In a lively encounter at the Brockwell Stadium this afternoon, Canvey Island welcomed Conference South title challengers Chelmsford City.

Looking to improve upon the score-line against Welling United last weekend, Canvey fell behind early when Anthony Cook’s corner from the right found Dave Rainford’s head at the far post and he converted past James Russell after only 3 minutes.

Jay Curran had a rare chance for Canvey on 9 minutes, but he struck over from the edge of the area.

James Russell held well from Ben Nunn’s distant effort on 21 minutes and Robbie King replied in the same fashion on 23 minutes making James Pullen work at Chelmsford’s near post.

On the stroke of half-time James Russell acrobatically tipped over from a right-side Chelmsford free-kick.

H/T: Canvey Island 0 – 1 Chelmsford City

Canvey replaced Jason Hallett with Danny Heale at half-time with Takumi Ake coming on to make his debut for Chelmsford, replacing Sam Higgins.

The second half was all Chelmsford with Canvey given no time with the ball but despite this there were several glimpses of brilliance; Matt Game in particular marshalling Canvey’s midfield and the strength of Jason Hallett and Jay Curran up front will crumble most defences this season.

James Russell pulled off another strong save to tip John Martin’s effort over the crossbar on 50 minutes in what would be the first of several Chelmsford shots from distance.

Luke Hickey replaced Matt Locke for Chelmsford on 54 minutes and a minute later Takumi Ake doubled Chelmsford’s lead when he received the ball on the half-way line and proceeded to use his great pace down the left before cutting inside and firing into the top corner of the net; a goal which drew applause from both sets of supporters.

Canvey’s Jay Curran hobbled off just before the hour mark to be replaced by Remi Sutton as Chelmsford decided to have a bit of fun with their substitutions. Mark Haines replaced Adam Tann resulting in both Chelmsford centre-halves wearing the number 12. This was repeated again on 74 minutes when Rob Edmunds wearing 14 mirrored Takumi Ake, although the difference in height was considerable. Before this John Martin had been replaced by Liam Bellamy on 70 minutes.

Canvey’s other substitutions consisted of Andrew West coming on for Tarkan Mustafa, Ben Britnell replacing Jon Edwards and Robbie King being replaced by Craig Davidson.

On 87 minutes Tyrone Scarlett, who had come on for arguably Chelmsford’s best player in Anthony Cook, made Russell pull off a low stop at the foot of the post before Dave Rainford grabbed his second on 90 minutes as his placed shot from the right was buried into the far corner bringing the game to its conclusion.

F/T: Canvey Island 0 – 3 Chelmsford City