Fisher Athletic 3, Thurrock 5

THURROCK produced the upset of the day in the Conference South, rocking big-spending promotion contenders Fisher with a five goal blitz in their own backyard.

Fisher, who boast the division's best goalscoring record, were outgunned by Hakan Hayrettin's never-say-die Fleet who are slowly edging away from a relegation battle.

The inspiration behind Thurrock's victory was dynamic midfielder Hassan Nyang who chipped in with two goals to open and close Thurrock's scoring blitz.

Also impressing on his debut in central midfield was Scott Cannon, the former Farnborough player who was signed from Grays.

The first came on 37 minutes after Thurrock had weathered the opening storm from Fisher, denying their own unwanted record as the league's most profligate defence with some hard work that snuffed out most of Fisher's chances.

He was picked out by Tim Cole's pass on the edge of the 18 yard box and produced a fine lob to beat the home side's debutant goalkeeper Ron Webb.

However, it was a lead they were to hang onto for just a minute and it was another mistake from the eccentric keeper Max Aneke that handed it to Fisher. Aneke, who was drafted back in because of an injury to James Hussey made a hash of a kick and the ball fell straight to Joe Healy who didn't waste the opportunity to knock it back into an unguarded net.

And things got worse for the visitors two minutes later when they failed to clear their lines and from the ensuing scramble Tim Clancy fired home.

Sides with less character than Thurrock's might have thrown in the towel at that point but Hayrettin has stressed all season that his players will never lack the capacity for a fight and on the second half resumption they came out firing on all cylinders.

Fisher, who might be accused of being complacent, were simply blown away by the visitors who got the equaliser with another header from Leon McKenzie who continues to grow in stature as he grows in confidence at this level.

Fleet grabbed the lead again on 55 minutes later when top scorer Wes Thomas again showed his finishing skills and when left unmarked and defender Cole, who has made a big impression after coming in on loan from Conference high-fliers Dagenham, was on hand to head Thurrock into a two goal advantage on the hour mark when he got on the end of Ludovic Dje's cross.

In the closing moments Nyang rounded off his outstanding personal display with a fine solo goal, bearing down on goal from about 40 yards out before crashing the ball into the back of the net.

Fisher did claim an injury time consolation goal through Ahmed Deen's freekick but it was nowhere near enough to take the shine off Thurrock's achievement on inflicting only a second defeat of the season on Fisher.