|
|||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
The Curse Continues At Top Field!!! As far as I can remember Canvey's trips to Top Field has not been pleasant and today was no exception. Today we lost 2-1, last season we lost 4-1 and the season before that we scraped out a 3-3 draw with a last gasp goal from Neil Gregory. Going into today's game the Canaries had won 3 of their last four games, and Canvey were still getting over their mid-week victory in Kent. There was some surprise in the starting line-up as there was no Mark Stimson, no Steve Tilson, and Spencer Knight was still recovering from his injury he gained against Harrow Borough. This earned a re-call to Wayne Vaughan & Danny Bolt, who joined Paul Cobb on the subs bench. The usual back three of Smith, Ward & Chenery were made to work very hard from the kick-off and Bennett, Miller & Parmenter needed to get a grip of things in the middle. Canvey gave the Hitchin 'keeper an early scare when John Kennedy launched a cross into the penalty area that Lee Boylan couldn't quite make contact with and there was no-one for the follow up so the ball run harmlessly across the face of goal. Several more chance like this were created in the opening 10 minutes but none ever paid off. Canvey gained several corners in that spell but Steve Parmenter couldn't get the lift out of them and the fell straight to the defender on the front post who hammered them up field. Now the game was on! Hitchin countered the failing corners with ease, and thanks to having their forwards extremely wide Hitchin ripped apart the Canvey midfield. Defenders were clearing the balls over the heads of JK & Duffers, this drew out Peter Smith & Ben Chenery to the touchlines which left acres of space in the middle of the penalty area where when the Hitchin crosses made their way in Steve Ward had to go at it alone. This caught Canvey time and time again at the back. Canvey wanted to pass the ball around on the floor. But when it got into the midfield they wanted to pass it some more, that was until they lost it and Hitchin reverted to the same tactic again and again. Disadvantage of having a back three is that if the left & right backs are drawn out wide there is only one man left in the middle to take everything 3-on-1. Hitchin number 10 Carl Drew was a very quick player, so quick in fact that even Peter Smith & Steve Ward had trouble keeping up with him. He was getting to the by-line with ease and his crosses locked good when they got in the box but it was down to poor finishing by Hitchin that they didn't go in at half time at least 1-0 up. Canvey looking a bit worried began to convert attacks down the left this time using Chris Duffy & Steve Parmenter. But once again Parms couldn't quite get his foot under the ball enough and the chances were lost. Parms also had a great chance to put Canvey one-up but as usual he put the ball over the bar and over the stand! During the first half Canvey hit the crossbar twice, once from the only cross Steve Parmenter managed to get above shoulder height. The other was a good effort from Lee Boylan. Just before half time, Boylan with his back to goal picked up a ball about 15 yards out. He proceeded to flick the ball up turn and volley it goal wards, it looked to be going wide but it thudded against the bar and bounced away for a throw-in, but Canvey weren't watching the ball and were surprised to see a Hitchin defender run half way up the field with it. You see the ball didn't go out of play, it hit the corner flag and stayed in. Canvey were asleep and another move had been countered by the Canaries, but thankfully this didn't lead to anything spectacular either, and the ref blew up for half-time. Half-time Hitchin Town 0 Canvey Island 0 For the second half Scott Cretton replaced the injured Chris Mcmenamin and he immediately ordered his back line about. Some didn't like that and Mark Burke wasn't afraid to show his feelings to Cretton, almost taking a swing at him in the process. Canvey wanted to get goals and they had a great chance when some lovely build up play on the left and a class 1-2 back heel from Gregory put Duffy through but the angle was just that yard too tight and it ran across goal and past the far post. Ten minutes into the half and another Canvey move was countered by Hitchin, but this time disaster struck. Carl Drew had drawn Peter Smith out on the right and matched him for pace too. Drew picked up a 50 yard pass across the middle of the park. made short work of Buzz and was clear through on goal tucking the ball under Ashley Harrison and in the far corner of the net. A well deserved goal by Drew due to his hard work in the first and a well taken goal in the second. Six minutes later Boylan went for a reply for Canvey he skipped past the Hitchin offside trap. Bearing down on goal Scott Cretton was denying Boylan space to shoot so Boylan tried his chance but his effort went straight to the oncoming James Robinson. Danny Bolt came on for Parmenter and began to reinforce the midfield making up the work of two men as Adam Miller didn't seem up for it today. He was taken out of the game by Hitchin and given no room to move at all. Bolt is a good runner with the ball he likes to drive through the middle and his first real touch of the ball was a screaming shot that just went over the bar. Now the next real Canvey chance fell to a defender on the edge of the penalty area, the ball fell right to his feet and he let rip a half-volley that whistled past the post. Oh so close for Steve Ward, his first golden opportunity and if the goal had been 3 inches wider it would have gone in! Try adding a curl on it next time Wardy !!! Then lightning struck twice. Canvey wanted goals and they left a massive gap at the left back position that Carl Drew once again took full advantage of. He ran through it but Peter Smith was closing him down fast, Buzz got in front of Drew but took a nasty knock on the process and went down. This left Drew 1-on-1 with the advancing Ashley. Drew went for the lob and Ash got his fingers to the ball but he must have thought he was closer to goal than he actually was as he looked as if he wanted to tip it over but he only helped it in another superb goal and well deserved again by Drew he was on form today. 2-0 to the Canaries and Canvey didn't look anywhere near wanting to get back in the game. Smithy was down for quite some time in the Canvey penalty area but soon after some treatment from Harry's healing hands he was up and getting abuse from the Hitchin crowd. Smith wasn't in the game much longer and the management went for a change in formation replacing Buzz with Paul Cobb. Cobby had a speculative header go just over as did Neil Gregory. The tiring Boylan was replaced with Wayne Vaughan, Canvey now with three up front, started to look as if they wanted something out of the game but there was only 10 minutes left. But during the last minutes Carl Drew was very unlucky not to have got four today. He put a rebound over the bar and stand to join Parmenter's effort. and another good chance he put wide of the upright. Drew deserved the chances but didn't take them as well as he could have. He earned some respect from Canvey, that was until he decided that little John Kennedy was quicker than him, so Drew decided to take JK out going down with him to make it look like a fair challenge then proceeded to get up smile at Kennedy lying on the floor and give a "wrist shaking" gesture to the Canvey fans. Wayne Vaughan got Canvey's consolation. He ran through a packed penalty area with the ball at his feet, and due to the obscuring bodies he fired a shot low & hard at goal that Robinson couldn't see in time and it drove into the left side of the goal. Not a lot to shout about today for the Canvey fans and with news from Harrow that Gravesend won 3-0 the Canaries thought they'd rub it in for that little bit longer! Attitude, effort & commitment (those famous words uttered by Alan Hansen) needs to be improved for Monday's game at Park Lane when those lovely people from Billericay entertain us in our Bank Holiday fixture, kick-off 12noon. Full-time Hitchin Town 2 Canvey Island 1.
Match Report by Matt. Teams
Weather Conditions: Warm, bright with a rain shower in the 2nd half. What did you think of
today's match?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
