The Gulls Go Marching On

A scoreline doesn’t always tell the whole truth.  Take today's game for instance, one – nil to Canvey suggests that they only just made it, that perhaps it was an even game or that the only goal might have been a lucky one.  In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.  Canvey dominated 80 of the 90 minutes and the only wonder is that we didn’t see a heap more goals.

That we didn’t see more goals probably has something to do with fatigue.  Without denigrating Canvey’s forwards, they did seem to run out of steam in the second half and much of their play was at half-speed, rather than the ‘full steam ahead’ mode that they played for 210 minutes against Stevenage Borough.  The urgency up front seemed to have disappeared today, it was as if the spirit was willing, but the legs were just a little weak.

Purfleet probably consider themselves unlucky and in his BBC Essex interview after the game, manager Colin McBride hinted as much.  He seemed reluctant to admit the truth; that Canvey had a solid defence, they dominated the midfield and, but for a lack of conversions up front, might have won this game by at least four or five clear goals.

The goal Canvey did score came after only two minutes.  It started in midfield with Mick Bodley who pushed the ball forward to Neil Gregory, just on the edge of the Purfleet 18yd box.  He lobbed over an inch perfect pass that found the head of Wayne Vaughan and Wayno’s nod-on looked certain odds to go in.  Unfortunately, it hit the crossbar and dropped back, right into the path of the advancing Chris Duffy.  Duffers made no mistake and buried the ball to claim his 4th goal of the season.

This was a great start for Canvey and fans sat back and waited for more goals to go in.  They were doing well at getting the ball forward with some crisp passing and superb ball control.  Forwards were running into space well and in particular, the combination of Chris Duffy and John Kennedy on the right flank was a joy to watch.  It was good, entertaining football, right across the park.

Chris Duffy appeared to be niggled with a groin injury at Stevenage on Monday night, but today he looked to be back to his sharp and energetic self.  Overlapping with the ever impressive John Kennedy, he was sending some dangerous looking crosses from the right.  Meanwhile, out  on the left, Craig Davidson was combining well with Steve Tilson and Purfleet found themselves under all sorts of pressure.

The Purfleet defence played well today; they had to.  They blocked shots, cleared them and generally did their best to keep Canvey out.  At the other end, few Purfleet attacks were amounting to anything.  Simon Ullathorne was the only home attacker who was making any dent in Canvey’s well marshaled defence and, rather unusually, George Georgiou could do nothing to make any inroads.  Steve Ward played like …. well… Steve Ward.  What more can you say?  There was only one real scare for Canvey, just on the half-hour, when Ullathorne found himself through for a one-on-one with Harrison, but the Canvey keeper was off his line like a flash and the angle was so narrow, all the Purfleet No.10 could do was shoot well wide.

The first half finished at 1 – 0 to Canvey, it could so easily have been 4 – 0.  But this game is so full of ‘should have been’ and ‘ought to have been’ that who cares?  Canvey were on top and more goals would come, surely?

When the second half started Purfleet looked to be more in control.  They had more purpose and for a while, at least, Canvey lost much of their shape.  Passes that earlier had found their man, now fell short.  Ball control that earlier had been just about perfect, now needed a second touch.  But it didn’t last.  Gradually, the Gulls got hold of it once again and started running the game once more.  Everything was going well until the 18yd box.  It was here that Canvey attack started to look just a bit jaded.  Whereas they once chased these balls and caught them, now they were half a yard short and losing them.  The pace seemed too fast for players who, on their normal form, run defences ragged.  They just couldn’t convert the chances that were being created and time after time the opportunities were being lost.

But it was still good to watch.  The only danger was that Purfleet would nick one back and all that good work of the first half would be lost.  John Keeling was doing all he could to get Purfleet onto the scoresheet.  He ran well down the right and some of his crosses looked dangerous, but Purfleet had nobody in the middle who could turn these balls into goals – especially when Ashley Harrison was plucking everything out of the air with consummate ease.

Eventually, Canvey brought on new signing Ian Thompson to freshen things up, and that’s just what he did.  The diminutive attacking midfielder looked so fresh and keen that he gave an injection of enthusiasm to the other players.  He called for, and wanted, every ball that was sent forward.  This gave extra impetus to JK and Parms and they too lifted their game accordingly.  Sadly, it didn’t result in any more goals going in, but it did demonstrate that this Canvey team, once it clicks into gear, can be deadly.

Purfleet had already made a double substitution when they brought on Martin Carthy and Keith Martin.  Carthy did for the home side what Thompson did for the visitors.  He looked dangerous anywhere near the Canvey goal and forced Ashley Harrison into making two of his most important saves of the past few weeks.  He looked especially dangerous with his head and with more support from midfield he could do some damage for the Purfleet side.

In the end it was three more important points for Canvey, and all this in a week when they had taken on and beaten Stevenage Borough.  Of course, success for Canvey depends not just on their own successful performances but, equally, on other teams dropping points.  Will Farnborough take a wobble?  Will Gravesend fade away?  Will Canvey continue their fantastic run both in the league and in the Trophy?  I think so, but watch this space.

Match Report by Merv. Pictures by Ian.

Weather Conditions: Dull, dry, but bitterly cold.