Fisher fell to defeat by the odd goal in three, on a cold and misty afternoon in Barnhurst against SCEFL Premier Division strugglers Welling Town.
Illness meant that the mid-table Fisher needed to draft in an emergency goalkeeper on the eve of the game, with seventeen year-old Samuel Nwabuko drafted in from Park View for a debut.
There was also a debut for new singing Julien Saka at right back after his arrival from Metropolitan Police, with Salin Nassor set to also make a first appearance for the Fish from the bench. Ezekiel Miller was a welcome sight on the bench for his first game back from injury.
Despite the new faces, Fisher started the game on the front foot, seeing lots of ball and putting pressure on the Welling goal. An early long range effort from Natah Tshola was tipped over the bar by the Welling keeper, who then seemed to push the resulting corner onto his bar, but it fell kindly for him away from the Fisher forwards.Fisher thought hey had taken the lead after five minutes, when a deep cross was headed back across goal by Thomas Ngegba for Manny Shoderu to head home but an offside flag went up as Ngegba had got ahead of his marker as the cross came in.
Further bright play then saw Ngegba in space between the two centre backs on the edge of the box, but his shot lacked conviction and the keeper gathered the low effort with ease.
Fisher were made to pay for their failure to score from the good start, when midway through the half the hosts took the lead. A careless ball out of defence from skipper, Joseph Adewunmi, was picked off on halfway and allowed the Welling right winger space to power down the flank. His low cross was flicked goalward and saw a good reflex save from Nwaboku, but it was the Welling forwards who showed greater desire to get onto the loose ball and despite the heroics of Tyron Mbuenimo on the goal line blocking the first effort, the rebound was stabbed home by Maxx Mankelow.
As in their last few games, Fisher would have to come from behind, but it was Welling who came closest to scoring again before the break, when a pass across the area found a free man at the back of the penalty area and his powerful strike flew back off the cross bar.
Fisher struggled to find the fluency from earlier in the half and lacked the desire in the penalty area to get on the end of anything created, with two balls flashing across the six yard box, but with no Fisher foot within five yards of it, when better anticipation and positioning would have seen back post tap ins for both chances.
The second half was only ten minutes old when Fisher’s task became harder as Welling doubled their advantage. Again, some careless defending allowed a cross in from the left and Seb Rowland showed the desire missing from the Fisher frontline to be in the right place to convert at the back post. This saw immediate action from the bench with Eniye Amgbaduba and Salim Nassor brought on for Shoderu and Ngegba. Whilst Amgbaduba gave Fisher a better presence up top it was not until the further introduction of Ezekiel Miller that Fisher started to show real attacking threat.
Shortly after joining the fray Miller’s presence forced a Welling player to nudge the ball into his own net following a well flighted cross into the box to pull a goal back for the Fish.With twenty minutes to find an equaliser, Fisher pushed forward, but a combination of wanting one too many touches and some determined defending kept them from creating any clear cut chances.
However, with just five minutes of normal time left it took a fine save from the Welling keeper to deny the Fish as Salim Nassor picked up the clearance from his own corner and sent in a vicious swirling shot that was clawed away for a corner.A couple of late scrambles in the area could not see Fisher force the ball home and marshalled well by the veteran ex Fisher player Andy Mott, Welling held out for the points.
Another alarmingly sloppy performance from a confused looking Fisher side, who have undeniable talent in the ranks but seem unable to be coached to play as unit. Tyron Mbuenimo again showed his class and the team ethic needed to arrest the slump, slotting in superbly at centre back to cover Mark Chidi just an hour before kick-off, in one of the few bright performances of the frustrating afternoon.
