Canvey Island completed their pre-season preparations with a convincing 5 – 0 win over Cheshunt at the Brockwell Stadium this afternoon.

Canvey fielded two new trailists from Grays Athletic in centre-half Jon Glowacki and left-winger Alex Rhodes. Former Dartford winger Hussein Isa was left on the bench for the first-half but had the chance to prove his worth again after the break.

Cheshunt was forced into an early substitution when Tom Tresadern went off after only 10 minutes and throughout the match, Cheshunt couldn’t settle and were caught out on many occasions. Having said that Canvey’s backline did find it difficult to contain Graham Dearie’s pace in the early stages, but the experience of Chris Moore alongside Ashley Dumas and Rob King kept him at bay.

On 16 minutes a left-sided corner from Matt Game found Danny Heale at the far post and he made no mistake thundering his header past goalkeeper Christian Beupierre.

Cheshunt’s only effort of the entire game that was on target came on 29 minutes when Sam Byles forced James Russell into a save low down at his near post.

Any threat Cheshunt posed was cast aside on 30 minutes when Christian Beupierre was caught outfield after misjudging the flight of a ball. Danny Heale was on hand for Canvey to collect the ball and let fly a 25 yard effort that with great accuracy was launched into the roof of the open goal.

It was clear to those in attendance that it wasn’t going to be Beaupierre’s day when only a minute after his indecisiveness increased Canvey’s lead, he went and did the same again! Alex Rhodes out wide on the left sent in a deep cross that Beaupierre could only tip away from goal and into the path of Matt Game. All that was required of Game was to nod the ball over the line at the far post.

At three-nil down, Cheshunt made another substitution on 35 minutes with Syrus Gordon replacing Nick Mountford.

Half-Time: Canvey Island 3 – 0 Cheshunt

Canvey made multiple substitutions at half-time: Andrew West replaced Rob King, Frank Everett came on for Chris Moore, Hussein Isa replaced Jon Edwards, Jay Curran replaced James Rowe and Jason Hallett came on for Danny Heale. Cheshunt’s two substitutions were Sam Vandepier replacing Dave Hicks and rookie goalkeeper Joe Wright replacing the comic Beaupierre.

On 58 minutes another left-sided cross from Alex Rhodes landed at the feet of Jay Curran. Curran was given so much time on the ball by the Cheshunt defence that when his first shot was blocked point blank by Wright the ball returned to Curran. His second shot was again blocked point blank by Wright only for the ball to return to him again. Curran was third time lucky as this effort hit the back of the net, notching four on the scoreboard for Canvey.

Cheshunt did not like the way Canvey were ridiculing them and were putting in some heavy challenges with Glen Parry being a particular guilty party. On 62 minutes one such tackle igniting a fiery reaction from Kevin Dobinson, which resulted in the Referee requesting he be subbed, with Ben Britnell taking his place.

Canvey’s reserve goalkeeper Jack Parr was given the last twenty minutes to grab some valuable experience, replacing the ever-present James Russell for the second game in a row.

Alex Rhodes’ impressive performance came to an end on 76 minutes when he was replaced by Ellis Skidmore before Jason Hallett completed the rout on 78 minutes. Andrew West sent over a cross from deep on the right that Joe Wright thought he had tipped away for a corner. However Hallett did extremely well to keep the ball in play and with Wright still reeling from his acrobatic save, Hallett simply curled the ball around the near post from the by-line into the far corner of the net.

Canvey completed their substitutions with six minutes remaining as reserve left-back George Whitby made his first appearance for the senior team this pre-season, replacing Ashley Dumas.

Today’s performance will surely keep the confidence high in the dressing room and on the terraces as Canvey head into the new season with their first competitive fixture at Margate next Saturday.

Full-Time: Canvey Island 5 – 0 Cheshunt