AT  LEAST  THE  PASSION
HAS  RETURNED

Sometimes football takes on a pendulum-like effect with performances swinging from the sublime to ridiculous.  We’ve seen it many times when a team bounces back from a four-nil drubbing one week to beat stiff opposition by an impressive margin the next.  The Canvey fans, travel weary from their visit to Slough on Saturday, made the long trip north to Bedford last night and were hoping to see such a pendulum swing.  They were eager to see Canvey put right all the wrongs of the previous weekend and keen to see them swing back to top form.  Sadly, it was not to be - well, not entirely, anyway.

After a public roasting from Manager Jeff King following Saturday’s lack of commitment, there was an air of expectancy of new ideas, a desire to see fresh faces and a general interest in who might be left off the teamsheet.  As it turned out there were quite a few new ideas,  one fresh face (but  only the last five minutes of the game – Chris Perkins made his debut on 85 minutes) and the players left off the sheet altogether?  Lee Protheroe and David Gregory.

But at least there was some passion in the game tonight.  Balls were being chased, players were moving off the ball and everybody wanted some action.  This was in stark contrast to Saturday’s cup performance.  Whatever Jeff and Glen said to the boys certainly had the effect of putting some fire into their collective bellies.  But still they lost and it was disappointing to see three valuable points evaporate away.

I think any neutral spectator would have seen Bedford as putting up a good workmanlike performance – not great by any stretch of the imagination – and Canvey as being a very unlucky side.  This bad luck syndrome seems to have been haunting the island boys for much of the season.  Think back to the number of times this term the ball has refused to bounce kindly or a potentially good pass has just got a hint of a knock at the last moment or certain goals have hit the woodwork or a goalkeeper has had an unusually brilliant performance.  Tonight that run of bad luck seemed to continue.  The first Bedford goal certainly was a gift and a dreadful error from Danny Potter when he sliced a backpass directly into the path of Lee Howey to tap home into an empty net.

Canvey dominated the game for long spells of both halves and Bertie Brayley kept sending in shots throughout the 90 minutes.  In the first half Canvey had at least 8 corners and there were more near misses than I could record.  The Bedford defence stood strong with No. 5 Gary Williams playing a true captain's game and clearing off his line twice in the second half but it was Canvey who were making so much of the play.  This was especially true once Minton had scored his equaliser on 36 minutes.  Canvey kept battling away, but they couldn't find that extra bit of something that converts chances into goals.

Bedford also had their chances, many of them created by No 7 Carl Williams, and Potter, to make amends for his earlier bloomer, pulled off a couple of great saves throughout the game.  The Eagles did well fighting for second balls and they pushed the ball forward well.  Thankfully Steve Ward was well enough to get off his sick bed and, although not looking quite as sharp as usual, he did more than his fair share of repelling the Bedford attacks.

Bedford’s second goal, from a penalty, was against the run of play at that point although some fans around me felt that a contributing factor could have been having Micky Bennett in the back four, a position he often appears to find uncomfortable.  His performances this year in the midfield have been impressive and he won back a lot of favour from the terraces, but from the moment John Kennedy lost possession just inside his own half, we knew Canvey were  in trouble.  When Ross Harrison picked up the ball and found himself in a one-on-one with Benno, the fans feared the worst.  Once Harrison had beaten Benno it was odds on that he would either go on to score or he would be brought down.  It was the latter and, being in the 18yd box, the referee had no alternative but to point to the spot.  It might have been worse for Benno for, having been booked in the 24^th minute for quite a dreadful foul, he might have been shown a second yellow card.

Canvey made regular assaults on the Bedford goal and over the course of the evening they were awarded at least six free-kicks in dangerous positions, just outside the box.  With no Lee Protheroe to lend his expertise from set pieces, it fell to Jeff Minton to come up with something magical.  To his credit, this is exactly what he did with his equaliser when, with the aid of a deflection off the wall, his kick sailed high to the keeper’s left and into the net.  But would Canvey been able to make more of these situations had Protheroe been available?  Certainly goals from set-pieces have featured high this season – Protheroe’s free-kicks and Johnson’s throw-ins being an important feature.

Matt Jones had his best game for Canvey so far this season and looked very comfortable with the support of Scott Forbes and Jeff Minton around him to play one-touch football.  In fact, the whole team put in good individual performances but what was lacking was the gelling factor that, with so many changes in the line-up each week, is taking such a long time to come.

When the team does gel together as it should and the ball starts to bounce just a little more favourably, I still see Canvey as one of the teams for the others to watch.  But there is the other point of view that says you make your own luck in this game. 

With the day off next Saturday perhaps this is the opportunity for Jeff and his team to ponder their various options and see if they can’t get it all together soon.  But with luck and gel still to come, at least the passion has returned.

Match Report by Merv

Weather Conditions:  Wet and slippery - constant drizzle.

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