Canvey Island took on Kingstonian at the Brockwell Stadium this afternoon looking to continue their great Ryman Premier campaign after last weekend’s FA Cup break and whilst Canvey replayed at Hitchin this past Tuesday, Kingstonian managed to get their result at first time of asking beating Bognor Regis four-one down on the south-coast.

Canvey’s only change from Tuesday was Craig Davidson coming in for Leon Gordon. A shuffle in midfield to accommodate Crow meant Gabriel Fanibuyan being pushed out wide on the right to cover for Gordon, with Jon Edwards and Davidson holding the central midfield.

As always Canvey started lively and there was some epic banter on the terraces as for the first time this season the opposition brought a noisy following to challenge the vocal dominance of the Yellow Army. It wasn’t too long before Canvey found their attacking flow. Great work down the left from Greg Cohen let James Rowe slip past the Ks’ backline, but his low cross was collected at the near post by Luke Garrard in the Hoops’ goal.

At this stage it must be said that black numbers against a red and white hooped shirt did not make for easy viewing and deciphering the Kingstonian players took more effort than normal. Canvey dominated the opening though and Jonathan Edwards’ half-volley from twenty yards cleared the ground at the sea-wall end. Fanibuyan’s volley a few minutes later met the same fate and gave the ball-boys no shortage of work.

It was Kingstonian who made the first real threat of the game. The impressive Matt Gray, who was Ks’ set-piece taker for the afternoon delivered a short corner to the near-post that was flicked towards goal by Bobby Traynor and only the sharp reflexes of James Russell from point blank range kept the scores level this early. A minute later and the same again from Gray found Carl Wilson-Denis, but under pressure from Ben Patten he fluffed his over-head kick and the threat was neutralised.

At the other end of the pitch Jay Curran had an effort of his own. He hammered the ball at Garrard after being nicely set-up from James Rowe. Curran’s effort was hit right at Garrard, but Garrard fumbled and pushed the ball free, however Jonathan Edwards was beaten by Garrard’s good recovery. Kingstonian counter-attacked from this move and in two passes the ball was at the feet of Wilson-Denis, his shot was blocked and the resulting corner was well collected by Russell.

Twenty minutes in and the football was flowing freely between the two teams with chances being created at either end, yet finishing was poor. Greg Cohen set the ball at the feet of Jay Curran; however Curran joined Edwards and Fanibuyan on the list of conversions heading towards the sea-wall.

Canvey were made to pay for their lack of clearing the ball to a yellow shirt at first time of asking though and it was Matt Gray again who instigated. His corner was half-cleared straight to a hooped shirt and pushed out wide again to Gray still standing on the touch-line. Gray sent in another cross that was again not disposed of correctly. By this time Gray had worked his way into the area and found the ball at his feet where he poked home low to Russell’s right. It took a full minute from the original corner to the actual goal and the ball never left more than five yards from Canvey’s penalty area.

Gray nearly assisted in a second for Kingstonian to rub salt into the open wound of Canvey. His free-kick from deep on the right met the unchallenged head of Simon Huckle who directed the ball against the bar. Russell did have this covered though, which from certain angles may have looked more like a save than an effort off-target.

After the interval Kingstonian replaced Maurice Harkin with Des Boateng and Canvey started much livelier than they finished the first-half. They got their reward just nine minutes into the half though when James Rowe beat the Kingstonian offside trap to find himself through one-on-one and Rowe slipped the ball under Garrard and across goal into the far corner of the net. There were appeals for offside from the Ks bench and players alike, but the Assistant Referee ruled that John Fletcher had played Rowe on.

A minute later and ‘Stonian were almost in front again. Matt Gray’s free-kick was punched clear by James Russell straight back to Gray’s feet. His second effort was parried by Russell to whom Andrew West easily cleared the resulting corner.

