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01
It Just Gets Better and
Better for the What a squad Jeff King has built up at Park Lane. Even without Steve Ward, Steve Tilson and Mick Bodley they not only beat St Albans City today, they took them apart. They were strong in every department except, rather strangely, their finishing in front of goal. They scored five, but the truth is, they were so good it should have been eight. The unbeaten run now extends to twenty games and it just seems to get better and better. Today, Canvey dominated so much of the game, only going off the boil when the game re-started following the floodlight failure after an hour's play. The enforced break put The Gulls off their stride slightly but in the end it really made no difference - they were terrific. Fans only had to wait three minutes for the goals to start going in. Adam Miller pushed a ball out wide to Steve Parmenter who was finding space on the left. Parms crossed and found John Kennedy lurking in front of goal. He connected well with his left foot and the ball went screaming into the back of the net. All of Canvey's breaks looked effective and each time they came forward you had the feeling that they might score. With the exception of St Albans's No. 4 Corey Campbell, there was nobody really effective at the back for the visitors and Canvey were able to switch the ball from one flank to the other with relative ease. But it wasn't just the flanks where Canvey found space. Neil Gregory and Wayne Vaughan found they had plenty of space down the middle as well and this is where Canvey's second goal came from. It was on 11 minutes when Steve Parmenter found himself with the ball some 25yds out and he decided to run it through the middle and have a shot at goal. Good job he did because although Wilmot came out to narrow the angle, it just couldn't stop the ball going into the corner of the net. The third goal created something of an argument for the home fans - was it an own goal by No 5 Derek Brown or did Wayne Vaughan get a foot to it? Everybody behind the goal - just yards away from the action - saw the own goal. However the PA announced the scorer as Wayne Vaughan and that view was later confirmed by the club. No doubt Wayno was delighted to claim it, but he won't be able to do so with a totally clear conscience. At the other end St Albans had their only shot at goal for the first half. No 10 Mike Bignall did well to get close enough to get Ashley Harrison in his sights but although his shot was a good one, the save was even better and Bignall was denied. This didn't upset the traveling fans too much, however. They were in fine form and sang at full blast for almost the entire 90 minutes. There was doubt whatsoever about Canvey's fourth goal just a few minutes later; that was definitely Vaughan's. It made up for the incident just a few minutes earlier when Wilmot made a fantastic save to take the ball off his feet and rob him of a certain goal. But when Wayne eventually grabbed number 4 it was a good one. Saints' No. 4 Corey Campbell, who had been having such a good game, almost put the ball past his own 'keeper but was saved when it rebounded off the upright. The ball bobbled out to the right and Neil Gregory did well to keep it in play and hooked it back into the 6yd box. It eventually fell to Wayne Vaughan who hit home with relative ease from short range. The ball kept coming into the Saints' penalty area and Parmenter, amongst others, forced several good saves from Wilmot who was getting little help from his defence. The only area where Canvey seemed to be losing the plot was with corners. Just like Tuesday's game against Lewes the ball was not coming over in the way it should. Instead, it was dropping short and being cleared with ease. Still, you can't have everything! St Albans were having quite a difficult time of things. In midfield they just couldn't get their act together and the only way they found to go forward was the long hoof upfield and run onto it. It might have worked except Canvey were very tight at the back and with Peter Smith and Ben Chenery being on tip-top form, there was just no way through. Neil Gregory must still be wondering how he didn't get a hat-trick today. He was always in the right place, he was always sharp but the finish eluded him and he just could not find the net - even when Steve Parmenter sent in a deadly free-kick that the 'keeper gifted it to Greggers. From 3yds out and in front of an empty goal he just couldn't find the net.. Fans were wondering just what he had to do to get onto the scoresheet. In fact he had to wait for the second half - but it was well worth the wait. This time it was a free-kick taken by Mark Stimson that fell beautifully for Greggers to hit home from 6yds. Five goals in front and more goals to come, surely. St Albans were looking brighter in the second half and were playing with more purpose. Their fans remained happy (apparently, it was quite a boozy train ride down for them today) and perhaps there might be a consolation goal for them. Then, disaster nearly struck when there was a floodlight failure. Not all the lights went off and there was just enough light for the referee to carry on, after consulting with his linesmen. He stopped the game on several occasions for discussions with the two benches before he decided to take the teams off and allow the resident electrician to look into the problem. The players were only off the pitch for seven minutes or so, but it was long enough to put Canvey off their stride once the game re-started. They still played well, but the scoring machine had gone just a little rusty during the enforced break and this gave the visitors the opportunity to try and get back into the game. Although Simon Martin scored a good goal with his head ten minutes after the re-start, it was totally unrealistic for them to hope to rescue anything out of this game. The damage had been done. Canvey continued to get shots in but there was nothing to test Wilmot too much, most of them were aimed straight at him. At the other end St Albans did get through the Canvey defence on a couple of occasions but some of the finishing worried the car park attendants more than it did Ashley Harrison. A good result in terms of defending the FA Trophy and a good result in the build-up to the big event that goes off next Sunday. Bring on the Cobblers. Match Report by Merv. Teams
Weather Conditions: Bright and sunny, then rain, then floodlight failure and always wet and slippery . What did you think of
today's match?
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