Phoenix Sports 4-1 Fisher - We've come away from a potential banana skin unscathed, says Beckingham

PHOENIX SPORTS  4-1  FISHER
Southern Counties East Football League
Wednesday 25^th September 2013
Stephen McCartney reports from Mayplace Road East

PHOENIX SPORTS’ joint-manager Tony Beckingham says he is not taking too much notice of the league table after the club returned to the summit of the Southern Counties East Football League table after ten games.

Last season’s Kent Invicta League title winners leapfrogged over four teams to return to the top with 21 points, although all but one of the teams below them have games in hand.

Both sides went into the game having faced Combined Counties League Division One opponents in The FA Vase at the weekend.

Phoenix Sports should have won by more than a 2-0 scoreline away to Banstead Athletic on their debut in the competition, before Fisher crashed to an unacceptable 6-0 home defeat to AFC Croydon Athletic 24 hours later.

Fisher boss Billy Walton, meanwhile, made five changes to the side that lacked heart and desire in that game and brought in Richard Styles, Harry Draper and Richie Monan and their performance vastly improved tonight.

Fisher lined up with a defensive 4-2-3-1 formation against Phoenix Sports, who had to wait for 34 minutes to open the scoring through Andrew Dalhouse’s strike.

Jack Hope then drilled in a second just before half-time, before former Bearsted striker Miles Cornwell scored two goals in his second game for the club.

Fisher, who remain second-from-bottom with five points from nine games following their sixth league defeat of the season, scored a late consolation through former Erith Town striker Troy Abbey.

“Do you know what, we were actually worried after their result Sunday because getting the sort of result they got we was expecting a big reaction from them and I thought first 20 minutes they really worked hard, put us under a bit of pressure,” said Beckingham.

“He’s (Billy Walton) signed a few new players and we were very, very pleased to get the three points and come away from a potential banana skin really unscathed.

“As we’ve said in the (dressing room), we’re really delighted. We’ve got a little break now from league action so we can relax and enjoy the cup games that are coming up and start again later on.”

Reflecting on his side’s return to the top, Beckingham said: “Well for what it’s worth, we’ll take it.  But as I’ve said to you before, let’s wait until we’ve all played the same amount of games and the season’s a little bit further on before we start talking about it.

“There’s a lot of good teams in it (mentioning Whyteleafe, Tunbridge Wells, Erith Town and Ashford United), so we’re not taking being top of the league as anything.

“It’s nice to be top. The longer we can stay there the better but we’re realistic. If they win their games in hand we drop down.”

Fisher boss Billy Walton took plenty of positives, especially during his side’s performance in the first 30 minutes.

“It was a much better performance and improvement from Sunday, which you witnessed and I thought we completed,” said Walton.

“We came here with a game plan, tried to be a little bit more defensive.  I think for 35 minutes we was more than comfortable and typical of us we self- destruct!

“We just didn’t pick up the dangerman in the box. Why on earth you would leave someone like that to have a free shot I don’t know!  So it’s typical of us. The mental side of the game for a lot of these lads, they just don’t concentrate for long enough periods of time.”

Walton explained why he made five changes tonight.

“We had to make changes from Sunday. We had to be a little bit more defensive and tighten up, which did happen for 35 minutes,” he said.

“I didn’t see them causing us too many problems in that period. We’ve come away from home, we dug in and we were doing the right things.  We tried to hit them on the break. Unfortunately we left Richie (Monan) up front on his own. We didn’t get enough support to him in that period.”

Phoenix Sports created the first chance of the game inside the opening four minutes when Chris Edwards’ free-kick was flicked towards goal by Alex Nelson – who will go down in history as the club’s first goalscorer in The FA Vase.

The ball bounced off Fisher defender Richard Styles and keeper Billy Hensman plucked the ball out of the air above his head.

Fisher snuffed out Phoenix Sports’ threat and created a half chance themselves when Jamie Taylor swung in a dangerous looking free-kick, which bounced ahead of a crowd of onrushing players for Phoenix keeper Adam Woodward to gather in the 20^th minute.

