Over previous seasons Canvey Island have learnt that teams like Harrow Borough are the draw specialists of the Ryman League; bobbing around mid-table, going no-where and one of the least attractive fixtures of the season.

Having said that, Canvey brought their A-game into this fixture; still riding high from their last gasp win this past Saturday and produced a match winning display to entertain the 182 in attendance.

There were two changes to the Canvey starting line-up with Robbie King coming in for Kevin Dobinson and Jay Curran starting ahead of James Rowe to partner Jason Hallett up front.

It was Curran who had Canvey’s early chance, he received the ball at his feet from deep and beat his marker for pace, but his effort hit the legs of onrushing Andrew Baptiste and there was no-one available for the follow-up.

This was a positive start from Canvey that had to come up against a Harrow back-line that was extremely physical at times. It was midfielder James Fraser however, who first went into the Referee’s notebook; receiving a caution for pushing Leon Gordon heavily into the pitch hoardings.

With sixteen minutes passed, Canvey got off the mark. Leon Gordon’s corner was whipped in, but Harrow’s failure to clear their lines was punished as Richard Halle launched an effort from the edge of the penalty area. That shot was forced over the line by Jason Hallett who was credited with the goal, though Halle will argue his shot was goal-bound anyway. Regardless though, Canvey were deservedly in front and enjoying a dominant spell.

Harrow were attempting to create chances of their own, yet they were failing to break down Canvey’s offside trap with Frankie Everett and Chris Moore particularly resilient and Tarkan Mustafa and Andrew West breaking down any threat from the wings.

Someone who was not having a good game though was the Referee. His failure to impose any authority within the players allowed some heavy handed tactics from Harrow. Jay Curran was booked for a legitimate fifty-fifty tackle on twenty-eight minutes that was seen as retaliation by the Referee after Curran himself was blatantly pushed with a forearm to the back of the head just moments earlier that had gone ignored. Wayne Walters and Richard Orlu in particular are able to count themselves lucky to be not noted in the Referee’s book.

Tarkan Mustafa showed some great dribbling skills, hugging the touch-line and leaving his marker for dust on thirty-four minutes. Tarkan’s cross was looked dangerous enough but in truth only Baptiste’s agility to tip the ball over the bar at the last second prevented an extraordinary goal for Canvey’s right-back.

Shortly before half-time, Curran again had an opportunity to get on the score-sheet himself. James Russell’s goal-kick was launched up field and landed at the feet of Hallett. Hallett’s first touch laid the ball into the path of the on-rushing Curran and this time Curran’s first-time effort was picked out of the air by Baptiste.

Half-Time: Canvey Island 1 - 0 Kingstonian

The second half saw a cautious start from both teams, the tempo had dropped from the first-half with Canvey seemly content to sit-back a little and soak up some pressure from Harrow.

Harrow’s best effort of the game came on fifty-five minutes; Dean Fenton only had to make contact with the ball to send it over the line, but the low cross coming in from the left was missed by everyone despite Harrow being awarded a very dubious corner.

Kenja Nakashima replaced the lively Fenton as Harrow’s first change and two minutes later Rocky Baptiste would be thankful that the game was not being filmed as he produced a miss that would’ve rivalled his current YouTube hit. Harrow had beaten Canvey’s offside trap and with Baptiste having an almost open goal to place the ball into, he ended up putting the ball wide of Russell’s goal.

Canvey made changes of their own on sixty-eight minutes; Greg Cohen being replaced by Gabriel Fanibuyan, hoping to recreate his excellent substitute performance from the previous weekend.

With twenty minutes to go, Harrow fans must’ve been cursing their luck when between them James Russell and Leon Gordon scrambled the ball off of the goal-line after successive Harrow attempts to recreate Canvey’s goal from the first-half.

Gordon was eventually replaced by John Edwards with Robbie King switching out wide as “Miss Master” Rocky Baptiste was replaced by Kurt Morlese.

On seventy-seven minutes Chris Moore who hadn’t put a foot wrong all game conceded a free-kick twenty-five yards from goal and Ryan Watts’ dipping effort was well tipped over the bar by Russell.

Andrew West, another Canvey player to put in an excellent performance was replaced by Craig Davidson and moments from the re-start Dewayne Clarke was finally put into the referee’s notebook, (yet Tobi Jinadu still managed to avoid being cautioned despite a minimum of four blatant fouls on various Canvey players. All were card worthy; all were ignored by officials).

Three minutes of normal time remained when Jason Hallett was again wrestled off the ball unfairly. Robbie King’s free-kick avoided everyone and eventually went out for a throw, where Kwasi Frempong was booked for his troubles in attempting to get the ball in play with haste.

Warren Whitely was thrown on in place of Lewis Cook by Harrow as they seek their equaliser in stoppage time and this was achieved in the third minute of added on time. A free-kick that wasn’t a free-kick was awarded to Harrow several yards from the right touchline. The ball was floated in to the penalty area where Kurt Morlese, the smallest player on the field had beaten his marker to rise and head the ball over the top of James Russell and into the goal; an undeserved equaliser considering the tactics employed by Harrow throughout the game.

To prove this point, in the ninety-fifth minute Chris Moore took a blow to the face from Dewayne Clarke, which incited a brawl between players and Dewayne Clarke being shown a straight red card for violent conduct to accompany the booking he had already received. A further two minutes of play were considered needing by the Referee and eventually the match was brought to a close after ninety-seven minutes with Canvey definitely feeling they had been hard done by through terrible officiating.

Canvey are back on the road again with three away fixtures in six days for their next spell of football, starting this Saturday when they visit Tonbridge Angels.

Full-Time: Canvey Island 1 - 1 Harrow Borough