Canvey were under the cosh again. Gray’s latest corner was yet again cleared to a Kingstonian player but when he put the ball back in the danger-zone the Assitant’s flag was raised immediately for offside. Canvey’s own chances grew as the half went on though and Greg Cohen’s free-kick was well held by Garrard after James Rowe was caught by a trailing leg. Garrard released the ball quickly and the Ks countered. His long kick up-field found Dean Lodge, who tried a spectacular lob that was well wide of Russell’s goal.

Ben Patten was almost made to pay for a rare error on his part when his mistimed clearance fell to Wilson-Denis who pushed the ball past Patten and found himself dummying James Russell sending him the wrong way. Russell recovered well though and as Wilson-Denis tried another attempt to go around Russell, his effort was pushed out for another Ks' corner. Wilson-Denis was substituted shortly after this replaced by Christian Jolley. At the same time Canvey replaced the subdued Greg Cohen with Leon Gordon, deciding to switch Fanibuyan to the left wing and Leon took up the role vacated by Gabs.

Gabby still caused the Ks’ defence plenty of problems no matter which wing he was attacking and Matt Gray was booked just after the hour for pulling Gabby back. Crow took the following free-kick which was knocked out for a corner. Canvey were now upping the pressure and were award several corners in a short period of time.

Richard Halle headed a free ball wide from one of Leon’s corners and while the ball was out of play Robbie King made his first-team home debut replacing Jon Edwards. Another Leon Gordon corner was ruled to have been headed wide by Jay Curran, despite it coming off of a hooped shirt.

Canvey’s final substitution saw Jason Hallett replace Curran and from the restart Kingstonian regained the lead. Frankie Everett was judged to have impeded a Kingstonian attack and the resulting freekick saw Canvey undone by their lack of defensive organisation. Matt Gray curled his free-kick around a one-man wall to the far post where the ball met the unchallenged head of Huckle who having had his effort in the first-half crash against the bar made no mistake at the second attempt and put the ball under the bar, into the net. Having got their second goal, Ks made their final substitution of the afternoon; Rob Sheridan replaced Karl Beckford as they looked to defend their lead going into the final ten minutes of the game.

Another Leon Gordon corner was headed over by Jason Hallett but Canvey were becoming resilient in their attacks. The football began flowing again and some great link-up play between Frank Everett and Leon Gordon saw Everett break into the penalty area and having knocked the ball past Jolley, Everett went around him only the have the ball pushed out for a corner by Jolley’s hand. This potentially result-changing incident was missed by both the Referee and the near-side Assistant who was positioned no more than twelve yards from the action.

Andrew West picked up a booking after bringing down Bobby Traynor and Gray’s free-kick was hit low along the ground but wide of the target. Back in the Kingstonian half Leon Gordon won himself a free-kick and taking it himself he found the head of Jason Hallett who again headed over. Take two saw another cross from Gordon headed over, this time from Robbie King.

James Rowe had a very good claim for a penalty denied after his shirt was pulled from his back. The ball went out for a corner instead and Gordon’s cross found the foot of Rowe who again had a penalty shout turned down when tripped.

Frankie Everett was booked in the dying minutes as Canvey continued to pressure. With a minute to go, James Rowe back-heeled a ball to Jason Hallett who seemed half-surprised the trick come off. His effort was put wide under pressure from the chasing Ks defence.

The final minute saw two quick corners well fought for by Canvey. James Rowe earned the first, and taken by Leon it was cleared away for a second. The second wasn’t so successful and easily cleared at the first man. ‘Stonian broke away from this and with Dean Lodge closing down on goal, James Russell came out the calmly take the ball off of Lodge’s foot with a well timed grab not wishing to risk a repeat of last Saturday and extending his ban.

Kingstonian held on for the win to extend their unbeaten run to five games in all competitions, whilst Canvey’s poor home from continues with only one win from the five games held at the Brockwell Stadium so far this season. Canvey will hope to turn this around with their next two fixtures though when they host third and fourth placed Hastings United and Tooting & Mitcham respectively during this coming week.

Match Report by Matthew Harvey.

Available at http://www.canveyisl...stonian_h.shtml