Canvey Island clearly put the disappointing defeat at Harrow Borough behind them in preparation for hosting league leaders Sutton United. On the night Canvey played some exciting football, particular in the first-half and fully deserved something from the game. The Officials in charge of the match though thought otherwise and some highly questionable decision making turned the game on its head resulting in Sutton converting two penalties either side of half-time.

Canvey welcomed Matt Game and Ashley Dumas back into the starting line-up; both were missing from Saturday, but lost Jay Curran, Craig Davidson, Steve Ward and Danny Kerrigan meaning youngsters Jamie Matthews, Ben Britnell and Ellis Skidmore warmed the bench alongside Andrew West and Hussein Isa.

James Russell was tested as early as twenty seconds tipping over a dipping effort from range before many fans had taken up their viewing positions around the ground. The resulting corner was missed at the near post and landed at the foot of Russell’s goal but thankfully the attacker put the ball into the terrace with Russell agreeably furious that such a simple ball had not been dealt with instantly.

That effort on target was all Sutton had the first twenty minutes for it was all Canvey on the attacking front. Alex Rhodes who had earlier left Sutton’s full-back Karl Murray for dust, easily beat him again on 3 minutes and with Craig Dundas backtracking, hot on his heels, Rhodes did superbly to out-pace the chasing defence before crossing a low ball from just inside the penalty area across the face of goal where Jason Hallett lurked, two yards out to simply dink the ball the wrong side of Kevin Scriven and into the net.

This early goal led to a barrage of attacks on the Sutton goal with the ball being well played down both wings from Rhodes and Robbie King, with Matt Game and Kevin Dobinson supporting from central midfield. Danny Heale was winning high balls and laying them off for Hallett to run on to.

Another great effort was on 7 minutes where Rhodes again made another great run down Canvey’s left, this time leaving Murray flat on his backside. Rhodes whipped the ball across the penalty area but the speed of the cross meant it was missed by the onrushing Canvey attacks and sailed out for a goal-kick.

Rhodes almost made it third time lucky as he sent another ball across the penalty area on 17 minutes, but it was slightly over hit, however the accuracy of the cross meant the ball’s spin allowed it to just sit on the right wing, where it was picked up by Robbie King. King sent in another cross, which was flapped at by Scriven and fell to Hallett. Hallett couldn’t get into a scoring position so instead laid the ball into the path of Rhodes on the edge of the area, but he couldn’t keep his shot down and it sailed a couple of feet over the bar.

Matt Game was next in line to challenge Scriven as he curled a lofty effort goal wards that had Scriven at full stretch to catch the ball at his far post. By this point the heavy challenges from Sutton were being ignored by the Referee and becoming alarmingly frequent. On 38 minutes one attack from Canvey resulted in Danny Heale being compacted between two Sutton players several yards inside the Sutton half. Heale’s legs were taken out from under him and you heard the impact of the oppositions’ boots hitting his ankles. Amazingly the foul was not given and Sutton broke into another attack. With this momentary lapse in concentration the Canvey defence remained static, with Chris Moore hot on the heels of the Sutton attacker. The attacker hit the floor though and the Referee immediately pointed to the penalty spot with Danny Heale still on the floor in Sutton’s half. Up stepped Andy Forbes and he smacked the ball low to Russell’s right to bring Sutton controversially back into the game. Moore was cautioned for his part in the penalty as the Canvey players shook their heads in amazement at how the Officials let the play continue.

Again the actions of the Officials came into question on 43 minutes as Jason Hallett chasing down a ball between the ‘Keeper and he had Karim El-Salahi all over his back. When the Referee blew his whistle it was believed that he would award Canvey the obvious penalty, but instead pointed in the opposite direction and awarded the free-kick in favour of the Sutton defender.

As the two teams went into the interval it was hoped that the final minutes of the half were a few moments of madness from the Officials, but worse was to come after half-time.

H/T: Canvey Island 1 - 1 Sutton United

Canvey began the second half with a slightly different game-plan, playing Hallett up front on his own with Danny Heale slotting behind him and the whole team sitting a lot deeper across the pitch, seemingly aiming to play on the counter attack. Sutton had stuck to their own tactics of hitting Canvey on the break though and whilst Sutton were starting to win the ball a lot more in midfield, they were continuously assisted by the man in the middle.

On 51 minutes one such break from Sutton saw the ball lobbed up field, James Russell charged from goal to tip the ball away from danger, but it was rapidly closed down by Craig Dundas who smashed the ball into the face of John Easterford. Easterford hit the deck, the Referee stopped play, and the Referee’s Assistant up the far end of the ground, crossed his flag along his chest indicating a penalty!

After a few minutes of Easterford receiving treatment he got to his feet and was promptly booked by the Referee, the man in black indicating that the penalty was conceded for handball.

Andy Forbes stepped up again and rifled the ball into the roof of the net giving Sutton the lead through unbelievable terms.

Three minutes later and Canvey were on the attack, the ball was at the feet of Hallett but he had the ball and his trailing leg taken away from him, no penalty said the Referee, by this time the ball had fallen to Danny Heale and he smashed it goalwards but Simon Downer blocked the effort in the six-yard box and cleared the ball from danger.

Robbie King received Canvey’s second caution of the night on 61 minutes for a late challenge on Canvey’s right before Andy Forbes deservedly picked up a yellow for kicking the ball away after the whistle had signalled he was offside on 70 minutes.

Kevin Dobinson made way for Hussein Isa on 73 minutes moving Robbie King into the centre of the fold and generating some natural width in the middle.

Sutton replaced their hit man Andy Forbes with Kennedy Adjei with fifteen minutes remaining and three minutes after Ronayne Marsh Brown made way for Darren Ebsworth.

Canvey reverted to a 3-4-3 formation for the final ten minutes with Chris Moore staying up front alongside Heale and Hallett, in the hope that his towering presence will lay off some neat balls to his strike partners.

The counter-attack paid off for Sutton in their best move of the night on 85 minutes. Danny Heale was heavily dispossessed inside Sutton’s half and in two kicks of the ball, the net had been busted. One kicked lofted the ball over Canvey’s defence into the path of Bradley Woods-Garness, the second from Woods-Garness sent a thundering half-volley over the outrushing James Russell and into the goal. A decent move by Sutton that with all the luck going their way tonight couldn’t have gone anywhere but in the goal.

As a result of conceding a third goal the Canvey Management threw on Ellis Skidmore in replace of Moore for the final five minutes, but there was too little time to give Canvey’s hot prospect a chance to adapt to the pace of the game and show just how he managed to score 6 goals, and provide 3 assists in 9 games, (making him Redbridge’s top scorer this season according to www.redbridgefc.com) whilst out on loan.

Sutton made the last of their substitutions on 87 minutes with Sam Page replacing Simon Downer and even with the three minutes of added on time Canvey provided little in the dying minutes to trouble Sutton’s lead of the game and the league itself.

Having the disadvantage of having to play against the opposition and the Officials never bodes well but the Canvey players can be proud in the knowledge that they played the better football throughout the game and under more favourable conditions would’ve got the result they deserved.

F/T: Canvey Island 1 - 3 Sutton United