Gravesend started the game firing on all cylinders totally dominating the pitch and it wasn’t long before the Gravesend fans were really cheering, when only three minutes into the game a shot from outside the box was parried away by the Canvey ‘keeper Harrison into the air over his head and in for Gravesend’s first goal but alas the rather short linesman on the far side of the pitch had his flag raised for offside, and naturally all the Gravesend players appealed against the decision.

Canvey obviously shocked by the pace and domination of Gravesend began to find their footing and started to put balls forward with Andy Jones, Wayne Vaughan and Sammy Cooper coming close. On twenty minutes a shot just outside the box was deflected wide by the Gravesend defence resulting in corner, which after a tussle on the goal line was eventually cleared. Twenty-three minutes gone Craig Davidson ran towards goal with the ball closely followed by a Gravesend defender who went for a tackle which put the ball round his own keeper all Crow had to do was get a foot to the ball but in doing so skidded a fell letting the ball run off for a goal kick

Minutes later a good shot from what looked like from my position Andy Jones was palmed over for a corner, with all the players marking up on the corner ex-Canvey player Scott Lindsey wearing the captains band I might add was really telling his team to get in order after being let off the hook for the last ten minutes. As the corner was headed away Chris Duffy was fouled just outside the box resulting in a free kick to be taken by Steve Parmenter. Waiting for the right time to strike Parms teed up the shot which seemed to be going in but rattled the cross bar, now Canvey were piling the pressure.

For the rest of the first half the game was very evenly match with ball travelling from end to end then a good effort from the Gravesend number ten Paul Booth forced a good save from Ashley Harrison who put the ball out for a corner. With halftime drawing close a good double effort from Gravesend broke through the Canvey defence, the forward took the ball round ‘Keeper Harrison but instead of having a shot at an open goal he passed it to the number nine Steve Restarick who’s shot went well wide, he should really have made that shot count.

After half time it was Canvey’s turn to come out all fired up and two minutes into the half a tackle gave Steve Parmenter a free kick and Gravesend captain Scott Lindsey a yellow card. The free kick though went over the crossbar and into a supporters arm. On fifty minutes a quick dash by Canvey man Andy Jones left the Gravesend defence for dust, Jonah then proceeded to poke the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of the goal, but the Gravesend ‘Keeper Jamie Turner reacted quickly and done well to get down low to the ball.

During the next twenty minutes there were many chances for both sides Gravesend coming the closest with a wonderful shot from the left going just wide of the goal. On sixty minutes a long ball down the middle sent Wayne Vaughan on his way one on one with the ‘Keeper but Turner just got a foot in to punt the ball away. Both the teams were making substitutions now with Gravesend number fourteen Che Stadhart coming on for Paul Booth, and Micky Bennett replacing Chris Duffy for Canvey. On sixty-six minutes Canvey gained two quick corners the closest chance from them were a headed deflection from Mick Bodley and a shot just wide from Sammy Cooper.

Gravesend were now pulling their hair out at the chances they were letting Canvey have so they decided to mount a counter attack with good breakaways and one on ones with ‘Keeper Harrison. A goal kick from Harrison lead to Canvey’s goal a big Punt up field by Ashley on sixty-seven minutes was headed to the ground by the Gravesend midfield and eventually a shot from Parmenter was once again cleared from the penalty area but only to fall to the feet of Craig Davidson out on the right wing who hit it superbly curling it around several Gravesend defenders who thought it was going wide and into the bottom left hand corner, Gravesend ‘keeper Turner was helpless to stop the ball and just stood still his view partly obscured by two players standing only a few yards in front of him.

But the celebrations were short lived as Gravesend mounted pressure and quickly gained a corner from the left, which was met by Craig Wilkins' head and found the back of the net Canvey ‘keeper Harrison quickly began to appeal claiming he was pushed away from the ball but only gaining a yellow card for his troubles presumably for dissent. All the Canvey fans were really getting behind their team now hoping to motivate them enough to gain a winner and as Canvey were getting back into the game tackles and fouls were being committed all over the field but none in any real scoring opportunities for either side and Ben Chenery got his first yellow card for the team.

With eleven minutes to go Steve Clark came on for Wayne Vaughan to add to the heading firepower up front. Three minutes later Gravesend made their final substitution of the game bringing on number twelve Nick Hegley for number seven Darren Smith, but these didn’t help much for the teams and it finished all square at full time. Canvey will now look forward to gain three points when we visit sixteenth place Slough on Saturday if we are to have any real chance of promotion this season.