Fisher 3-1 Wingate & Finchley - That's why we love these kind of cups because there's always an opportunity to kill the giants and that's what we've done tonight and I'm really proud of the boys, says Fisher boss Ajay Ashanike

Fisher 3 – 1 Wingate & Finchley
Location	St Paul's Stadium, Salter Road, Rotherhithe, London SE16 6NT
Kickoff	27/01/2026 19:45

FISHER  3-1  WINGATE & FINCHLEY
London Senior Cup Third Round
Tuesday 27 January 2026
Stephen McCartney reports from St Paul’s Stadium

FISHER manager Ajay Ashanike says he’s feeling really proud of his players after humiliating a strong Wingate & Finchley side to reach the Quarter-Finals of the London Senior Cup.

Ahmet Rifat’s side have extended their winless run to eight games, making six changes to the side that suffered a 4-0 defeat at runaway Isthmian League Premier Division leaders Folkestone Invicta at the weekend.

According to Football Web pages, Wingate & Finchley’s starting 11 had 189 first-team appearances to their name this season, with a further 65 appearance coming from the four players that came on to the pitch in the second half to try to salvage a two-nil deficit at the interval.

Attacking midfielder, Tom Jones, 21, was outstanding during Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Windsor & Eton, as Fisher reached the last 16 of The FA Vase for the first time, courtesy of two saves from Isaac Ogunseri in the penalty-shoot out at Stag Meadow.

Jones put in his second man-of-the-match performance in three days as he scored one and assisted twice, as Fisher pulled off a Cup upset, with 36 teams separating Wingate & Finchley and Fisher in the football pyramid.

Jones’ clinical, quality finish gave Fisher (who showed their intent by only making one change from Saturday) the lead to score his eleventh goal of the season, before centre-half Donald MacAuley flicked in the second goal on the half-hour mark to give the home side a two-goal lead.

Wingate & Finchley’s leading goalscorer Gianluca Botti swept in his fourteenth-goal of the season with 21 minutes remaining, before a resilient Fisher scored a last-gasp counter-attacking third goal from substitute central midfielder Sha’mar Lawson, 22.

“What a day! What a week we’re having, honestly, Saturday was a big win and today, I just told the boys to just go out there and do their best because obviously we were leggy from Saturday but WOW! What a shift from those gentlemen! What a shift,” said Ashanike, 37.

“Like I just said to them there, they don’t understand what they’re doing. They’re just doing it, which is a good thing. I’ve just got no words what they’ve just done tonight! I’ve got no words for it!

“Wingate & Finchley are a very good side.  They move the ball really well but what we did was what we did (at Windsor & Eton) on Saturday. We controlled the game without having the ball and when we got the ball we made the most of it.

“We showed we can compete against a Step Three side for 90 minutes, which is something I’m proud off.

“Honestly, Cup games like that are something different. You never know what’s going to happen if you turn up and that’s why we love those kind of Cups because there’s always an opportunity to kill the giants and that’s what we’ve done tonight and I’m really proud of the boys and the club of what we’ve just done.

“Me and Ahmet (Rifat) have been team-mates since I was like 16 or 17. I learnt from Ahmet as a centre-back and most of the things I learn when I was younger, I’m using it now, which is really good and credit to him an his team.

“They’re having a tough season but I believe Ahmet is good enough and the club is good enough to stay up in that division.”

Rifat’s side arrived in Rotherhithe sitting in the bottom five of the Isthmian League Premier Division with 27 points (seven wins, six draws and 12 defeats) from their 27 games, a point clear of the drop zone that contains Steve McKimm’s Cray Valley (26 points from 27 games), Ryan Maxwell’s Welling United (21 points from 26), Sammy Moore’s Potters Bar Town (20 points from 26) and Canvey Island (18 points from 26).

Fisher, meanwhile, sat in eleventh-place in the ninth-tier Presence & Co Southern Counties East Football League Premier Division table, having picked up 31 points (eight wins, seven draws and five defeats) from their 20 games, only four points adrift of the play-off zone.

