From a Canvey Island point of view hosting Tooting & Mitcham is never an easy or entertaining fixture and today’s result proved that again as lady luck favoured the Terrors and Canvey’s inability to finish in front of goal ultimately decided the result.

Canvey totally dominated the first twenty minutes of the match, in fact had it not been for an acrobatic save from Jamie Butler, Tooting could well have been behind after only 5 minutes as he turned Danny Heale’s free-kick around his near post.

The Gulls found it all too easy to break down Tooting’s defences with Alex Rhodes, Kevin Dobinson, James Rowe, Danny Heale and Matt Game all slipping between the backline, but were undone by their own short passing style rather than going for goal.

Alex Rhodes had another excellent chance to put Canvey 1-up but his volley from the edge of the area didn’t quite dip enough at the last moment and rebounded off the cross-bar.

On 29 minutes Barry Stevens was carried to the Tooting dugout with his replacement, Phil Williams scoring with his first touch of the ball. A soft free-kick found its way through Canvey’s defence and whilst James Russell did well to block the initial effort Williams tapped home the rebound from close range.

Canvey’s heads immediately dropped and they never looked like getting back into the game. Their only other dangerous effort came on the stroke of half-time when Chris Moore’s header from Matt Game’s corner was blocked on the goal line by his own player and the ensuing scramble saw the ball in the air for the majority before going out of play via the top of the crossbar.

H/T: Canvey Island 0 – 1 Tooting & Mitcham United

Canvey provided little to get back into the game during the second half and seemed very disjointed whereas Tooting came out with a sense of purpose now they could count themselves lucky to be in the lead.

The width and urgency of the first twenty minutes had left Canvey and instead they confined themselves to the centre of the pitch with their short passes often being intercepted of failing to find their man totally.

That’s not to say Canvey’s midfield didn’t perform but they were unable to work their way into Tooting’s penalty area. Hasim Deen was particularly impressive for the visitors which led to Jamie Butler had a largely easy half between the sticks.

Isa Hussein replaced Rob King for Canvey just after the hour, but this had no effect on Canvey’s narrow shape and they were punished again on 66 minutes.

Phil Williams was allowed a mazy run into the box, beating several players before attempting to round James Russell. Russell however got down low and did well to swipe the ball from Williams’ feet but Rob Howarth rushing in from the right fired the loose ball home.

Canvey substituted Alex Rhodes with Jason Hallett on 68 minutes, reverting to three up front but at times Tooting were able to string together a number of passes reaching into the teens without interruption whereas Canvey’s tippy-tappy play often left their fans with their heart in their mouths.

Hardworking ‘Man of the Match’ Kevin Dobinson was replaced by Jon Edwards on 78 minutes but despite all attempts nothing was going to go Canvey’s way and they will need to get this match out of their minds if they are to have any success in the FA Cup next weekend.

F/T: Canvey Island 0 – 2 Tooting & Mitcham United