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The Gap Gets Closer Whilst Farnborough could only manage one point against Chesham tonight, their third draw in the last three games, Canvey were stealing all three points from an unlucky Slough Town. Unlucky because they looked a much better team than their lowly league position would suggest and unlucky in that they couldn't turn much of their mid-field superiority into match winning goals. Football is a funny game and in last night's game against Maidenhead Canvey played superb football and deserved at least half a dozen goals but had to settle for just one. Tonight their performance was only a shadow of its best but they still managed a match winning goal and perhaps Slough fans have had to learn the hard way that life isn't always fair. Canvey started well enough and for a while the game was a continuation of the Maidenhead match. Their passing was slick and their running off the ball was creating a lot of pressure for the home defence. Neil Gregory had another great game and he almost put the Gulls into a fourth minute lead, first touch with his head, second with his boot, but it was not to be. But Canvey were not having it all their own way. No. 9 Derek Asomoah looked sharp all night and whenever he had the ball, the Canvey defence needed to be on its toes. Slough forced three corners in the first ten minutes but they still never managed to get in any dangerous looking shots that were on target.. Ashley Harrison was kept busier collecting the ball from behind goal than he was stopping shots.
The first half finished with just one goal separating the sides and on balance the advantage was in Canvey's favour. This was not the way the second half developed. Slough seemed to want to make a fight of it and they started to play some very creative football. They looked good in the middle of the park and one sensed that they might get back into the game. Canvey seemed to loose their shape and it was Slough who appeared to be running things. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't do the business in the penalty area. In spite of all the clever and energetic build-up play, the Canvey defence played its usual strong and dominant game and the result was Harrison had very few direct shots to save. The ball was swinging from one end of the field to the other with John Kennedy and Mark Stimson getting in on the action, both thwarted by fine goalkeeping from Steve Mautone. Wayne Vaughan might have picked up a second goal but when he was put through for a one-on-one with Mautone, he was brought down from behind in rather dramatic fashion by McPherson. It seems strange that for such a blatant infringement that could well have cost Canvey a goal, he was shown a yellow card - the same 'punishment' that Peter Smith received for kicking a dead ball away just a few moments later. As the game went into the final minutes Canvey did get back into the driving seat but there were no more goals. Slough played well enough for a draw but in order to get a share of the points you have to score and that's the one thing that they couldn't do tonight. Canvey only scored one, but it was enough to give them the points. It seems that in spite of an unbelievable fixture backlog the fat lady from Essex is preparing to sing. Until she does things are certainly not over and the gap is gradually getting closer. Match Report by Merv. Pictures by Ian. Teams Canvey - Ashley Harrison, John Kennedy, Chris Duffy, Ben Chenery, Craig Davidson, Steve Ward, Peter Smith, Mark Stimson, Neil Gregory, Wayne Vaughan Steve Parmenter, Subs: Steve Clark, Adam Miller, Ian Thompson Slough Town - Steve Mautone, Leon Townley, Dave Timothy, Steve Daly, Keith McPherson, Steve Stott, Paul Barrowcliff, Dave Rainford, Derek Asomoah, Darren Wilinson, Junior Haynes. Subs: Damien Markham, Gary Cross, Eddie Denton. Weather Conditions: Cold and very heavy rain during first half. What did you think of
today's match?
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Gradually Canvey settled down and they
looked dangerous on the break. Peter Smith was looking much more like his
old self and John Kennedy was strong in the tackle, fast on the run and pinpoint
accurate with his passes. It came as no surprise then when JK opened the
scoring on 20 minutes. Wayne Vaughan deserves the credit for putting a
peach of a ball through into the penalty area, directly in JK's path. The
keeper was quick coming off his line but he couldn't get down fast enough as the
ball was slotted under him and into the back of the net.