Wingate & Finchley were held to a goal-less draw away to Metropolitan Police before winning 5-4 on penalties in the London Senior Cup, while Fisher set up tonight’s tie with a 2-1 win at Corinthian-Casuals in September.

Wingate & Finchley dominated the possession during the contest and played a slick, attractive brand of passing played at a very high tempo, with two very high wing-backs and three centre-halves.

Wingate & Finchley dominated the corner count by 16 to four.  The visitors created eight goalscoring chances on target and with goalkeeper Charlie Grainger rested, Fergal Hale-Brown failed to impress, making three saves.  Fisher had a 50 per cent strike rate, scoring three from their six attempts on target.

Wingate & Finchley created their first opening with 6:01 on the clock when high left-wing-back Casey Shann played the ball inside to attacking midfielder Ayyuba Jambang, who found a pocket of space in front of Fisher’s two centre-halves, taking a touch before drilling a low right-footed drive flashing past the foot of the right-hand post from a central position some 25-yards from goal.

“We spoke about their movement off the ball and they done it with good combination and got it out wide. On another day that goes in for them and that’s a totally different game,” said Ashanike.

“We switched off. Like I said to them, we’re starting games very, very slowly and they need to start switching on and against quality opposition like that, we’ve got to understand that they’re going to come out good and they’re going to come out fast and after that I believe we matched them and we started doing well with it.”

Fisher called Hale-Brown into making his first save, following the home side’s first corner, with 11 minutes and 35 seconds on the clock.

Jones played a right-wing corner short to winger Esteban Salgado, who whipped in a great cross from within the right channel and MacAuley found a pocket of space at the near-post to glance his header into Hale-Brown’s gloves for a comfortable catch.

Ashanike said: “It’s something that we’ve been working on in training really well, short-corners and they worked it really well and Donny got to the front post, which he should’ve done. The contact could’ve been a lot better but even if he flicks it on someone gets head on that but again that’s something me and Jordan (Darwish, assistant manager) need to look at.

“Getting that space against a Step Three side can show that if we play a Step Five side and we listen to instructions and carry out the task really well, we can get goals.”

Fisher left-back Lorenzo Duncan then played a low ball in from the channel into holding midfielder Michael Saprong, who cut into the box and his right-footed angled drive from 16-yards was comfortably held by Hale-Brown, low to his left.

“I thought Sarpong done really, really well there, being leggy from Saturday but to drive in there, that’s a trademark from Michael. He does that every season, at least two goals like that every season.

“That’s us knocking on the door and football’s like boxing. If you keep jabbing them, they’ll start respecting you and I think that’s what they did. They respected us, dropped off and we picked them off.”

Fisher stunned their higher-league opponents by taking the lead with a quality strike from Jones, timed at 16 minutes and 30 seconds on the clock.

Right-back Jack Gibbons (who pulled his hamstring and was substituted at the interval and is expected to be on the sidelines for about three to four weeks), cut inside centre-half Charlie Stallard before playing the ball into striker Festos Kamara inside the D and he laid the ball off to Jones, who drilled his right-footed shot across the diving keeper into the far corner from 22-yards.

Jones was excellent in Berkshire on Saturday – but impressing against a strong side that are two levels above will ensure that the Poplar resident is playing higher than the ninth-tier of English football next season.

“Tom Jones, again, great strike. Good combination and Festos, if he’s not scoring, he’s assisting. He’s doing really well but again that’s a great hit from Jonesey,” said Ashanike.

“I think he was man-of-the-match today. Honestly, he covered every (blade of) grass on the pitch today, really, really proud of him.

“Honestly, I’ve said it before. He’s one of the best signings we’ve had this season. Even, I’ve ever had at Fisher. Bringing him in this season, he’s been amazing. Great character on the off the pitch and he’s just showing the quality that we know that he can give and that’s why he’s there.”

