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I've visited St Pauls Sports Ground before which ironically was on the same date - On Tuesday 15th November 2016 when Sheppey United played Fisher in the same competition.
Fisher, under the management of former Tower Hamlet's boss Ajay Ashanike had been struggling to find results in league matches this season. Prior to kick off they had won two, drawn two and lost seven of their eleven SCEFL Premier games and had lost to Jersey Bulls in the Isuzu FA Vase the previous Saturday.
They had made headlines by playing eight games in the Emirates FA Cup which each of their ties going to replays. They had beaten Step Four side's Sutton Common Rovers and Sittingbourne along with Spelthorne Sports to then play Vanarama South side Welling United in the Second Qualifying Round drawing 0-0 away from home before losing 0-3 at home in front of a bumper crowd of 573!
The Fisher fans are a fantastic group and are still firmly in support of Ajay who remains as popular as ever in this part of South-East London.
For this game against their tenant's there was a crowd of 153 people watching.
Bermondsey Town had been promoted from the Bromley and South London League Jim Cooper Premier Division last season. They had finished fourth and went up to the SCEFL Division One for their debut season at Step Six of the non-league ladder. The club were formed as a Sunday League team in 2013 and has been making progress upwards ever since.
They have found the jump upwards a real challenge and are currently bottom of the table having won one, drawn one and lost twelve of their fourteen league games played letting in forty-six goals too.
Looking at the respective league positions it was The Fish who were big favourites for this eagerly anticipated game. It was that way for most of the 90 minutes, but Bermondsey did show some promising play with a long range shot in the first half well saved by Fish keeper Ted McDonald and their standout player Andrea Carrera. The striker had the ball in the net in the second half only for his effort to be ruled out as another player was adjudged to be offside standing in front of the keeper. Minutes later he scored a brilliant goal smashing the ball into the net from well outside of the box.
He was signed from Eden Park Rangers who play in the top tier of the Bromley and South London League where he scored thirteen goals last season.
Fisher's goal scorers were Luke With, Lewis Duberry (Pen), Henry Adeniran, Billy Brown and Nader Zeddini. I thought Darnelle Bailey-King looked a good player on the wing with lots of skill and trickery along with Atta Gyeou in defence. His forward run into the box set up The Fish's first goal.
The home fans were fantastic as were the supporters of Bermondsey Town. The Fish sang lots of support for their team including "You've been battered by The Fish" hence the headline and also belted out a song confirming that Bermondsey is full of fish, fish and more fish!!!
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
The 5-1 win could be a catalyst for Fisher FC's league season as they don't have the FA Cup or FA Vase to concentrate on anymore. They followed this up with a 2-1 home win over K Sports on Saturday. Their next game is again at St Pauls and is designated their Community Day where there is lots going on including a prize for the supporter dressed in the best football shirt.
The first 50 supporters at the ground will receive a free pie courtesy of M.Manze the famous Pie & Mash Shop.
Bermondsey Town's next game is a long trip to the coast to play Lydd Town who are currently in fifth place in the table. I think their home shirt is one of the best I've seen this season in league and non-league football - The club have them available at a bargain price of £25. Let's hope the second part of their 21/22 season is better than the first part and results start to improve.
Rotherhithe is the nearest train station to St Pauls and with the recent opening of The Elizabeth Line it's really easy to reach from Central London. You can get to Whitechapel from Farringdon on the new purple line in around 10 minutes and then down on the East London Line in another 10 minutes or so. It's then another 10-minute walk from the station.
If you do visit the walk along The River Thames affords some great views of Canary Wharf, Limehouse and Wapping as shown below.
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