Don’t look too long at the scoreline above, it tells you very little. OK it tells you we lost, but it doesn’t tell you the excitement, the action, the fantastic work-rate of The Gulls or the bitter disappointment of being robbed of a replay in the 91^st minute of the game.

The weathermen promised rain, sleet and gales and throughout Friday night many of us wondered if the game would go ahead. As it turned out it was one of the nicest days we have for some time. As we gathered at Park Lane for the long journey into the Gloucestershire countryside there was an air of optimism, but this was tempered by a realism that Cheltenham are at the top of the Conference League and, playing away from home, Canvey would have mighty battle in front of them. On paper Cheltenham are obviously the better side. But on the pitch today it was a totally different story.

When we arrived at Cheltenham the local community centre was made available for the thirsty visitors and with toasted sandwiches and the local Poacher Bitter available, we prepared ourselves for the match. Once inside the stadium we were very impressed to see an excellent pitch that looked dry and green – well done to the Cheltenham groundstaff.

The game started and for quite a while it was evens, with both sides coming close to grabbing the first goal of the afternoon. Making all the noise we could to encourage the lads, we were quite impressed with the game and any thoughts that we might be outplayed by our senior opposition were quickly dispelled. The first shot of the game fell to Cheltenham with Brian Horne making a superb save (the ref. still game a goal-kick – so what!) but within minutes Chris Payne replied for Canvey with a great shot from 10yds that was only just wide.

Canvey continued to reply on a one to one basis to all the threats made by Cheltenham and the game stayed pretty level until the 23^rd minute when Neil Grayson put the home team into the lead with a rather soft header that caught Horny going in the wrong direction. In spite of his new trim shape Brian could not turn quickly enough in mid-air and so we found ourselves one down. The home fans were probably expecting the floodgates to open, but Canvey were not prepared to roll over and die and kept up the pressure.

The difference was that whenever the Canvey attackers got the ball, they were closed down by a very sharp defence extremely quickly. At the other end, however, Cheltenham attackers were given just a split second longer to collect the ball and compose themselves and, as a consequence, their attacks often looked the more dangerous. In the middle of the pitch though we were giving as good as we got.

When half time came the visiting fans would say that Canvey were the better of the two teams. I don’t suppose that the Cheltenham fans would agree, but there is no way they could even pretend that they were in control. To Cheltenham’s credit they played some good football but that allowed Canvey to play a similar game, and, for any neutral in the ground they would have to agree that the game was very evenly balanced. One home fan I spoke to told me that this was much more difficult that the usual Conference opposition.

Four minutes into the second half Canvey got their reward. A corner was sent over beautifully onto Alan Brett’s head and he buried the ball in the back of the Cheltenham net to bring the score back to 1 - 1. The vocal Yellow Army went berserk. To prove that this was no fluke, Tilly almost extended the lead on 16 minutes when a fantastic 35yd shot went millimetres over the bar with the goalkeeper nowhere near it.

Canvey’s equaliser took us into a spell when the game rocked from one end to the other with both sides coming near. Brian Horne was in great form and made one or two spectacular saves.

There were two miracles witnessed on the pitch today. First of all Cheltenham’s Neil Grayson took a tumble and most people thought he had broken a leg. The stretcher was brought on for the forward as he lay in agony. Precious minutes passed and just as he was being helped onto the stretcher, Alleluia! Like Lazarus he rose from his bed and walked. Miracle number one. The second miracle was that the local referee (Mr Harris from Oxford) didn’t book him for a cynical time wasting ploy that, later in the afternoon, would rob Canvey of a replay.

In the last 15 minutes Canvey did lose their shape somewhat and it was the defence that had to hang on for all it’s might as Cheltenham threw everything forward. Ports and Britts were magnificent in the middle and for the first time I award a Joint Man of the Match to these two heroes. Alan Brett was substituted by Danny O’Shea in a bid to support the defenders and you could see Cheltenham getting more and more frustrated as each attack was foiled, cleared or tipped over the bar.

The Canvey fans went into overdrive in an attempt to get behind their team but it wasn’t quite enough. In the 91^st minute a mid-air scramble in Canvey’s 6yd box saw the ball drop to the floor and almost all the players on the pitch made a desperate attempt to get to it. Canvey were so, desperately unlucky that the contact was finally made by Mark Freeman who poked it into the net to let his team off the hook and save them a long and uncomfortable mid-week journey to Canvey Island for a replay.

But still Canvey didn’t give up. In reply they came straight down to the other end to mount a final raid on the Cheltenham goal but it was not to be. Beaten, but only just. Defeated, but not disgraced. Conquered but not vanquished. Every one of the Canvey players gave 110% today and recognising this, even the Cheltenham fans gave them a standing ovation as they left the pitch.