When asked what Ashanike and his team learnt from tonight’s experience, the Fisher boss replied: “Honestly, so this club has been different now. Are the boys ready to step up to a different level? Are they ready for Step Four to Step Three because that’s what we do every year.

“At least three or four of them that can actually say they can play at that level but can they do it week-in-week-out? That will be the question, is can they do it week-in-week-out but tonight they’ve shown that they can compete and they’ve competed well fitness wise, mentality wise and football wise. They did really well tonight.”

Wingate & Finchley midfielder Sam Cornish floated in the away side’s third of 10 first-half corners and Stallard came up from the back to send his bullet header at the back post bouncing just past the foot of the left-hand post.

Wingate & Finchley kept knocking on the door and Shann played the ball out to debutant striker Joshua Gibbons, who cut into the box down the left and put in a great cross towards the edge of the six-yard box, where Jambang’s free-header was planted straight at Ogunseri, who pushed the ball over his crossbar.

“I’m disappointed with those chances like that,” admitted Ashanike.

“He got in between (my two centre-halves) Stephan (Richard Kingson) and Donny (MacAuley) and they should be talking, organising. If you don’t know where the striker is, you’re doing something wrong. If you’re not marking in the box, you’re doing something wrong and it’s something that they’re learning really well.

“But I think those two have come in, they’ve done ok but there’s so much more to come and I think with games and this kind of confidence can drive them to another level.”

Fisher grabbed their second goal, following their second corner, timed at 29 minutes and 1 second on the clock.

Jones swung the ball in from the right with his right-foot and no one in a blue shirt had tracked MacAuley’s run towards the near-post and his right-footed flicked shot went through a crowd of players and crept inside the bottom near-corner.

Visiting keeper Hale-Brown proved on tonight’s poor performance that he will not dislodge Grainger out of the number one jersey at Summers Lane.

“I said to the boys, especially the two centre-backs, that’ve got to start chipping in with goals. We need to share goals around the pitch and for Donny to get one, I’m really, really happy with that he’s got one and hopefully he can carry on getting more,” said Ashanike.

“It’s not just about penalties, it’s about can you start scoring from open play as well now, so hopefully with that coaching, he can get more goals and we can get up this table.”

MacAuley faced his manager’s wrath after being turned for Windsor & Eton’s leveller at the weekend and Ashanike was pleased with his number five’s character to bonce back here tonight.

“Honestly, he’s a different kind of player. He’s young but he’s already a leader and when he makes mistakes he gets his head down and goes again and that’s a big character.  That takes a lot, a player of that age to be able to get up and get going again.

“He didn’t let that bother him. We won the game (after a penalty shoot-out), even if we’d have lost that game he would’ve still be the same tonight. He’d still be the same Donny, which is absolutely something that you need to play at the top level.”

Wingate & Finchley went very close with a quality whipped in right-footed free-kick from Romeo Ajinola, which went around Fisher’s three-man wall and just missed the foot of the near-post from 28-yards after the midfielder was tripped by Sarpong.

Shann played the ball inside to a very deep Gibbons, who played the ball into Akinola, whose 45-yard effort from just outside the centre-circle was comfortably controlled by the Fisher goalkeeper.

Wingate & Finchley’s sixth corner was played short by Cornish and attacker Camilo Restrepo cut along the left by-line and reached the corner of the six-yard box but a commanding figure of Ogunseri shut the gate, spreading his legs, grabbing hold of the ball low down beside his near-post (39:56).

Fisher winger Salgado attempted to break down the middle but Jambang intercepted the ball and drove forward before his right-footed shot from 22-yards was comfortably caught by Ogunseri.

The Folkestone Invicta loanee excelled (44:24) when he made a big vital save following Wingate & Finchley’s eighth corner.

Cornish played the ball short to Shann, who had time and space to float in a cross towards the edge of the six-yard box where Akinola’s free-header was pushed over the bar by the excellent Ogunseri’s strong right-hand.

