Dartford 2 - 3 Fisher Athletic - U14 Reader & Phillips Semi Final
By Dartford F.C.. Monday, 8 March 2010
Fisher come from 2 down to win place in Final
Sun 07 Mar 2010 League Cup S-F
Dartford F.C. 2 - 3 Fisher Athletic
The Darts bowed out of the Readers and Phillips Challenge Cup on Sunday losing 3-2 to Fisher athletic, after failing to hold onto a 2-0 lead. Fisher will now meet Bromley in the final.
The opening minutes were cagey and typical of a semi-final, with both teams probing and trying to ensure that early mistakes weren’t made.
The visitors had the first chance in the 4th minute when a striker turned and shot just wide of the post. A minute later and Matt Peasey was called into action when he saved with both hands following an optimistic high lob from outside the box. Darts responded a minute later when Dylan Damonse powerfully struck from inside the box and forced a good save from the Fisher No. 1. Damonse turned provider straight from the resultant drop kick and fed Alfie Pavey who fired in a low drive, but his effort went just past the right hand post.
Darts were awarded a corner in the 9th minute. Damonse curled in a cross and the unmarked Ben Thompson was there with a text book header to make it 1-0. Darts then began to enjoy a good amount of possession and enjoyed the majority of the possession, and were coping against a 5 man midfield. On 16 Billy Davis laid the ball into the path of Pavey, but his shot was deflected off for a corner. Damonse once again floated in a cross and Thompson ran into volley into the net to make it 2-0. The Darts created further chances on 19 and 21 when Damonse and Mikey Dalton both saw shots go just wide of the uprights.
Fisher regained some confidence and started to create some chances of their own, notably on 27 when Peasey pulled off a fine save following a fierce shot just inside the box. The game could have been wrapped up on 29 when Davis found an unmarked Rohan Khattra, but he somehow scuffed his shot from 8 yards and the ball bobbled past the post to the relief of the visiting supporters. Fisher scored their first goal in the 33rd minute. A striker was played clean through and volleyed over the helpless Peasey. A minute later and the scores were level. Fisher were awarded a corner and when the ball was crossed in a Dartford defender cleared his line, but the ball ricocheted off a forward and into the net. It was a vicious blow because the referee blew the half time whistle shortly after the home side took the centre kick.
The opening quarter of the second half was fairly quiet and the football was full of unforced errors, but Fisher grew in confidence as the game went on. Darts, no doubt, wounded from the Fisher comeback in the first half were struggling to get their football going and began to defend for much of the game. Fisher started to create chance after chance although the inevitable looked likely Darts defended admirably and the back four of Bradley Simms, Dan Ackland, Laurie Watts and Jack Moore were determined to keep the Fisher attacks at bay. The visitors came close to the all important 5th goal on 55, 57, 59 and 60th minutes. Dartford were forced a substitution on 62 when Thompson limped off and was replaced by Jack Sharkey, who quickly got into the thick of things with endeavour to make his mark. Two minutes however and the Darts hearts were broken. A striker found himself free on the edge of the box, took a touch and thumped in a great shot that hit the back of the net off the crossbar.
Whilst there was still six minutes left to play the home side found it hard to respond and were unable to create a decent chance before the referee blew the final. Congratulations to Fisher Athletic and good luck in the final.
