I'm not going to throw the towel in, insists Fisher boss Billy Walton

FISHER manager Billy Walton hopes his side have turned the corner after Saturday’s trip to Canterbury City.

The Fish go into the game sitting in the bottom three after claiming their fourth point of the season with a 1-1 draw against Cray Valley at Champion Hill last Monday.

Michael McKenna gave The Millers’ the lead in the 57^th minute before Fisher grabbed a point through the manager’s son, who shares the same name, with eleven minutes remaining.

Canterbury City lie in tenth-place in the table with two wins from their opening five league games and they were dumped out of The FA Carlsberg Vase at the first hurdle when they suffered a 5-0 defeat away to Sevenoaks Town last weekend.

That led to manager Simon Pettit, 31, parting company with the club on Wednesday after only seven games in charge.

Walton says his side must adapt to the large playing surface at Winch’s Field.

He said: “I’m expecting a tough game down there on their pitch. We’ve got to adapt our style to their pitch.

“I’ve been going down there for five or six years’ so I know what it’s like so we’ll adapt our style for it and we’ll go down and we’ll battle away and Canterbury will give us an extremely hard game.

“It’s always a feisty game, I’m expecting a proper old battle down there.”

Fisher welcome lower-league AFC Croydon Athletic to Champion Hill Stadium for a FA Carlsberg Vase Second Qualifying Round tie on Sunday, 22 September (1:00pm kick-off).

The winners will scoop a welcome £800 in prize money from The Football Association and after being knocked out of The FA Cup by their Southern Counties East Football League rivals Deal Town at the first hurdle, Walton knows the importance of beating their neighbours.

“I said to you about the FA Cup game, we’re desperate to win,” said Walton.

“That will be our FA Cup Final. Hopefully we can get a result against Canterbury, come into that game and treat it like our FA Cup Final.

“The chairman has offered me £1.50 out of that £800, so I’ll be quite happy to take it!”

Walton revealed after their 4-1 home defeat to Holmesdale in their second league game of the season that he would wave goodbye to the club if the club were pointless after ten games.

“I’ve been away on holiday and I’ve had a long hard look at myself and I thought to myself what am I doing wrong and what am I doing right and I thought to myself don’t throw the towel in, stick to your principles and try and get out of it.

“As a manager I think it will go a long way for me. I’ve learnt a lot in these last five or six weeks with these defeats, heavy defeats, so I’m more than pleased getting a point against Cray Valley."

Walton would like to boost their forward line in the coming weeks because they have scored seven goals in eight games.

“We’re desperate to bring in a couple of players in key areas,” added Walton.

“I’m not going to say publically what they are, but I think everyone knows what they are and I think if we can get a couple it will make us even better and even stronger.

“I just want onwards and upwards, otherwise it will be adios Bill.”

And when asked what his aspirations are, Walton added: “To move up one more place after Saturday, so I’ll be hoping to go up one more place after Saturday, that’s my aspiration.”

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

Canterbury City v Fisher
Southern Counties East Football League
Saturday 14^th September 2013
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Winch’s Field, Stanley Gardens, Herne Bay, Kent CT6 5SG