Jay Saunders (Folkestone Invicta manager) take note!   Your second choice-keeper is putting in some outstanding performances and can handle high-pressure games.

“Isaac is outstanding, Isaac is outstanding. If you need to score against Isaac, it’s got to be a good goal,” said Ashanike.

“We don’t concede a lot of goals (23 League goals) and Isaac again today he’s pulled out some massive, massive, massive saves in important times.

“I think if we had gone in 2-1, that game would’ve changed in the second half but because we went in at 2-0, we had the confidence to come out second half.”

Another Wingate & Finchley chance went begging with the last kick of the first half.

Cornish’s deep corner came in from the left and the unmarked William Cracknell knocked the ball down and Stallard lashed his volley over the crossbar from eight-yards.

“Like I said to them at half-time, I said ‘look Wingate are going to come out differently.’  Right now what you’ve just played against is a Step Three team.  Second half they are going to come out and when they do come out can we stand up tall and just defend and make sure that we are hard to beat?

“They’ve showed the character that we were looking for in the second half.”

Ashanike was forced into making a forced change at the break, with Omari Williams coming on for Gibbons and slotting in at left-back, as central midfielder Nasereldene Crespo slotted in at right-back.

Rifat was forced into throwing on striker Botti seven minutes into the second half, in a failed attempt to prevent a humiliating defeat against a club that do NOT pay their players.

Wingate & Finchley’s Kyron Horsley-McKay (who plays on the right of their three-man defence) had his pocket picked by a pressing Jones, who cut inside and cracked a right-footed drive which sailed over the crossbar from 35-yards.

Ashanike explained: “At the start of the game, we went at full press.  We tried to show them no respect but once we say the first seven minutes, like you said, we had to retreat and changed our shape a bit.  We sat off them and ready to pick the pockets and we done well.

“I thought we picked the pocket like three or four times in that half when we could actually counter attack and they done really well with it.”

Cornish’s right-footed corner came in from the left and Stallard was a danger with towering headers at the back-post and on this occasion his free-header was saved by Ogunseri.

Wingate & Finchley produced a well-worked move (15:52) when Shann played left-centre-back Stallard on an overlapping run and his cut-back from within the left-channel was met first time by Restrepo, who hit his first-time right-footed drive over the crossbar.

Fisher were a threat on the counter-attack and Jones’ right-footed free-kick was cleared out to Salgado, who stabbed the ball inside to Lorenzo Duncan, who suffered similar fate, hitting his first-time left-footed drive over from inside the D.

Dominant Wingate & Finchley deservedly pulled a goal back with 23 minutes and 57 seconds on the clock, through an easy finish from Botti.

Restrepo switched the play over to right-wing-back Rhamar Garrett-Douglas, who drilled in a low deep cross towards the back post where the unmarked Botti took a touch before sweeping his right-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner from inside the six-yard box.

“So, look, when you’re playing against a big side like that, you’ve got to understand that they’re going to have a lions share of possession, like Windsor did on Saturday, but can we keep them at bay?  Can we keep the ball away from our goal? Can we keep our shape? Can we work off the ball and that was ticked off tonight,” said Ashanike.

“So, when we started making the changes, that’s when we were lacking a lot of quality. When we were starting making changes, we were getting weaker, when they were getting stronger.

“I believe Omari (Williams) should’ve just headed that on and we win this game 2-0 or 3-0 but again I believe Donny could’ve done a lot more and I’m going to speak to Donny about it because making two mistakes in one go is not something I’m not used to. I don’t like things like that.

“So if Omari is going to make a mistake, it’s ok, but Donny could’ve affected it, so it’s something that we’re going to go back and look at and talk about.”

Crespo’s deep cross found its way through to Salgado, who took a touch before drilling his rasping right-footed drive towards the roof of the net, which was beaten away two-handed by Hale-Brown at his near-post as Fisher created a decent chance going into the final 15 minutes.

