

Joy admitted: “It was two sides that sort of cancelled each other out really, two hard-working sides. When the game is flat, it’s important not to switch off and we never. We kept on it and eventually we got our reward in the end, I think.”

The game sprung into life during the final 10 minutes, as VCD Athletic changed their game plan to go gung-ho in search of a late equaliser.

Fisher almost snatched the victory with 34:29 on the clock when Vickers’ substitute Nathaniel Olawole gave the ball away within his own defensive third to a pressing Flavio Jumo (who like team-mate, substitute Halim Bakre was playing football whilst fasting during Ramadan) fed winger Jake Lovell for his moment but he dwelled on the ball and the always excellent Peter and Fitchett slammed the door shut.

Dymond threw the ball to substitute left-winger Richard Jimoh who cut inside before rolling the ball across to Gboda, whose right-footed drive from 25-yards was comfortably caught by Ogunseri at the second attempt.

“It was a good strike. I think the keeper should deal with it comfortably, which he did but we was in the ascendancy so it was another effort on goal and it just kept the boys positive that something would come with it,” added Joy.

Ashanike added: “Second half wasn’t really our game. They bossed the second half if the truth has to be told but what can you say?  Like if you’re defending really, really well and put your body on the line, you deserve something out of the game.

“If I’m meant to post my letter, I don’t really care because you post it, you post it and Isaac is there. If they shoot from 25-yards, that’s a routine save for Isaac. He does that in training every single week, so if someone because him from 25-yards I’m looking at Isaac saying ‘have you got a problem mate?’ But it’s an easy save for Isaac.”

Dominant VCD Athletic kept knocking on the door and their deserved leveller arrived with 41 minutes and 35 seconds on the clock – after Babalola drew a corner from Djadja on the by-line on the left-hand side.

Dymond played a left-wing corner short to Jimoh before Dymond recycled the ball into the box with a first time cross with his right-foot and Fitchett stroked his first-time shot with the side of his right-foot through a crowd of players to find the bottom near corner from eight-yards to score his second goal of the season.

“We do work on them and teams know our corner routines but knowing what you do and stopping, is a different thing,” said Joy.

“We have been a threat from corners, that’s the second goal that Fitchett has got from set-pieces, so that’s pleasing.  When you work hard on things on the training ground and they come off on a Saturday, there’s no better feeling but I think we thoroughly deserved the result, thoroughly.

“Fitchett will be asking for the number nine shirt next week, I think. He’s the skipper. At the end of the day when things aren’t going your way and you have to dig a result out, you look to your captain. You look to your experience and Connor’s provided and Fitch has put it in the net, so happy days from us.”

Ashanike believed Babalola fouled his man in the move that lead to the corner kick.

“The boys said it was a foul and it was not a corner. I didn’t see it from where I was coming from but the boys are complaining about that and that’s the only creative chance that we’ve slipped.

“If the referee’s made a decision that’s gone against us, we should be more clever than that and that’s the difference between Faversham and VCD, they stay switched on for 90 minutes. We slipped for that one second and look Bang! Straight away they’ve scored but we’ll learn form it and we’ll move away from it.”

Many Fisher sides from the past would have caved in but this current crop are made of sterner stuff and Ashanike – a centre-half himself – is putting his influence in his young side.

“They went for it, they done really well.  My boys, credit to them, they stood up tall, battled really well, won their personal duals, won the second ball, cleared it. It was like a training game, defence-versus-attack but that’s the art of defending. Those boys showed us how to defend today, really, really well and I’m so proud of them.”

Dymond was playing his part in the away side’s attacking momentum and he whipped in a deep cross from the left and Fenn rose and knocked his header across Ogunseri and Fisher survived the late scare.

“it was a good opportunity. I thought it had gone in to be honest. It was a good opportunity but we were creating and even right up until the last minute we were still creating and really on chances we feel a bit hard done by but as I say there’s no sour grapes, we’re happy with a point,” said Joy.

“It’s a point gained, 100 per cent. Maybe when we sleep on it we might be a bit disappointed because we have created a lot of chances today, not clear-cut but normally we put two or three of them away but definitely a point gained.

“This is a tough place to come because they never ever sit back, they go toe-to-toe with whoever, if they win, they win, if they lose, they lose but you know they’re always going to come strong, so the first thing you have to do is match that.”

Referee Jack Smith played exactly eight minutes of stoppage time and Fisher had one last chance to snatch a big three points (49:17) when two of their subs linked up well.

