Villa Park here we come....

Well over 500 Yellow Army fans made the 500 mile round trip to Chester to cheer Canvey Island into the final of the FA Umbro Trophy and every one of them would agree, this was Canvey's Finest Hour. To have held onto their 2-0 lead from Park Lane would have been good enough, to extend it to 4-0 was absolute magic. The scenes at the end of the game, when all the players and the management stood and applauded their fans, is a picture that will live long in fans' memories. Andy Jones throwing his shirt into the crowd, Mark Stimson wearing a straw boater and finally, Steve Ward dancing across the pitch, all demonstrated what an important victory this was.

Canvey took a 2-0 lead into the second leg but Jeff King had already said that the team was not going out there simply to hold on.  Jeff wanted the team to go out and fight for a victory and that's exactly what they did.  From the off it looked like it would be a game of chances and near misses at both ends.  If anything, Chester started the better of the two teams. They looked hungry and created several early opportunities.  But that's all they were; opportunities.  Nothing was being converted and so when Canvey eventually settled down and started creating their own dangerous chances, it was obvious that this was going to be an exciting game. Very early on Neil Gregory took a shot on goal only to see Wayne Brown push it wide for a corner.  From that corner, taken by Steve Tilson, again Greggers got near when Brown came out well to punch the ball off his head. Meanwhile, the only pressure that Ashley Harrison was under was the back passes from his own defenders - one or two of which he was forced to scramble away.

Chester looked strong in the air and, unusually, Neil Gregory was not getting the sort of domination in the air that he has become used to.  In defence also, Chester looked more than competent.  It was on 15 minutes that a headed clearance gave Canvey their third corner of the game, each one demonstrating to Chester that this 'Pub Team from Essex' was not just here for the beer.

Scott Ruscoe came closest for the home team on 16 minutes when he found himself in plenty of space out on the left and he put in a terrific low shot.  Canvey did manage to clear the ball to safety, but it was a very close call.  In general, however, it was the three strong men in the shape of Chenery, Bodley and Ward who managed to keep the Chester forwards at bay.  They were ably supported by Mark Stimson and Steve Tilson who were always on hand with some deft tackles and good clearances.

The goal that Canvey wanted came on 27 minutes and was a superb piece of teamwork involving almost all the Canvey players.  A good clearance found Wayne Vaughan in midfield and he sliced the Chester defence in half with a threaded through-ball to Mark Stimson.  Stimo did all the hard work before managing to lay the ball off to the advancing Chris Duffy who in turn set it up beautifully for Steve Parmenter to hit home from close range.  All this in front of the Yellow Army stand and the Deva Stadium seemed to erupt.  Surely Chester now had an impossible fight on their hands.

Stimson almost got a second goal for the visitors just 2 minutes later when he sent in a blockbuster of a long-range shot that was well saved by the ever agile Brown.  This was the start of three successive corners for Canvey, each one stretching the defence.  This was a period of domination by Canvey that lasted for almost the rest of the game with several near misses being notched up by Vaughan, Duffy and Gregory.  But there was one special near miss by Mick Bodley from a Steve Tilson free-kick in the 35th minute that almost took the game beyond reach.

Paul Carden came close for Chester just before half-time when he sent in a curling free-kick that was only just wide.  There was a spate of free-kicks and bookings during this period with yellow cards for Chris Duffy, John Kennedy and Steve Ward for Canvey and Steve Whitehall for Chester.  But just like last week's encounter, this certainly was not a dirty game.

The second half started with Canvey proud of their 1-0 lead but one sensed a determination on Canvey's part to increase it.  Chester had other ideas and for a while they looked like they might well get back into the game.  Lead protagonist in their fight was No. 10 Steve Whitehall.  Within minutes he found himself clear through on goal and would have got in a good shot had Steve Ward not come in with a timely tackle.  Wardy managed an unorthodox clearance that struck the goal post and rebounded across the empty goalmouth.  Again Whitehall was in like a flash but unfortunately for him Wardy was even faster and managed to shield the ball long enough for Harrison to come and collect it in something of a goalmouth scramble.  There were appeals for a penalty as the No.10 lay in the mud but the referee was close enough to see that everything was fair.

Neil Fisher was finding lots of space on the right and several passes out to him had the effect of splitting the Caney defence almost in half.  The crosses he sent over looked dangerous, but once again the Canvey defence held up well and very few shots came in on target.

It looked like the period of Chester domination might well lead to an equaliser but any hope of that was well and truly thwarted in the 58th minute when Mark Stimson's second blockbusting shot of the game found its target.  Stimo unleashed his shot from 25yds out and although Brown did well to get down to it, he stood no chance of stopping it.  From here on in it was Canvey, Canvey, Canvey.  Chester continued to play, but their heads were down and apart from substitute Jimmy Haarhoff, nobody was putting their heart into it.  Haarhoff might have done more but he was getting next to no service from his colleagues.  Home fans sensed this and it was an unusual sight to see them leaving the main stands in their droves.  Canvey fans started to jeer but noticed that so many of the Chester faithful were turning to the Yellow Army and applauding them and their team in genuine admiration.  Even Chester fans behind their own goal were now chanting 'Yellow Army' - partly in admiration of the visitors, partly in dismay at their own team's performance.

To rub salt into the Chester wounds, Neil Gregory almost made it three with just three minutes to go when substitute Andy Jones ran well out onto the left and sent in a cross that Greggers could only manage to hit wide.  This, together with a shot from Duffy that hit the crossbar in the dying minutes, put the seal on Chester's mediocre performance and when the final whistle went, everybody still in the ground stood to applaud the Canvey team who have now turned over not just one, but three Conference sides.

A terrific performance from the Ryman Leaguers who have demonstrated repeatedly this season that they have the strength, the skill and the determination to go all the way.  What a pity that the one year that Canvey have made it to Wembley, Wembley isn't there any more!  Never mind, Villa Park will do nicely, thank you.

Match Report by Merv. Pictures by Ian. More pictures from the day here.

Weather Conditions:  Wet...but who cares!!.