Before this afternoon’s match the total number of goals in which these two teams had been involved in this season totalled over 200 (league and cup) so eveyrone was hoping for an entertaining meeting between the two sides who find themselves at the wrong end of the Southern Counties Eastern Football League.
As the clock showed 14:55 a barely recognisable Fisher side emerged from the tunnel after Dean Harrison released eleven players and signed four in the past seven days.
The sun was unexpectedly shining brightly on to the Champion Hill pitch as the game kicked off, with both sides trying to control this game from the start in the battle for much needed points.
It was the home side who managed to muster the first shot after just four minutes when Jordon Adekun tested the away side’s defence.
This seemed to wake The Lingers who took control of proceedings immediately after and continually attempting to force the Fisher defence to make mistakes.
The Surrey side could count themselves very unlucky in the 14th minute after good work down the left saw a shot pushed on to the cross bar by Justin Lee with the home defence beaten.
This wasn’t to be the only time the woodwork was to be the saviour as seven minutes later the bar would be rattled again as defensive issues on the left were continually exploited.
With the bar still rattling the home side launched an attack which caught Lingfield by suprise which resulted in debutant Chas Davis smashing the ball past Lockyer to somehow give The Fish the lead much to the delight of a majority of the crowd.
The home sides confidence was now becoming obvious as they fought back into the game and thought they should have been awarded a penalty after what appeared to be a handball by a defender, but the official signalled for a corner.
As half time approached Matt Warren fired a shot for Lingfield which was tipped away by Lee in the goal and the ball headed harmlessly over from the resulting corner.
The second half began with Fisher attempting to extend the one goal advantage with an attack from straight from the kick off which after a challenge on the edge of the box resulted in a corner.
The first change in playing personnel came in the 57th minute when Abe Udofia replaced the tiring Taylor Ajayi.
The Fish continued to rain shots on the away goal in an attempt to pull away from the visitors but in the 65th minute a break down the right resulted in a penalty for Lingfield after the assistant referee flagged for handball as a cross into the penalty area appeared to strike a Fisher defender on the chest.
After a short delay Lingfield captain Alfie Dean stepped up and fired the ball hard and low into the net to level the scores.
The game then started to get scrappy with both sides giving away a number of free kicks, before another questionable decision from the assistant referee with seven minutes remaining, gave Lingfield a second spot kick after a challenge on the right side of the box saw an attacker stumble but carry on towrads the goal only to be stopped by the referee’s whistle blast.
Once more Dean stepped up and placed the ball hard and low into the goal to hand the away side the lead, much to the annoyance of the home support.
The home side now chasing the game lauched a final wave of attacks on goal but to no avail much to the deight of the away side’s officials who could celebrate an unexpected three points to lift them off the foot of the table.
The Fish, who are still without a home win this season must now prepare for the visit of out of form Croydon next Saturday before heading to Surrey in two weeks time.