This afternoon Canvey Island hosted the reverse of their season opener as Kent outfit Margate, currently occupying one place below Canvey in the league table visited the Brockwell Stadium.

Canvey named an line-up unchanged from that which started against Sutton previously in the week, but did welcome back Jay Curran and Craig Davidson to the subs bench in place of Jamie Matthews and Ben Britnell.

Canvey started as they meant to go on, dominating the opening half with Margate providing little threat until short spells during the second half when they capitalised on some tired legs.

During the opening period Canvey broke through the Margate defence with ease. The best of these early efforts came after a succession of corners with Chris Moore slipping behind Margate’s backline, but he put his effort narrowly wide, unconventionally using his feet rather than his head.

Margate had an effort wide of the target on 13 minutes as James Pinnock stroked the ball wide after the ball fell to him from Wayne Wilson’s free-kick.

Again the key to Canvey’s dominance was their ability to control the ball in midfield. On 19 minutes Danny Heale chased down and won the ball before threading a beautiful pass through to Robbie King who was breaking through the Margate defence. King latched onto the ball before skipping past Tommy Osborne and rounding the ball over Jamie Turner who had gone to ground early. With this King simply had to prod the ball into the net, which he did so without challenge.

Margate were made to pay again on 26 minutes as some great passing between Canvey’s midfielders just outside the Margate penalty box allowed Kevin Dobinson to chase down a loose ball. Dobinson got to the ball but was chopped down by a scrambling Turner and the Referee didn’t hesitate to point to the penalty spot. Turner was booked and Robbie King stepped up, sending the ‘Keeper the wrong way as he buried the ball down low in the bottom left corner.

James Russell was only tested once during the first-half and that came with a cool gathering of the ball from Wayne Wilson’s free-kick on 29 minutes after Chris Moore had conceded a foul, twenty yards from goal.

A minute later and it was the same story down the other end. Kevin Dobinson was fouled again this time outside the penalty area by Jamie Rogers and as Alex Rhodes curled his effort around the defensive wall, Turner was in the best position to collect the ball into his arms.

The rest of the half played out with Canvey in total control, but the swirling winds made many balls above head height difficult to control and more often than not the ball ended up in the stand with both teams have a number of consecutive throw-ins.

H/T: Canvey Island 2 - 0 Margate

Margate replaced John Keister with Aaron Lacey at half-time, but this made little improvement as he slipped into Margate's defence who'd reverted to three at the back alongside Curtis Robinson and Lawrence Ball with Osborne and Alan Grant now moving forward to occupy more of a wing-back role.

Alex Rhodes was having a field day down Canvey’s left but seemed to have left his lucky goal-scoring boots back in the changing room. Rhodes’ first significant effort came from distance and went a couple of feet over the cross-bar on 48 minutes after a lovely flick-on from Jason Hallett. Rhodes was almost on target again on 58 minutes when he sent in a deep cross from the left that got caught up in the wind, beat Turner in his goal, but rebounded off of the far side of the crossbar.

On the hour Kevin Dobinson charged down the Margate defence and whipped in a cross from the right that Turner did well to get down low and collect at his near post, thwarting the onrushing attack of Hallett and Heale.

Margate’s best opportunity so far came on 65 minutes. As Shaun Welford fired his free-kick straight at the defensive wall, the deflection fell to Tommy Osborne who sent over a looping cross to the far post that was too high for Russell to clutch. Thankfully for Canvey Chris Moore was on hand the clear the ball off the line but only as far as the edge of the area. A follow-up was sent in that was blocked again, this time through a last gasp block by John Easterford.

Easterford was in action up the other end of the pitch on 68 minutes as his shot was blocked by the Margate defence. The loose bell fell back to him where he managed to switch the ball across goal onto the head of Jason Hallett, but his free header was acrobatically tipped round the post one handed by Turner.

The follow-up corner was short and dealt with at the near post out for a second corner that Rhodes sent this time to the far-post. The ball was cleared out to the edge of the area though where Ashley Dumas lofted it back into the danger, but Turner was first to the ball and claimed it as his own.

Jason Hallett landed in the Referee’s book with a challenge from behind on 71 minutes before Alex Rhodes let-fly a right-footed shot from close range that Turner went to ground sharply to collect.

On 84 minutes John Easterford charged down a Margate attack, getting one foot on the ball preventing it from travelling any further but was judged to have taken the man as well with his trailing leg. The Referee awarded the penalty to Margate and booked Easterford in the process.

James Russell guessed right and dived down low to his right to push Welford’s spot-kick around the post and out for a corner to virtually ensure he earned himself a clean sheet.

Canvey substituted their forward line in the final minutes replacing Jason Hallett with Jay Curran and Danny Heale with Ellis Skidmore on 86 and 89 minutes respectively.

Margate had one final attempt to grab a consolidation goal in the 93^rd minute but Wayne Wilson curled his free-kick around the wall and past the near-post for a goal-kick that once taken the Referee brought an end to the proceedings.

Canvey won this fixture comprehensively without having to shift into top gear and having made an improvement from Tuesday night that was in itself an improvement on last weekend then Canvey should carry their momentum and confidence forward to Tuesday evening at Wembley where they will take on Hendon before entertaining Margate’s Kent neighbours Maidstone United at the Brockwell Stadium next weekend.

F/T: Canvey Island 2 - 0 Margate