After the half-hour mark, Edwards’ pass released Daryl Wheeler sprinting down the right before the winger cut in and his right-footed angled drive brought a comfortable low save to his right from Fisher keeper Hensman.

But Phoenix Sports smashed Fisher’s resilience by taking a 34^th minute lead.

Wheeler sprinted past Fisher left-back Danny Tipple to go on a pacy 40-yard run down the right before cutting the ball back beyond the penalty spot for Dalhouse to take a fine touch to give himself space before poking a right-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner from 12-yards.

Beckingham said: “For one that’s what Daryl can do. I’d like to see Daryl doing that more often. Invariably he’ll do the first bit, the hard bit and the last bit where he’s final delivery he can sometimes be a little bit frustrating.

“Once Andrew gets the ball to feet in there he’s so big and strong and he’s tricky, he’s very difficult. He’s turned the man well and he’s stuck it away so lovely.”

When asked about the striker’s background, the Phoenix joint-boss said: “I’ve known Andrew for a few years now. I’ve known him when I was managing in the Sussex County League and he was playing at Redhill. He came over to play for me at Lingfield.  Funnily enough he was the top scorer in the Sussex League that year. He’s an excellent player.”

Walton said: “I don’t even think he really turned the man. He was totally unmarked and he toe-poked it in to the goal. How can you leave their centre forward unmarked just behind the penalty spot, it’s just poor!  We switched off that’s all I can say really.”

Big and strong Dalhouse was good at holding the ball up and he cut the ball back to Edwards, who unleashed a first time right-footed drive from 25-yards, which sailed over the Fisher crossbar.

Fisher’s lone striker Monan couldn’t apply the finishing touch with a rare first half chance when his shot on the turn looped over the crossbar after Danny Akers moved forward and whipped in a cross into the Phoenix penalty area.

Phoenix Sports went into the half-time break with a 2-0 lead after holding midfielder Hope scored two minutes before the interval.

Left-back Richie Hamill played the ball into Cornwell, who spun the ball inside to Hope, whose first time right-footed drive from 18-yards nestled into the bottom left-hand corner.

Beckingham was surprised as anyone to see Hope finishing off a goalscoring opportunity.

He said: “To be honest I don’t know what he was doing up there!  He’s meant to do the holding role so I’m glad he did.  It was a very composed and cultured finish from him. Kind of unexpected but we’ll take it!

“It was a nice finish but I was really pleased with the build-up.  I thought there was some lovely football into feet and a nice finish to go with it.”

Walton added: “Not one of us broke a gut to get in and stop it and he was sitting on the edge of the box and he rolled it in side-footed into the corner.

“It’s another sloppy goal from our point of view, something that we could’ve have defended. It’s not hard to defend that.”

Both managers were asked what was going through their minds at half-time.

Beckingham said: “We needed to stay focused and stay disciplined and keep doing the same things because the longer it goes on at 2-0 they’ve obviously got to come chasing the game, gaps would develop and we would hopefully look to pick them off and that’s how the game kind of panned out.

“We got the third and fourth goal without having to chase it.  Of course they’re going to come at you because they need to score and that was the case.

“It was just a case of don’t get sloppy and keep doing the right things and keep doing the basics.”

Walton said: “We tried to change it half-time to get a bit more support up to Richie, whether he did that or not I’d like to see a video of the game so I can analyse it.

“We didn’t really threaten their goal so we came here to be hard to beat. It was working for 34 minutes. I think overall we deserved to be 2-0 down.

“I just said to them, 2-0 down, if we can push on a little bit more, get more help to Richie up front who was a bit isolated so we brought on Kieron Campbell to try to get around him.  We pushed the two wide players’ up and more inside to stop them playing out.

“I sacrificed trying to play the way I like to play, just to try and get the ball in-between their back four and pressure people.”

Fisher brought on substitute Kieron Campbell at the break to support Monan, but Phoenix Sports went on to win the game comfortably.