Big targetman Daniel Flemming trapped the ball on the halfway line before sweeping the ball out to the right for winger Omotunmise Akanni, who drove forward with pace and cut inside and his 25-yarder screamed across Walker and curled past the top of the far post.

“Oh yes, I thought T’s put that top bins. He’s done it really, really well. He’s cut inside and worked on shooting on Thursday and if he just puts that two inches lower, I think that goes in top bins and we’re all celebrating the three points but it's not to be,” said Ashanike.

“I’m very happy with the point. If you had given me a point before the start of the game, I would’ve taken it.

“But the nature of the game, the amount of minutes that we’ve held on for 1-0, I’m disappointed but maybe overall when I get home I’ll look at it and say that’s a massive point for us.”

Fisher are without a league game next weekend and their trip to late play-off challengers Whitstable Town has been switched from Tuesday 18 March to Wednesday 23 April, so Fisher travel to Middle Park Avenue to play Stansfeld on Saturday 22 March next.

“Very, very pleased, very, very pleased (being third in the table) and very pleased that the Whitstable game has been put back a bit more, which gives us a lot of time to prepare for that kind of game because we don’t want to be going to back-to-back big games, so really good for us.  We’ve got time to recover now and reflect on what we need to do for the rest of the season,” said Ashanike, who was asked what it would mean to get Fisher into the play-offs at the end of next month.

“That means everything, that means everything! I think it’s us and Corinthian (and Stansfeld) that don’t pay and we’re battling really well against teams that are actually paying big money.

“I’m so proud of the boys, honestly, I’m so proud. No one gave us a chance. If the season finished today, I’ll be so buzzing with it but if we don’t get to the play-offs, it’s not the end of it.

“We are so proud of what the boys have done this year and what they’ve done this year is absolutely amazing!

“I’ve been shouting to everyone, if these boys can get to the play-offs, they will be a problem in the play-offs. I don’t know what way it will go but we will be a massive problem to people, you’ve seen it today and this is one of the teams that will be in the play-offs and we’ve gone toe-to-toe with them and we’re not scared of anybody and we’re going for it as well.

“When I first got here, the rivalry with Stansfeld was massive back them but it’s a friendly club now and we just have to be ourselves and make sure that we’re absolutely spot on in what we’re doing in that game because this is the game when we’ve come unstuck and we start doing stupid things.

“But they know what’s at stake now. They know it’s seven big cup finals. Every game is a cup final so they’re going to be geed up especially on a good pitch as well.

“After six games we were bottom of the league. The same squad and the same attitude and now their third.  You never believe their third.  They’re not big time, they’re just going about their business, really, really good individuals in that changing room, good characters, full of kids, even if we’re losing, they’re still working hard, come to training every single week, kept themselves fit, motivated themselves. I’ve never seen a group like this before, especially when we’ve got no money for them and they’re still behaving the way they behave.

“So imagine when they do step that level up and everyone’s getting paid, what you’re going to get these kids, absolutely buzzing for their future.

“Lewis Duberry’s back now to give us more cover, which is absolutely massive for us.  We’ll just have to see where those seven games takes us now, exciting, let’s see what happens.”

Shinners’ men have picked up 28 points (eight wins, four draws and 17 defeats) from their 29 league outings.  Snodland Town (26 points from 31 games) are above the relegation zone which still contains Lordswood (23 points from 28 games) and Lydd Town (23 points from 30 games).

Joy looks forward to season defining games against eighth-placed Glebe (at home next Saturday), before a trip to Corinthian and a home tussle with Punjab United.

Chippie Sian’s Punjab United are in fourth-place in the pecking order (51 points from 31 games) and Jimmy Anderson’s Rusthall (50 points from 28 games) are still in the play-off zone but what ending will Jamie Coyle’s Whitstable Town have? Currently in sixth-place with 44 points from 27 outings.

The Vickers will be without Dymond and Babalola for their next three games after being sent-off against Whitstable Town in midweek.  Lawrence was subbed as a precaution today, with a cut knee. Fisher have no injury concerns.

“We’ve got a week off, which the boys desperately need. We’ve been Saturday-Tuesday for five weeks now and it’s taken it’s toll,” admitted Joy.

“We’ve got a week off, we’ll be in on Thursday to do a session and get the boys who need to recover to recover and then we’ve got three really hard games in a week.

“We’ve got Glebe at home next Saturday, then we go to Corinthians and then we’ve got Punjab at home so they’re coming thick and fast at the minute but if you want to win the league, you’ve got to get results in these games.”