“I thought that was in! Esteban’s got that in his locker, to be finishing balls like that but we’re creating chances,” added Ashanike.

“I’m happy, as long as they keep creating chances, we’re going to keep scoring, so all they’ve got to keep doing is focus and just keep creating chances but overall I’m really proud of them.”

But Fisher’s players put in a resilient performance full of desire to ensure they got over the line, as Wingate & Finchley bossed possession and were camped inside the Fisher half for large parts.

The threatening Salgado gave Hale-Brown a scary moment, cracking a right-footed screamer past the diving keeper and just past the top of the left-hand post from 35-yards after being fed by Williams, who appeared to be the weak link in Fisher’s back four.

Stallard’s runs into the channel was causing Fisher problems as the visitors’ had excellent movement and it seemed to be a matter of time that Rifat’s men would score the equaliser and take this tie to a penalty shoot-out.

Referee Emre Arslan booked Benjamin Watt in stoppage time and the Wingate & Finchley substitute swiftly picked up his second yellow card and was sent-off for a foul on Jones inside the centre-circle.

Ashanike said: “I think he should’ve got sent off in the first place, the way he was speaking to the referee. You’ve got to respect the referee’s straight away.  You can’t be talking to referee’s like that and credit to the referee.  I think the young man’s got to learn from it.”

Referee Arslan gave Wingate & Finchley their moment when Restrepo was fouled by MacAuley on the edge of the D.

Ogunseri lined up a four man wall, as the five-goal Akinola and the three-goal substitute central midfielder Ryan Lowe (who pulled the strings when he came on) stood over the ball.

Lowe drilled his left-footed free-kick into the wall and only 12 seconds later, Fisher had wrapped up the victory with a clinical counter-attacking clincher, timed at 50 minutes and 34 seconds on the clock.

Rafael Garcia played the ball up field to Jones who travelled over the half-way line and had a choice to pass to sub striker Jacob Katonia or Lawson.  Jones made the right decision.

Lawson charged down the heart of the pitch before dinking his deflected right-footed shot over the advancing goalkeeper and the ball bounced into the left-hand corner of the empty goal, to the delight of the vocal Fisher contingent behind the goal.

“We worked on counter-attack three weeks ago, getting bodies forward and I’m so proud of my team, on 90 minutes, we were still running, going forward,” said Ashanike.

“That is something different honestly. I said last season, these boys are made differently. In 90 minutes, for you to be making sprints trying to get one more goal, when we could just go to the corner, credit to the boys. I’m really, really proud of them. I’m a proud manager tonight.

“Jacob Katonia, Sha’mar Lawson’s come back today. We’re looking stronger. Tyron Mbuenimo’s coming back (from suspension) on Saturday, so we are looking stronger as a collective.

“I believe we’re going to be a good force going into next month but the boys have to stay positive.  They have to stay switched on and have to keep believing what me and Jordan and the management team are doing and just stay focused and the rest will handle itself.

“To be able to match a Step here side that trains twice a week – on a good budget as well on top of it – is credit to the boys, especially Tom Jones. I think Tom Jones was running about 32k tonight. He was all over the shop and yes, I’m just so proud of them.

“The fitness levels is something that they should be proud off and their quality comes with it.  We know they’ve got quality, that’s why they’re here.”

The London FA have confirmed that Dulwich Hamlet’s Champion Hill will be staging the London Senior Cup Final on Tuesday 28 April (date to be confirmed).

Fisher can now look forward to a lucrative home London Senior Cup Quarter-Final tie against Mark Dacey’s Dulwich Hamlet on Tuesday 3 March.

“I think Mark Dacey’s going to be loving that one now because for the last two weeks Mark has been helping us massively trying to help us with this game,” revealed Ashanike.

“We’ve got a lot of videos on Wingate.  We knew exactly how they played, we know exactly what the players would be doing so me and Jordan have been working really hard the last two weeks just watching everything that they do and again our tactics worked really well.