Edwards swung in a corner from the right which dropped to Hope on the edge of the box and he dwelled on the ball and Fisher were able to clear. James Brown, out on the left, clipped the ball back into the penalty area for Dalhouse to send his header over the bar from 12-yards.

But poor defending from Fisher gifted Phoenix Sports a third goal in the 53^rd minute.

Goalkeeper Woodward launched a clearance up field and Tipple didn’t cut out the danger and central defender Styles’ poor pass gifted Cornwell a chance and the striker raced forward to round the advancing keeper before drilling his right-footed shot into the middle of an empty net.

“Really delighted for him,” Beckingham said of Cornwell, who has shone in the two games that 11-goal striker Ricky Freeman has missed through being in America on holiday.

“He worked his socks off again tonight, same as Saturday where he missed the finishing touch, but he’s got his first and ultimately got his second goal and hopefully that will set him off on a run to being a regular goalscorer.

“We’re delighted with him. We think he’s been absolutely brilliant in the two games that he’s played.  He’s come off with a little knock to his foot but that was just precautionary.”

Walton admitted Styles should have just cleared his lines when he had the chance.

He said: “Put your foot through it son and clear it!  He’s tried to be clever and pass it back to the keeper and the keeper’s gone the wrong side of him and he’s passed it to their forward.

“When you’re running there just put the thing in the stand. It’s a little bit like Rio Ferdinand when he was young. He tried to play out and got caught and then he learnt.

“You just put your foot through it and kick it down the motorway in that situation running towards our goal – kick it off for a throw in and we can all get back and defend the throw.”

A smart double save from Woodward denied Fisher a goal 94 seconds after falling three goals behind.

Right-back Akers was given time and space to crack a right-footed drive towards the bottom near corner from 35-yards and Woodward moved smartly low to his left to parry and the keeper reacted well to block Harry Draper’s follow-up shot from six-yards.

“Woody’s an excellent keeper,” said Beckingham. 

“It was his first game Saturday and we decided to throw him in again tonight. He’s fighting it off with Nashy (Dean Nash) who again is another very good goalkeeper and we’re looking at one of them to come out as a clear winner really.

“It was a fantastic save and for their goal it was the other side of being a goalkeeper, I’m afraid.  As good as that was, that was probably as bad as that was good!”

Walton added: “He should have scored!  You can’t miss them from there. Was we 3-0 down by then? It was a good chance. The goalkeeper made a good save from Danny the first time. As I’ve said to you before, Danny does get forward and have a shot. He’s got a good shot on him the lad and it’s a chance we should have snapped up. We should have scored!”

Fisher created another chance when Monan cut in from the left before drilling a right-footed shot from 25-yards which was gobbled up by Woodward.

And at the other end, Phoenix striker Dalhouse picked the ball up inside the penalty area, beat two men before being denied by Hensman, who blocked the powerful shot with his legs at the near post.

Monan was forced to shoot from distance again, this time his right-footed curling shot from 30-yards, which was caught by Woodward.

But Phoenix Sports increased their lead further when Cornwell scored his second goal of the night with sixteen minutes left.

Central defender Chris Hill progressed with the ball straight down the middle of the pitch before releasing Cornwell through on goal before smashing his right-footed shot across the keeper to find the bottom left-hand corner from 12-yards.

Beckingham admitted it was a rare sight to see Hill progress so far up the pitch.

He said: “I think Chris has done that a few times tonight and I praised him for doing it in the first half.  He got in to the last third of the pitch and started getting a nose bleed and gave it straight away. 

“If you’re going to do that, it’s great, but let’s make sure if you’re going to get there, just make sure you give the right ball. He did it that time, he’s obviously listened and Miles stuck it into the back of the net.

“I’m all for that if central defenders come out or anybody can commit people and you’ve got people can sit in and cover, then it’s great.”

Walton admitted it was a shock for Hill to be so far up the pitch.

