|
|||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
SO NEAR AND Last night, in the bitterly cold north, Canvey almost got through to the next round of the FA Trophy. They did it in spite of having to play against a Conference team, in spite of having to travel on the country's worst day of road chaos, in spite of a snow-storm, in spite of match officials who seem determined to get a Conference team into the final and in spite of a team selection that left most fans rather bewildered! The players did their level best. They demonstrated that the gulf between Ryman Premier and Conference is not as wide as you might think. But the vocal Yellow Army kept asking some very simple, but basic questions. If Northwich play with three up front, why did Canvey not play with four across the back? If Micky Bennett plays so well in midfield, why was he picked to play in the back three? If John Kennedy plays so well when he is out wide on the right, why was he kept in the middle? If Chris Duffy has had so much success playing on the left, why was he put on the right? Of course there can only be one manager at it has to be his decision. He does not have to answer to the fans. But with those sort of imbalances in the formation, it's no wonder that Canvey rarely managed to truly sparkle in the way we know they can. Of course the Northwich fans were very complimentary to Canvey (they could afford to be - they won after all!) but had we been truly on form, we would have wiped the floor with them; they were not that impressive. To so many of us, it was an opportunity lost. The game was there for the taking, but perhaps the chance was wasted? After a fantastic pre-match happy hour in the local pub, (good food, plenty to drink) the fans filtered into the ground and started eating meat and potato pies and singing their heads off. Then a fantastic ticker-tape reception welcomed the players onto the pitch and eventually the game got under way. Most of the play was in the middle of the park for the first few minutes as each side got the measure of the other. But it was Lee Boylan who got in the game's first on-target attempt after 5 minutes when he got in a great shot that 'keeper Matthew Parry only just managed to tip onto the bar, giving Canvey the first corner of the game. Then, not to be left out, it was Jeff Minton's turn to test the home defence when he got onto the end of a terrific Gregory knock-down but unfortunately, the shot was too high. Northwich were not about to be pushed around by Canvey and they quickly put Ashley Harrison to the test, forcing him to pull off a good save from a Mark Devlin shot, set up following a Vic's free-kick taken by Richard Norris. There quickly followed another assault on Harrison's goal, again by Devlin, but this time the shot was saved, quickly cleared and immediately a Canvey raid was in motion. Eventually the ball came to Boylan who set up Gregory, perfectly placed in front of goal. It didn't matter that Greggers slipped and fell, as Lee Protheroe was lurking just behind him and he seized the opportunity to place the ball under Parry and into the back of the net. Being one-nil up felt good. But Canvey almost went two-nil up within minutes, when a Boylan attempt went just wide, the shot being set up from a Ben Chenery free-kick. But just as the the Gulls started to imagine that they just might do it, fate struck the cruellest of blows and Vics were back on even terms. It all came about following a good piece of Vic's build-up play that left Garvey in a good shooting position. He struck the ball hard and low but, unfortunately, it hit Steve Ward's outstretched leg and took the most wicked of deflections, leaving Harrison stranded in the wrong corner of the goalmouth. This twist of fate was almost too much for Canvey to bear and, rather unusually, they dropped their heads and allowed it to affect their game. Northwich lifted their game in direct proportion to Canvey's dejection and started to look the better side. Jeff Minton was giving it 110% in the middle, in spite of being marked by three men most of the time, but there was a general lack of service for Boylan or Gregory up front. Little was coming by way of the flanks, Bertie Brayley rarely managing to inject anything dangerous on the left and, incredibly, Chris Duffy failing to pull any rabbits out of the hat on the left. Everyone was expecting fireworks on his return to Northwich, but sadly, they never materialised. Northwich were much quicker both on the ball and off it, and they were closing Canvey down at every turn. It was at this point that fans started to express their feelings on the team selection and there did seem to be more animation on the terrace than there was on the pitch. Lee Boylan almost turned things around when he found himself in front of Parry in acres of space. But instead of blasting the ball - his usual format - he tried placing it but it wasn't to be and the ball went wide. In reply, the Northwich attack came close on several occasions and, it has to be said, the Canvey defence was having to play at full stretch to keep them but. The usual problem of Canvey defence backing off attackers led to Vics winner on the half-hour. Greg Blundell was allowed to get to the bye-line out on the left and, from there, he got in the perfect cross for Teather to hammer home from close range. Both sides had more shots, more saves and more clearances as we approached half-time. Canvey managed to lift their game and once again were holding their own as they realised that the game was still wide open, and there for the taking. There was some excellent passing football but with such close man-marking, precious little space for either Boylan or Gregory to do their magic. Too often Canvey were being caught off-side and although some of this was down to poor refereeing, too much of it was down to Vic's reading of the game and their superior pace. Half time Northwich 2 Canvey 1 Canvey came out after the break and decided that they had to take the game to Northwich. They mounted a continuous barrage of attacks on Parry's goal but, in spite of the effort and determination to get the game back of level terms, they just couldn't find a wide enough gap in the home defence. At one point Canvey won three corners in quick succession and Parry was having his work cut out all the while. Jeff Minton and Lee Protheroe both came close as the pressure was kept up. Northwich were living on such a slender lead and one sensed that they were getting more and more nervous as Canvey appeared to come closer and closer to an all-important equaliser. Although there was more and more pressure, there were no more goals. But any real chance of grabbing the equaliser seemed to take a nose-dive in the 65th minute when Jeff Minton took a nasty injury and had to be assisted as he limped off the field. Minton had been Canvey's target man and main playmaker - his loss could not have come at a worse time. Steve Parmenter came on as substitute and although he worked extremely hard, the edge that Minton gives the side whenever he is playing, was lost. Canvey continued to give Vics a scare every time they got into the home penalty area but, in a game that was now seeing more and more end to end football, neither team could find that elusive final touch. For Northwich it would have made the game safe, for Canvey it would have put them right back into the frame. Bertie Brayley almost did it at one end (his shot, from a narrow angle ran along the line until it was cleared) whilst Jonathan Allen made the 'Miss of the Match' at the other (he put a 'dead cert' a couple of feet wide, in spite of an empty goalmouth). Then a few minutes later Allen was given another chance, but he shot wide, while Lee Boylan replied for Canvey by shooting equally wide at the other end. It was nailbiting stuff for both sets of supporters, right up to the final seconds of the four minutes of extra time. In the end, Northwich deserved their victory and Canvey deserved their glory. The gulf that you might have expected to see between the two sides simply wasn't there, but fans felt that this was not the best that Canvey had to offer. Cowan (cup-tied) would have made such a difference at the back and the mid-field was missing the strength usually given to it by Micky Bennett. With so little service coming in from the flanks, the middle was the only effective route - but the Vics' defence had it tightly sewn up. Ah well, that's the Trophy over for another year. Time perhaps to concentrate on the league. And Basingstoke will need all Canvey's concentration on Tuesday night if the present league form is to continue. Match Report by Matt Teams
Weather Conditions: It snowed continuously for the whole 90 minutes. What did you think of
today's match? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