RACE FOR THE TITLE:
1 – VCD Athletic – P30 – W20 – D7 – L3 – F69 – A31 – PTS 67 – GD +38
2 – Faversham Town – P30 – W19 – D9 – L2 – F74 – A25 – PTS 66 – GD +49

Saturday 15 March 2025:
Faversham Town  v  Sutton Athletic
VCD Athletic  v  Glebe

Tuesday 18 March:
Corinthian  v  VCD Athletic

Saturday 22 March:
Faversham Town  v  Holmesdale
VCD Athletic  v  Punjab United

Wednesday 26 March:
Sutton Athletic  v  Faversham Town

Saturday 29 March:
Tunbridge Wells  v  VCD Athletic

Saturday 5 April:
Kennington  v  Faversham Town
Lydd Town  v  VCD Athletic

Saturday 12 April:
Larkfield & New Hythe v  Faversham Town
VCD Athletic v   Rusthall

Easter Monday 21 April:
Faversham Town  v  Lordswood
VCD Athletic  v  Sutton Athletic

Saturday 26 April:
Bearsted  v  VCD Athletic
Rusthall  v  Faversham Town

Joy was naturally asked about the title race.

“Same as before really. I think we just go about our business quietly. We don’t make too much fuss, that’s for people like you to talk about.

“We’ve had some good results but the squad’s hurting now because we’ve had a lot of football, so the week off will do us good. We’ll refresh and then we know we’ve got three big games in a week but as it stands, nothing’s won, it’s the second weekend of March and we’re in the mix and as long as we do our job, we hope we’ll be alright.

“Everyone who comes to play us, especially at our place, it’s a free hit, teams come with nothing to lose and it makes it hard.  Everyone we play, literally everyone we play, it’s  tough game, there ain’t no walk overs.

“There’s not an easy day, not an easy night and we know that every week we’ve got to be at it or we can get beat and that’s simple.

“We’ve lost three (league) games all season, so I wouldn’t expect us to lose eight. I don’t know if we’re mathematically in the play-offs, if we are, lovely because that was our massive ambition at the start of the season and we thought even that would be a push to get in and around it, from 12^th to fifth would be a big jump.

“We’re in a title race but we’ve got enough experience in there but we’ve still got boys who are young people who have never been in a title race so there’s going to be a few twists and turns.

“I don’t want to think about getting promoted through the play-offs because that is an absolute lottery! I’ve just said to Ajay, if they get in the play-offs you don’t want to play them. You don’t want to play Whitstable or Rusthall because they’re flying.

“For this club to win the league, having got relegated from Step Four badly, with the style of football we play, would be fantastic but I just don’t think we can look too far ahead.  I’m not being funny, like there’s teams in this league, if you look too far in front they will smack you on the backside, so we’re going to take one at a time.

“We know what’s there if we perform and if we perform and we get where we need to be, then brilliant.

“The boys are buzzing, buzzing. Sometimes people watch the game and they want to see the pure side of football but the character we showed today and the desire and the willing to run and the fighting for the badge and fighting for each other, that’s all we can ask for and we were proud of them today.

“It’s where you want to be. I’ve said that a couple of times. If we were midtable with nothing to play for today, it makes no odds whether we win or lose.

“We’re in March, we’re still top and we are fighting for our lives and if Faversham want to come and take it – or Fisher or Rusthall – they’re going to have to come and take it off us because we ain’t going to roll over!”

Fisher: Isaac Ogunseri, Jack Gibbons, Edward Sata, Flavio Jumo, Ange Djadja, Donald Macauley, Courtney Barrington, Armani-Jordan Martin, Kesna Clarke (Halim Bakre 71, Omotunmise Akanni 90)), Tyron Mbuenimo (Charles Yiadom-Konadu 65), Jake Lovell (Daniel Flemming 88).
Sub: Tylan Balli

Goal:  Armani-Jordan Martin 4

Booked: Charles Yiadom-Konadu 90, Edward Sata 90

VCD Athletic: Andy Walker, Harry Lawrence (Callum Flynn 90), George Whitelock (Richard Jimoh 73), Ben Fitchett, Dexter Peter, Michael Fenn, Liam Gillies (Nathaniel Olawole 63), Connor Dymond, Charlie Heatley (Ollie Freeman 62), Francis Babalola, Bethel Gboda.
Sub: Rajan Sahini

Goal: Ben Fitchett 87

Booked: Liam Gillies 58

Attendance: 248
Referee:  Mr Jack Smith
Assistants: Mr James Beadle & Mr Kieran Parrott
Observer: Mr Ian McGrath