The  Bubble  Has  Burst?

Previous metaphors have referred to a hill too steep to climb or a chasm too wide to cross.  Final one (honest) has to be that the bubble that has finally burst.  Perhaps it didn't burst, just slowly deflated over the last week in what even our enemies recognise as a ridiculous fixture backlog.

The problem with a fixture list like the one facing Canvey is obvious; the players can't maintain their performance level when they are so very tired.  True, Canvey do have a large squad of players and that has given Jeff King the opportunity to rest key players at certain games.  But this also creates a problem in that you can't expect a team on a championship campaign to take on board three, four or even five changes to the line-up at each game.  They never get the opportunity to settle in or to gel together.  The result is a team lacking a degree of cohesion and shape and the performance suffers as a result.  This is exactly what we have seen in the past couple of games and the one at Enfield was no exception.

It leaves rather a bad taste in the mouth to listen to opposing fans (or read them on the discussion board) refer to Canvey as being 'overrated' or 'no great shakes'.  Based on this week's performances against a reasonable mid-table team like Hitchin or a mediocre bottom-half team like Enfield you can see where the opposing fans' views are coming from, but they don't truly represent the very high quality of football experienced by Gulls' fans this season.

But we can't live on past glory, only the latest game and perhaps we have to accept the view that 'you are only as good as your last game'.  But when the history of CIFC comes to be written, surely the league season will be remembered for the crazy organisation by the Ryman officials who have allowed the debacle of nine games in 10 days to occur.

Rather like the Hitchin game earlier in the week, Canvey were the superior team in the first half and adapted well to the extremely heavy pitch conditions.  All credit must go to the ground staff at Boreham Wood for converting  Thursday's boating lake into a half-decent playing surface by Friday night.  The crowd was extremely sparse and it was difficult for either set of fans to create any real atmosphere.  Sadly, there was little happening on the pitch to help generate the missing atmosphere.

For Canvey it was again their finishing that let them down.  Attempts on goal were being created but not converted.  So much so that Enfield 'keeper  Kenny Addaii hardly has a shot to save.  Wayne Vaughan, Neil Gregory and John Kennedy all got up well at different times in the first half but on each occasion the resulting headers were well wide.

Enfield did little better and the lady who lives in one of the houses behind the ground was far busier retrieving balls from her garden than Ashley Harrison was.  If an Enfield goal was going to come, it was quite obvious that it would come from Danny Jones.  He looked sharp all evening but he couldn't break the stalemate.  Yet!

The second half finished all square but it was in the second half that Canvey seemed to lose their way.  Hesitancy in front of goal and weak finishing when chances were offered all combined to thwart them.  Chris Duffy was guilty of 'Miss of the Match' when he was put through on the hour and in a one-on-one with Addaii he saw the ball collected off the end of his boot with relative ease by the 'keeper.

Jones was guilty of quite a blatant foul just outside his own penalty area but when the free-kick was cleared he did well to get to the other penalty area where he was on hand to finish off a terrific move that created Enfield's first goal.  The ball was swept from one side of the field to the other and arrived in Canvey's danger area in about three moves.  There was a good shot which Harrison could only manage to block and it was the rebound that Jones converted.

The goal was probably against the run of play so far, but it had the effect of lifting Enfield and their passing became more accurate and their marking became tighter.  There were one or two rather uncharitable fouls on Canvey players including an elbow in Gregory's face, but the officials too often ignored these and allowed play to continue.

Going one behind seemed to demoralise Canvey and their game suffered as a result.  Up front they failed to knock balls forward for attackers to run on to and most went either directly to the 'keeper or went over the bye-line.

Steve Ward gave away a penalty when he was guilty of a foul in his own penalty area that, at first, the referee appeared to wave on.  The ball went back to Harrison and he cleared it when the whistle went.  Wardy received a talking to for an uncharacteristic 'off the ball' offence and the penalty was awarded.  Jones put it away easily for his second goal.

The home defence was, by now, playing well and not letting anything or anyone pass.  On their day Canvey might well have carved them up in pieces but this was not their day, it was Enfield's and they celebrated the fact emphatically through a George Georgiou goal on 85 minutes.

Canvey have now conceded seven goals in two games and scored just once.  Make no mistake, this is not the Canvey we know and love but these are far from normal circumstances.  The bubble is gradually deflating and perhaps fans must now look to Villa Park to see a more typical performance (and with luck, Roots Hall, if the Essex FA and club officials can sort that one out).

Full Match Report by Merv

Weather Conditions: Dry, mild evening.

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