The Hill Just Got Steeper

I believe Canvey still have a chance of catching leaders Farnborough in their quest for the Ryman Premier Championship.  It was always going to be a steep hill to climb but after last night’s 4 – 1 defeat at Hitchin, the hill just got steeper.  It can still be done but Canvey would certainly need to do the business on 1^st May and it wouldn’t go amiss if Billericay could also do the same business when they play Farnboro on Saturday.

The first half at Fishponds Road was rather predictable; it was all Canvey.  They seemed to be running the game without ever breaking into a real sweat.  But when things started to go wrong in the second half, Canvey were unable to break out of their rather pedestrian pace.  Hitchin equalised but Canvey couldn’t go up a gear.  Hitchin went into the lead but Canvey still couldn’t go up a gear.  Andy Jones and Neil Gregory came on for Steve Clark and Peter Smith which might have put something extra up front but although the pace was now a little more frantic, still Canvey couldn’t go up that important gear.  With just over 5 minutes to go Hitchin went into a three-nil lead.  In spite of Ian Thompson coming on for Craig Davidson the game was, by now, beyond Canvey’s reach.  Nolan’s third and Hitchin’s fourth goal just two minutes from time only served to rub salt into the wounds.

The pitch at Fishponds Road was very wet following the heavy rain throughout the day.  Every time someone ran across the grass you could see the water splashing up.  Canvey started off making the better of these conditions and some of their early assaults on James Robinson’s goal looked promising.  Wayne Vaughan came close with a neat header from a Craig Davidson cross on just 8 minutes.  Another near miss, this time from the head of Steve Clark just a few moments later but this time it was just high.  At the other end Hitchin were sending in too many of their shots along the floor so that the wet aided Ashley Harrison in stopping these attempts with ease.  Hitchin’s closest attempt came from the head of Adam Parker on the half-hour but he too was too high.

Peter Smith was taking on a ‘free-runner’ role and he did send over some dangerous looking crosses.  Together with similarly dangerous crosses from John Kennedy on the other side there were more than enough opportunities being created, but nobody was on hand to convert any of them into goals.

The goal that did go in was another corker from Kennedy.  A corner was poorly cleared by the Hitchin defence and it landed just on the edge of the penalty area – JK speciality area.  He connected first time and it was a stonker of a shot that went straight into the back of the net.

If only Canvey could have done their usual trick of coming out in the second half and finishing off the job.  They didn’t and this was due partly to a slightly lower work-rate than fans are used to (too many games in too few days?) but partly due to the knock-on effect of lots of changes to the line-up without the opportunity for the new team members to settle in.

When you make four or five changes to any team there is bound to be a degree of ‘losing shape’ and this is exactly what happened.  Players like Steve Ward, Chris Duffy, Mark Stimson, Steve Parmenter can be replaced, but the immediate effect is bound to be a team that needs just a bit of time to settle in.  Perhaps the one downside of the fixture backlog (apart from fatigue) is this lack of settling-in time. 

The performance that we saw in the first half couldn’t be maintained in the second and, in general, this was not the style or performance that has seen off much stiffer opposition.  Not to take anything away from Hitchin.  They took every opportunity offered to them and played to Canvey’s weaknesses.  Matt Nolan was having a field day and his hat-trick was a just reward for his work rate.  He was rather gifted with his first goal when an uncharacteristic fumble by Ashley Harrison on a backpass gave him an open goal to walk the ball into.

The second goal came as a result of a terrific cross from the left that Nolan got up to well, forcing a great instinctive save from Ash.  Unfortunately he couldn’t hold the ball and it fell right back onto Nolan’s boot.  From such close range he made no mistake.  This goal should have sounded a wake-up call to the Gulls, but from this point on their attempts on goal actually declined, rather than increased.

Canvey now found themselves under the cosh and with their home crowd behind them, Hitchin were obviously enjoying themselves at Canvey’s expense.  With Jonah, Greggers and Wayno up front Canvey might have been expected to pull something out of the bag but of course the danger of pushing forward too much is that you can leave holes at the back.  That’s what happened. 

There was some desperate defending at the back and on 81 minutes Ash made a rather rash challenge in the penalty area in what wasn't too threatening a situation.  The result was a penalty and  although Ash did well to get a hand to it, it went in all the same.  This gave Hitchin not only their third goal but also the will to hold on and really put Canvey through the mill.

The final goal of the evening was another silly one (from Canvey’s point of view) that should not have happened.  The ball was with Canvey in midfield and in no danger; until they lost possession.  With Ash off his line and no one at the back, Nolan sent over a long hopeful lob and although Ash did manage to get back to it, he could do no more than dive, catch it in mid-air and then slide into his own net with it.

Is the championship still on?  I am sure it is, it’s just going to be a lot tougher than any of us imagined.  Are our lads tough enough to climb even the steepest hill?  You bet they are.

Match Report by Merv. Pictures by Ian.

Weather Conditions: Dry and mild but very wet heavy pitch.

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