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Fisher Athletic v Barnet

FA Trophy 3rd Round
Saturday 12th January 3.00pm

Thanks to the nice lady at Fisher Athletic who faxed us their results for this season.

Fisher's season is going fairly well so far. They are currently lying fifth in the league - a position they have maintained there or thereabouts since late November. They were second (and possibly first going by their results) in early October but a dip in form saw them drop to tenth by early November.

They also progressed through the first three Qualifying Rounds of the FA Cup, including a 6-0 win over Chertsey Town of the Rymans Second Division. Overall, they scored twelve goals in the first three qualifiers and only conceded one. They were eventually defeated at home by Forest Green Rovers in the Fourth Qualifying Round.

The FA Trophy has seen just as impressive results. In Round One they beat Sittingbourne away, 3-1 and in the Second Round they beat Merthyr Tydfil 5-1. Although Sittingbourne are are also in the Dr Martens Eastern, it may be worth noting that Merthyr Tydfil are in the Dr Martens Premier (although they are currently third from bottom).

A study of their last seven games (not including a Kent Cup match) sees the names Huggins and Portway featuring regularly on the score sheet, with six and eight goals respectively in those seven games alone. Five other players (and an own-goal) contributed to the enviable 21 goals scored in the same seven games.

Manager Keith Stevens told the Non-League paper, "It's a big game and it's down to the players. We've had some changes and are trying to get back on track so it's a good game for us and one you want to enjoy. I've got experienced players like Colin Luckett, Steve Portway, Mo Munden and Tony Dolby, so if we work hard and play well, who knows? It's a tall order, but if you can't enjoy these games you might as well pack up."

Fisher obviously have no problem finding the back of the net when the oppurtunity presents itself, so we must not enter this game assuming it is a pass to the Fourth Round. This is Barnet's last chance to decorate the trophy cabinet this season (apart from the Conference of course!) and we don't want to slip up in our first Trophy game for over ten years.

With different teams being tried out every week, and the possibility that Still may choose to rest one or two players, and/or give some of the others some First-Team experience, it is anyone's guess who will be trotting out on Saturday.

I shouldn't need to remind anyone that Fisher Athletic is where Barnet secured promotion to the Fourth Division all those years ago, and lots of fans will doubtless being attending this match with a touch of nostalgia. Going by the attendance figures at Fisher, and the numbers who made the trip to Cambridge last week - there is no reason why we can't outnumber their fans by five to one!!

Barnet should give us all something to sing about on the short journey home after our slight run of bad luck recently - and then we can look forward to the long trip to Chester the following week. With a win at Fisher under their belts then maybe the team will be able to grab a win at Chester - which would be our first double since I don't know when!!

Seeing as they are on the fixture list the nice lady from Fisher faxed us, the officials for the Fisher game are:

Referee: M Thorpe
Assistants: A Wager and G Barlow (formerly of Take That, or whatever they were called?)

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History

Fisher were originally formed in 1908 by the John Fisher Catholic Society to provide football facilities for under priviledged children in the Bermondsey area.

This team folded in 1964 but reformed as Fisher Athletic two years later and played in the Kent Amateur League.

They played at Mitchum in Surrey and in 1974 joined the London Spartan League.

In 1982 they returned to the Docklands area and won the Spartan league for the second successive season and were promoted to the Southern League.They won the Southern Division at the first attempt, also winning the Merit Cup.

In the Premier Division they were runners-up in 1983/84, they won the Southern League Cup in 1984/85 going on to win the League in 1986/87.

While in the Conference they played a very important part in Barnet's promotion to Division Four. In a game that belies its result, they were beaten 4-2 at home to allow Barnet to secure their dream of league football. Ironically, Athletic were relegated back to the Southern League Premier Division in 1991 and the following season they ended up second from bottom and were relegated again. They are currently in the Dr Martens Eastern Division.

They have reached the first round of the FA Cup twice playing both the Clubs from Bristol. In 1984/85 they lost to City, also losing to Rovers in 1987/88.

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