I honestly believe we will outgrow a lot of teams in a couple of years' time, says Steve O'Boyle

PHOENIX SPORTS’ joint-manager Steve O’Boyle says he is looking for three points against struggling Fisher on Wednesday night.

The Barnehurst-based outfit lost top spot in the Southern Counties East Football League to Erith Town at the weekend after coming away from Combined Counties League Division One side Banstead Athletic with a comfortable 2-0 win in The FA Carlsberg Vase.

The club can now look forward to a trip to Eastbourne United in the First Round on Saturday 19 October after second half goals from Alex Nelson and substitute Daryl Wheeler made it a successful debut in the competition.

Phoenix Sports welcome Fisher to Mayplace Road East on Wednesday evening, looking to reclaim their place at the top after Erith Town leapfrogged over them with a 4-3 home win over Lordswood, where striker Rikki Cable took his goalscoring tally for the season to ten with the Dockers’ fourth goal.

Fisher, third-from-bottom in the league, after picking up one win and two draws from their opening eight league games, suffered an unacceptable 6-0 home defeat to AFC Croydon Athletic in The FA Carlsberg Vase on Sunday.

The Rams, who arrived at Champion Hill Stadium in eighth-place in the same division as Banstead Athletic, will now travel to Cray Valley (Paper Mills) in the next round on Friday 18 October.
 
  When asked what he’s expecting against Fisher in the division’s sole game on Wednesday night, O’Boyle said: “What am I expecting?  Any game we play in our league, we’ve come up and they were in the division last season, so it’s going to be a tough game.

“We’re the team that’s been promoted so whoever we face we’re looking to have a tough game.  It will be a tough game but I expect us to win. I expect us to win any game.”

Phoenix Sports have lost three league games already this season but Wednesday night’s game will be the club’s tenth league game of the season. 

The rest of the division is playing catch up and O’Boyle expects his side to slide down the division when that happens.

“The start has been really good. We got beat last week (at Whyteleafe) but I said to you in the summer, we’re not going to win the league this year,” admitted O’Boyle.

“We’re building a half decent squad that we can try and keep together. They’re a decent age and this club is going to have its day, not this year maybe. A couple of years’ time we will out grow a lot of teams.  I honestly believe that.”

Fisher boss Billy Walton, meanwhile, demands a positive reaction from his side for Wednesday’s trip to Phoenix Sports – or they will suffer another humiliating defeat.

“What a game to go, Phoenix are the second best team in the league at the moment so we’ll go there and if we can put in the work-rate we put in against Canterbury and Cray Valley then I’m sure we can get a result, but if we play like we did yesterday, they will slaughter us simple as that,” said Walton.

“At any level of football, if you put in a performance like that, you’ll get whacked!”

When asked how he will turn things around, Walton said: “It’s the same old cliché.  You’ve just have got to work hard, stick to your beliefs, try and play to a pattern and hopefully the players will put a bit more fight in.

“A few players that weren’t available yesterday can be put in on Wednesday and we’ll give that a go and see what we can do.”

Walton, who works without a playing budget, was disappointed that the club have suffered costly defeats in their first matches in both The FA Cup and The FA Vase.

He said: “We’ve get two great opportunities every year to earn the club a bit of money and we’ve let the club down!

“We haven’t earnt a penny!  I was looking forward to spending that £1.50 that was on offer but I probably much have to give that to him back out of my own money.

“We’ve just thrown £2,300 out of the window, which we’re absolutely desperate for so we can’t do things like that, just throw away £2,300. It’s just unacceptable.

“Sunday’s defeat is not the end of the world. It is hard to take and it’s hard to swallow. We’ve lost £800 and it’s a chance to get to Wembley and we’ve missed that opportunity but Wednesday night is the bread and butter.

“Realistically are Fisher going to win The FA Vase? No! So it would’ve been nice to get two or three rounds and win a bit of money.”

Visit Phoenix Sports’ website: www.phoenixsportsclub.org

Visit Fisher’s website: www.fisherfc.co.uk

Phoenix Sports  v  Fisher
Southern Counties East Football League
Wednesday 25^th September 2013
Kick Off 7:45pm
at Phoenix Sports Club, Mayplace Road East, Bexleyheath, Kent DA7 6JT