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Canvey Go Through It was a small, but dedicated set of fans from both Hendon and Canvey who turned up last night at Claremont Road to watch Canvey go through 6 - 4 on aggregate, to the final of the Ryman League Cup, sponsored by Bryco. The final will be at Hornchurch's ground on Monday 5th May. The other finalist will be Yeading who beat Dulwich, coincidentally, by a 6 - 4 aggregate. The two teams have already met twice before this season, once in the league and once in the first leg of the Bryco Cup and those games produced no less than 14 goals. As the first half got underway last night it seemed that yet more goals were on the cards. We only had to wait 4 minutes for Ricci Crace to get the first of the evening and by half time we had seen another three. Nobody from either set of fans could ever complain about value for money when these two get together! The first half was played at a fast and furious pace, the action starting when Lee Endersby managed to get a ball past Ben Chennery, allowing Ricci Crace to run through to a one-on-one with Ashley Harrison and score the simplest of goals. Fortunately for Canvey, the two goal cushion from the home encounter allowed them time to settle themselves and plan a comeback campaign. But this was a less than full strength Canvey outfit. Steve Ward was missing, so was Micky Bennett, Gavin Cowan, John Kennedy and Steve Parmenter. However, in spite of this, they started to string together some very good movements. Ross Johnson's throw-ins were worth the entrance money alone. Every time he came into the Hendon half to take a throw, it was a good as a corner. They were long and they were accurate and the ball travelled through the air straight and true. Add to this Lee Protheroe's free-kicks and, for once, Canvey were looking deadly from the 'set piece' situations. They made so many attempts on David Hook's goal that the experienced keeper was not really enjoying his 100th appearance celebrations. Canvey quickly got off the mark when, following a series of corners, Jeff Minton came forward to take yet another one on the right. It was well struck and landed right on the head of Lee Boylan. He made no mistake in slotting the ball home in the far corner of the net to bring the scores back to level. Johnson's throws were continuing to upset the home defence and, on 26 minutes, he came forward on the right to take a beautiful throw that was heading for the bye-line, just to the right of goal. Kevin Dobinson was well placed to run on and hook the ball back from the line and straight onto the foot of that man again, Lee Boylan. From 5yds out he hammered home to give Canvey the lead. For the first half at least, Hendon were providing little true opposition for Canvey and although they got back on level terms, it came about, indirectly, from the sloppiest piece of goalkeeping by the usually reliable Ash in the last minute of the half. A simple backpass that ought to have been hammered upfield was, inexplicably, missed and (fortunately) it rolled out for a corner. From the corner the referee spotted an infringement when Dobinson pushed an attacker and he had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. It was a relatively simple task for Martin Randall to hit home. Half time Hendon 2 Canvey 2 In the first half Hendon had two shots at goal (one a penalty) and they both went in. In the second half they had 102 shots at goal but none of them went in. Such is football. It's not that Canvey stopped playing in the second half, it's that Hendon started. And what a force they would be if they could that for the whole 90 minutes! The pressure on the visiting defence was constant and, with players missing and Lee Protheroe being replaced by Matt Jones, it is fair to say that Canvey were certainly lacking pace at the back. There was plenty of experience and 'footballing brains' but the blend was all wrong. With an attack as fast as Hendon's, Canvey needed at least one of its missing runners. But they held on, and they held on well. Hendon were playing a physical game and although Canvey were guilty of one or two blatant fouls, it was the home side's regular pushing, digging and obstruction that went on throughout the half that almost caused the two teams to erupt. The referee missed so many infringements, from both sides that tempers were beginning to flare. That both sets of fans were angry with the man in black, Mr McClaren, suggests that although he was both even handed and consistent, he was also IMHO a long way out of his depth. But hasn't that been the story of officials this season? Hendon were putting in some good shots, some deadly crosses and some dangerous runs at goal. But nothing changed. They couldn't break down the depleted defence and with just a bit of good fortune and some acrobatic goalkeeping, the score stayed the same. Not to be outdone, Canvey had one or two near misses and both Dobbo and Boylan can consider themselves unlucky that they couldn't find the back of Hook's net. There were several crosses from Chris Duffy (some good overlapping runs) and some beautiful flick-ons from Neil Gregory but Canvey don't seem to like the bone dry pitches* and what chances there were went either too high or too wide. Jeff Minton had a typical game, collecting every ball, never losing a tackle and being a general nuisance all over the pitch, even with two men on him all the time. With the lion's share of the defending left to Ben Chennery I thought he played a superb game and deserves to be Brian's MOTM. Everybody else played well individually but perhaps with so many changes the 'team effect' suffered just a little. It's a pity that there was so little service from the right but with so many regulars missing, something had to give. Canvey slowed the pace of the game right down as the game went into the final phase (Ash was booked for time wasting) and this annoyed the home fans, but Canvey had the game in the bag once they got their two goals. It was good to see a spirited attitude from Hendon, but they had a mountain that was far too high for them to climb, thanks to Lee Boylan. Canvey now meet Yeading at Hornchurch on May Day. Perhaps there will be some silverware at Park Lane after all? *Please note. 'Hendon's Claremont Road' and 'bone dry pitch' mentioned in the same match report. Is this a first? Match Report by Merv Teams
Weather Conditions: Dry, mild evening. What did you think of
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