Anticlimax, or What?

Following those fantastic performances against Port Vale, both home and away, today was always going to be something of an anticlimax.  How could the fans, lets alone the team, re-create the passion and fervour of those magical 220 minutes?  Harlow Sports Centre is about as far removed from Vale Park and you can get without boarding an aeroplane.  The playing surface resembled Canvey beach at low tide and there was about as much atmosphere as you might find at a road traffic accident.  Although Harlow had been billing this game as Harlow v The Giant Killers, the cow pats on the path around the running track summed up the reality.

Canvey took an early lead following a free-kick well taken by Adam Miller.  He found Micky Bennett in the middle and the visiting Yellow Army thought that although this might be a pedestrian performance, it would at least be a successful one.  Sadly this was not to be the case.  Canvey didn't play badly, they just weren't running on adrenalin, as they had done in their earlier FA Cup performances. Harlow, on the other hand, were the minnows in the big pond and had everything to play for.

Harlow played well.  Not spectacularly well, but well enough.  They contained the Canvey forward line in a way that Vale couldn't.  But this was a forward line that was really only going through the motions.  The pitch and, not wishing to sound condescending, the opposition, combined to bring the game down to a level where good football was difficult.

Credit to Harlow however.  It doesn't matter who is the best 'technical' side, it doesn't matter who has the greatest reputation.  Doesn't really matter what you did in your last game.  It's all down to this game and, in this game, Canvey failed to dominate.

The first half dragged on and there was little to get excited about.  The referee did his best to stop the game flowing and insisted on blowing for every trivial incident whilst ignoring a lot of the nasty fouls.  His linesmen had been told not to interfere in the game and turned a blind eye to most things, including Harlow's scorer Tony McNally being off-side when he scored the equaliser in the 46th minute of the first half.

The second half didn't get much better.  Accurate passing was difficult for both teams and Harlow tried hard to succeed with the long lob and run.  Canvey's running into the spaces fared just a little better, but some uncharacteristically bad finishing didn't help the situation.

Steve Parmenter grabbed a beautiful goal on the hour, following a terrific cross from Wayne Vaughan.  But it needed at least another goal to take the game beyond Harlow's reach.  Sadly Canvey couldn't find one.  Vaughan came the closest when Jonah found him in acres of space with a pin-point cross, but the fiery little forward just couldn't do the business.

It looked like Canvey might hold on for the full 90 minutes but with just about a minute to go, Harlow scrambled the equaliser.  Hearts sank because Canvey have it all to do again next Tuesday.  Instead of thinking about the BIG one at Roots Hall on Sunday, Canvey have to bring themselves down to earth for at least another hour and a half to try and get a bit further in this important non-league competition.  Everybody on the terraces knows they can do it.  Can Jeff and Glen now convince the players?  Or will it be another anticlimax.

Match Report by Merv

Weather Conditions: Dry, bright afternoon on a very heavy pitch

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