Fisher Athletic 3 Hayes 0
Half-Time: 3-0 Referee: Mr M Yerby Attendance: 263

Hayes were punished by their ruthless hosts within seventeen minutes of the kick off by three goals to prematurely end this Nationwide South fixture as a contest.

Although the goals were all well taken, in particular the third, some rather regrettable defensive mistakes allowed Fisher to storm into a quick, unassaliable lead, before they settled back and allowed Hayes to compete.

Manager Kevin Hill gave a debut to Will Hendry in midfield and his performance was one of the brighter aspects of the afternoon with some calm, assured passing and assertive tackling. However, he may be regretting his decision to play Liam Feeney at right back and Daniel Dyer on the left wing, as when they were switched just inside the second half, Hayes looked far better balanced and were unfortunate on a number of occasions not to get a goal back.

Leroy Griffiths's sharpness was in evidence within four minutes of the start, when he flashed a volley wide of Kevin Davies's goal with the Hayes defence static. Just afterwards, Hendry played a clever chip out wide to Shaun McAuley and his cross was almost converted by Kieran Knight, whose header missed the far post by a matter of inches.

Within minutes, Fisher opened their account. Anton Robinson was allowed to advance into space on the left flank and cut inside without a challenge before squaring to an unmarked Griffiths to power his shot past Davies.

Just five minutes later, Steve Watts was upended in the penalty area by Gilbert Nuako and slotted home the resulting spot kick into the bottom corner.

Watts should have made it three on fifteen minutes with a free header from Ahmed Deen's corner, but only two minutes later, Fisher did get their third goal. Anthony Riviere powered past Daniel Dyer and slid the ball through to Chris Piper. His clever turn tied Nuako in knots and left him on the floor, allowing him to shoot past Davies from a tight angle.

Daniel Dyer thought he'd clawed one back when good work by Ryan Ashe in midfield provided him with a one on one against Paul Nicholls, but the keeper did well to prevent him chipping the ball over him. From the resulting corner, a clean catch from Nicholls led to an unfortunate collision which made Jon Dyer twist his ankle and he needed to be replaced by Josh Scott.

Scott got into the game fairly quickly and hit a shot just wide after a smart turn, having been given the ball by a precise Nuako pass.

The second half started at a frenetic pace. In fact, after just 25 seconds, the Hayes crossbar was rattling from Watts's fierce volley after Anton Robinson had found him in space in the area. Peter Collins made sure the rebound was covered. However, just a minute later, Hendry sent Scott away to run at the Fisher defence, although his shot disappointingly drifted over.

Play switched straight back to the Hayes penalty area as Charlie Hearn cut down the right flank and pulled the ball back. Damien Scannell took the ball back towards the centre and hit a fierce drive which Davies did well to push clear of goal. Almost immediately, Robinson was again pressuring the Hayes defence, but he skewed his shot from a good position.

Just six minutes of the second half had past by this point but again Hayes switched play down to the other end. Hendry this time picked out Daniel Dyer with a through ball. He rode a firm challenge from Joel Kitamirike before crossing to the far post. A diving Josh Scott just failed to connect.

It seemed that Fisher felt that they needed the end to end stuff to stop and so the game entered a lull. Adam Logie did go close with a header from Liam Feeney's corner and for Fisher, Steve Watts nearly pounced on a short back header by Nuako, but generally, Fisher were able to slow the game down effectively, restricting Hayes to half chances.

One such occasion saw Hendry hit a powerful free kick against the wall and from the rebound, McAuley fired just over.

In the best Hayes move of the game, Knight wriggled free of two challenges in the centre circle and found McAuley in space with his pass. McAuley's cross cleared Scott but Knight stretched to connect with a header which looped just over the bar.

Hayes were unfortunate not to get a consolation goal when Kitamirike twice cleared off the line amidst a goalmouth scramble. Josh Scott's cross from the right was palmed out by Nicholls and Knight's shot was charged down. The ball spun out to Feeney whose goalbound effort was cleared at the near post by Kitamirike. However, McAuley collected the loose ball and fired in a shot which Kitamirike again managed to block.

Man of the match, Leroy Griffiths did manage to produce one more impressive bit of skill when he outdid Daniel Dyer on the left flank and cut inside before sending a stinging shot towards goal. Davies managed to deflect the ball to safety.

There were times during the match when 3-0 seemed like a bit of a let off for Hayes, and yet there were also occasions in the second half when Hayes deserved at least a goal from the chances created. However, in a league where there is a clear distinction between the "haves" and "have nots", coming up against a club that "have" needs a much more resilient performance and giving up the game within the first seventeen minutes isn't going to allow Hayes to sneak the odd point or three against these teams.

Report by Nick Bell. Photographs by Ray Peploe.

Fisher Athletic Hayes
1 Paul Nicholls   1 Kevin Davies  
2 Chris Piper Captain 2 Liam Feeney  
3 Ahmed Deen   3 Gilbert Nuako  
4 Joel Kitamirike   4 Will Hendry  
5 Tim Clancy   5 Adam Logie  
6 Damien Scannell   6 Peter Collins Captain
7 Anthony Riviere   7 Shaun McAuley  
8 Charlie Hearn   8 Ryan Ashe  
9 Leroy Griffiths   9 Jon Dyer  
10 Steve Watts   10 Kieran Knight  
11 Anton Robinson   11 Daniel Dyer  
12 Joe Healy for 11 (79) 12 Joe Sparrowhawk for 8 (81)
14 Steve Clarke   14 Josh Scott for 9 (29)
15 Lenny Piper for 6 (66) 15 Ryan Tackley  
16 Matthew Hocking   16 Michael Bartley  
17 Hamid Barr for 10 (66) 18 Keita Karamoko  

Goals:
Griffiths (7), Watts (pen 12), C Piper (17)

Goal: