Revenge is Sweet

Last December Canvey suffered their last league defeat at the hands of Billericay.  A share of the points was stolen from Canvey in the dying minutes of the game by a second goal from Joe Baker.  Today, the Gulls founds that revenge is so sweet and in the form of Ian Thompson, they turned the tables and grabbed all three derby points in the 89th minute.

There have been times in the past when Canvey have played brilliantly for 90 minutes and lost.  How ironic then that today they played well below form and won.  But let's not be too hard on the Canvey squad who have achieved wonders this season.  When you consider they have played two Trophy semi-finals and then a local derby in the space of just two weeks it would be harsh to condemn the pub team from Essex for achieving what was, after all, three more important points.

The first half was a joy to watch.  Canvey were playing exhibition football for much of the opening period and their passing, their control and their use of space was text-book stuff.  There were early shots from Tilson, Duffy and Vaughan, plus one superb effort from Neil Gregory that was only just high and went on to put a dent on the newly erected fence.  The visitors had little to offer in reply, with the possible exception of a Dominic Gentle shot after 16 minutes when he was allowed some space in the middle, although his effort was too high and too wide.

Pressure was always on the Billericay penalty area and Canvey can consider themselves very unlucky to have a penalty appeal turned down after 22 minutes.  A Billericay defender was seen to handle the ball on the edge of the 6yd box by most of the 1100 crowd and also by the assistant referee who waved his flag but was ignored by the Man in Black.  This unfortunate miss by the ref. plus another miss, this time by Chris Duffy on 32 minutes, meant that although Canvey were the team on top, the official result was still pointing at a scoreline of nil-nil. 

But all that was about to end just four minutes later when Captain Steve Tilson put the Islanders into a deserved one-nil lead.  The ball was picked up well by Wayne Vaughan just on the right hand side of the visitors' penalty area.  A perfect pass was sent over the top of the assembled defence and found Tilly in acres of space just to the left of the 6yd box.  He hit the ball hard and low and it screamed into the net past the hapless Gavin King in the Billericay goal.  A just reward for dominating so much of the first half but the  question was, 'Would it be enough?'

The second half was quite different from the first.  Whereas Canvey had dominated, now they were finding it difficult to string any sequence of passes together.  Their clever build-up play now came down to the level of long lobs up the middle.  Billericay were now beginning to make their presence felt and it was difficult to see how Canvey could do much about it.  At the back, ex-Canvey player Chris Moore was dominant and nobody could work out a strategy for getting past him.  Additionally, Joe Baker was creating some menacing moments and for many home fans, accustomed to seeing their team turn over Conference opposition, it was becoming a bitter pill to swallow.

There was very little for either set of fans to cheer about and the game was in danger of becoming boring.  The biggest excitement for Canvey fans was whenever the Billericay 'keeper, Gavin King, came out to collect a ball.  His handling generally was extremely poor and it was pity that Canvey couldn't take advantage of the various Billericay mix-ups in defence.  The inability to take advantage of the situation almost cost Canvey dear when Billericay equalised in the 74th minute.  A long cross to the far post found Baker in loads of space (how many times have we seen this at Park Lane?) and he had little difficult in hitting home from close range.  

Canvey now had to try and get back into the game.  The opposition was not that good, but still Canvey were finding it difficult to get a grip on things.  Steve Ward was coming more and more forward and fans who had booked him at 100:1 to score were getting rather excited.  But Wardy is still a goal virgin and the bookies are still rich.

Ashley Harrison was forced to make one of his dramatic saves from the ever dangerous Lee Williams and it looked, for a while at least, that the unthinkable might happen and Canvey might lose their second home game of the season.

Canvey had made a couple of substitutions, bringing on Adam Miller and Adam Tanner for Mark Stimson and Chris Duffy, but the substitution that made all the difference came in the 85th minute when diminutive Ian Thompson came on for Wayne Vaughan.  The freshness of Tommo, plus his desire to chase everything in his half of the pitch, suddenly gave new life to Canvey.

The winner came with only seconds of normal time remaining and came about when a poor clearance of what should have been the 'keepers ball left the tenacious Thompson just a few yards out with the ball at his feet.  He had his back to goal but managed to turn on a sixpence and shoot home from close range.  Canvey had gone back into the lead and, on balance, this was the right result.

There was hardly enough time to restart the game before the referee Mr Street blew for full time.  The result was the opposite of what Canvey experienced at the New Lodge ground last December but the revenge was sweet and although Ashley Harrison's 15hr clean sheet has been lost, the three points keep Canvey in with an outside chance of taking not only the FA Trophy and Essex Senior Cup, but the Ryman Premier Championship as well.

Match Report by Merv. Pictures by Ian.

Weather Conditions:  Dry and bright.