“But now it’s a big showdown of South London. We shared their stadium before but Mark Dacey is one of my mates so it’s going to be a good game and obviously Joseph Adewunmi is coming back home to Fisher as well.

“It’s a game we’re looking forward to. They’re doing really well in the League (tenth, Isthmian League Premier Division, 37 points from 27 games) but as long as we stay focused and we can do what we’re doing, whatever happens, happens really.

“Hopefully they can bring a big crowd down. It’s game we’re looking forward to and I believe the boys are looking forward to it as well, so whatever day the club’s agree, we’re just going to be ready and ready to go against them.”

Ashanike, meanwhile, takes his side to the Kent coast on Saturday, to play Jamie Coyle’s Whitstable Town in the Kent Senior Trophy Quarter-Finals.

The Oystermen will host Cockfosters in The FA Vase Last 16 after the holders came away from Harpenden Town with a 4-1 win on 17 January, while Ashanike takes his side to Gravesend to lock horns with their League rivals Punjab United on Saturday 7 February.

Coyle’s men are 11 points clear of Larkfield & New Hythe at the summit and Fisher’s performances against Windsor & Eton and Wingate & Finchley here tonight have proved that they are a serious play-off contender.

“Do you know what? Whitstable is something different.  The two club’s get along really well. They’re doing an absolutely great job there. We’re trying to mirror what they’re doing over there. They’re a bigger club than us.  We understand that but we’ve just got to make sure that we match what they’ve got for us and we can showcase our game on Saturday,” said Ashanike.

“If we perform like that for 90 minutes on Saturday, I believe they can go and win it. This team can beat anyone but they’ve just got to stay focused and make sure they do the dirty job off the ball and on the ball.”

When asked if reaching the FA Vase Last 16 has sunk in yet, the Fisher boss replied: “Honestly, I think it will sink in properly tomorrow what they’ve done but I’m just proud of them. I’m just really, really proud of them.

“If you said at the start of the season, that we’re going to be here, I would’ve bit your hand off but again we take game-by-game and see where it takes us, like we always say.

“They’ve just played against a Step Three side, matched them and I think for 90 minutes they were brilliant and they should be proud of what they’ve done tonight.

“The Dulwich game is far away so we’ve just got to worry about Whitstable on Saturday now. That’s my main focus now.

“But to still be in three cups at the end of January is something crazy, something that you’ve not heard of before in this club but I’m really proud off it and let’s see where it takes us.

“I’m giving them a day off on Thursday. We need a day off. We’ve done so much and I believe the boys actually need a break. They were still running for the club and running for the badge and running for the fans in the 90^th minute – so I’m going to give them Thursday off because they deserve it but hopefully they can come in and perform again on Saturday.”

Fisher: Isaac Ogunseri, Jack Gibbons (Omari Williams 46), Lorenzo Duncan (David Mata 75), Michael Sarpong (Sha’mar Lawson 62), Donald MacAuley, Stephan Richard Kingson, Esteban Salgado, Nasereldene Crespo, Festos Kamara (Rafael Garcia 74), Tom Jones, Christopher Ojemen (Jacob Katonia 79).

Goals: Tom Jones 17, Donald MacAuley 30, Sha’mar Lawson 90

Booked: Omari Williams 86, Sha’mar Lawson 90

Wingate & Finchley: Fergal Hale-Brown, Rhamar Garrett-Douglas, Casey Shann (Eddie Allsopp 66), William Cracknell, Kyron Horsley-McKay, Charlie Stallard, Camilo Restrepo, Sam Cornish (Ryan Lowe 67), Joshua Gibbons (Gianluca Botti 52), Ayyuba Jambang (Benjamin Watt 78), Romeo Akinola.
Sub: Juan Fernandez

Goal: Gianluca Botti 69

Booked: Benjamin Watt 90

Sent Off: Benjamin Watt 90

Attendance: 201
Referee: Mr Emre Arslan
Assistants: Mr Alex Mathieson & Mr Amir Badrashi Loddo