He said: “I was annoyed with the fourth goal because the information I gave the lads in midfield.  I said to the central midfield players when you get it try and hit diagonals just over the full backs heads and get them turning and with our pace let us get on the end of it and we’ve picked it up in midfield and tried to pass it through the centre, which is something literally that I’ve not asked them to do!

“Chris Hill nicked it off Harry Draper. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Chris Hill run that far in my life!  Chris has run 50-60 yards and slipped in Miles – good finish. He stuck it away well.”

Phoenix Sports threatened to score another goal when two of their substitutes played a big part.

Nahum Green crossed from the left and Ben Yiadom stabbed a deflected shot agonisingly past the foot of the near post from six-yards.

To their credit, Fisher carried on battling going and pulled a goal back with ten minutes remaining.

Tipple clipped a ball over the top of Phoenix’s two central defenders and Woodward came rushing out of his goal to make a hash of a clearance. The ball fell to Abbey, who was rewarded for his graft, to steer his left-footed shot into the empty net.

Beckingham admitted he was annoyed that Woodward didn’t maintain his second successive clean sheet.

“To be honest with you, disappointed doesn’t come into it!  It sounds a bit ridiculous, we’re 4-0 up and we’ve won the game but it hasn’t spoilt the night but it’s really annoying when it shouldn’t happen. It’s so preventable. 

“Good luck to him. It just shows if you chase lost causes you’ve got half a chance.   Very frustrating with the goal. Just a shame because you’re looking for a good win and a clean sheet and you go away and everyone’s happy but it’s one of those things. It’s just annoying.”

Walton was pleased with the goalscorer of Fisher’s eighth-league goal of the season.

He said: “I was pleased with Troy because the two games he’s played, he’s run his socks off.

“I had a real go at Troy in the first half because I thought Troy was their best player, the amount of times he tried to set it back for them.

“He came through, he did well with his goal through his work-rate. He’s new to us Troy, so he will get better.”

Walton revealed tonight that he has a couple of strikers in his thoughts to improve on his side’s poor showing in front of goal.

“I’ve got a couple of centre forwards that will benefit us massively when they come and sign for us, which I’m hoping to do in the next couple of weeks,” he said.

“Then we can have two out and out centre forwards that are proper – that don’t want to do nothing else apart from score goals and be up front. Hopefully we can have them on board in a couple of weeks.”

Phoenix Sports created a late chance when Dalhouse planted his header narrowly wide of the far post after Edwards’ corner from the right.

Phoenix Sports are without a game on Saturday but Fisher welcome fellow strugglers Rochester United to Champion Hill.

The Medway side are one place higher than the Fish and arrive in Dulwich with a similar record.

Walton said: “It’s a work in progress. After Sunday, today was a very good improvement. I think everyone could see.  If we put in that effort and cut out the silly mistakes, we’ll do alright.”

Phoenix Sports: Adam Woodward, Ryan Andrews (Nytran Dixon-Baker 65), Richie Hamill, Jack Hope, James Brown, Chris Hill, Alex Nelson, Chris Edwards, Andrew Dalhouse, Miles Cornwell (Nahum Green 75), Daryl Wheeler (Ben Yiadom 60).
Subs: Harry Montgomery, Dean Nash

Goals: Andrew Dalhouse 34, Jack Hope 43, Miles Cornwell 53, 74

Fisher: Billy Hensman, Danny Akers, Danny Tipple, Tom Carr, Richard Styles, Jamie Taylor (Kieron Campbell 46), Billy Walton (Piers Hanifan 72), Harry Draper, Harvey Hanifan (Rob Hughes 63), Richie Monan, Troy Abbey.
Subs: Nathaniel Bell, Michael Daramola

Goal: Troy Abbey 80

Booked: Jamie Taylor 25, Harvey Hanifan 26, Danny Akers 59, Kieron Campbell 84, Tom Carr 86

Attendance: 98
Referee: Mr Philip Rowley (Canterbury)
Assistants: Mr Derek Peck (Bexleyheath) & Mr Gareth Garrey (Deptford, London SE8)