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That's More Like It, Canvey
Neil Gregory, Wayne Vaughan and John Kennedy were all trying to get into the action in the opening minutes of the game and there was great hope that this would the sign of things to come. Gregory was especially unlucky when one of his attempts was cleared off the line. Even Craig Davidson came forward to try and get Canvey off the mark. One sensed in these early stages that if one would go in, other would surely follow.
It was 21 minutes into the game before Basingstoke had their first attempt at goal. It was a header and it was a good one, but it was well wide. There then followed a couple of Basingstoke corners and for a short while Canvey were having to get it together at the back to keep the forwards out. Steve Baker was particularly impressive, lurking out on the left and finding lots of space. Some of his crossed into the Canvey penalty area were good and certainly deserved better finishing from his colleagues in the middle.
The first half finished at nil-nil and it was destined to stay this way. Perhaps if Canvey had been just a tad sharper they would have converted at least twice, even three times. Both sides had shots well saved by the respective goalkeepers and both sides wasted chances. Tilly almost got a slice of the goal action on the hour but it was not to be. Even when Wayne Vaughan 'netted' 10 minutes before time the linesman said he was off-side and one sensed that no one was going to score. In the end the point is welcome, especially taken off Basingstoke who still has pretensions to the runners-up crown. But the big league prize is gone now and one can understand Canvey holding back a degree, waiting for the Trophy final in 14 days time. All in all, a good performance under very special circumstances. A day off on Monday before returning to the grind of five games in five days - three of them home.. Even the fans are getting tired of the travelling!
Weather Conditions: Dry, on a cut up pitch. What did you think of
today's match?
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OK, it wasn't a win, but after the past week,
fans were celebrating that it wasn't a lose either. In fact they were
celebrating much more than that. They saw their team come back to life and
although there will still a big element of fatigue, there were enough signs to
confirm that this is still a formidable side. To their credit, Basingstoke
were also feeling the effects of a game the day before and they too looked just
a little under the weather at times.
The absence of wing-backs at Croydon left Canvey
with few methods of going forward. Today with John Kennedy and Chris Duffy
back in the team it was good to see balls coming into the area from the
flanks. The other great difference today was Steve Tilson back as the
midfield general, always on-hand to marshal his troops. The attack had
much shape and the midfield looked a lot firmer.
The other outstanding Basingstoke player was
goalkeeper Scott 'Sausages' Tarr. Fans were wondering if he is always this
good or does he just pull something extra out of the bag for Canvey games?
Whatever it is, he did extremely well to block a Chris Duffy certain goal on 33
minutes when he stuck a leg out and pushed the ball away for a corner.
