Comfortable win for Hornchurch - stats and report

[Dagger03]

 

 

Thursday 18^th March 2020

 

HORNCHURCH 1 CANVEY ISLAND 0

 

HFC – Darren Behcet – Mitchell Stuart-Evans – Billy Coyne – Ronnie Fletcher – Rickie Hayles - Andy Tomlinson - Elliot Styles © - Jonathan Spencer – Soz Yao – Ross Wall - Michael Spencer

 

Subs –Herve Botshebe – Mervin Abraham for Wall 86 – Tambesong Eyong for Stuart-Evans 74 – Ronsard Kehi for Yao 88

 

 

 

CI – James Russell – Tarkan Mustafa – Greg Cohen – Fran Everett – Richard Halle © - Craig Davidson – Gabriel Fanibuyan – Kevin Dobinson – John Curran – Leon Gordon – Rob King

 

Subs – Andrew West – Jason Hallett for Davidson 70 – Ben Patten – Daryl Bourgeois for Dobinson 78 – Jack Parr

 

 

 

Scorer – Mitchell Stuart-Evans 43

 

Bookings – Tomlinson 37 (H) – Halle 42 (CI) – Coyne 52 (H) – Styles 52 (H)

 

Attendance 271

 

Duration 46.30 + 50.25

 

Weather – 11 degrees, drizzle, wind speed 15 mph

 

Officials – C Fitch with S Gillman and A Langsdon

 

Colours – H – red and white stripes / black / red

 

CI – yellow / blue / yellow

 

 

 

HORNCHURCH 1 CANVEY ISLAND 0

 

 

 

Mark Janney and Jamie Dormer are still out with injuries, Jonathan Hunt’s injury is likely to take longer than first anticipated, and Rikki Burbridge has been recalled by Braintree. Mitchell Stuart-Evans retained his place in the starting line up, and Rickie Hayles returned after a one match suspension. Ronsard Kehi came into the squad for the first time, and Elliot Styles came back after his head injury against Chelmsford.

 

 

 

There are three teams on Canvey, and with two of them, Concord and Benfleet, now taking a larger share of the support, it was not a surprise when only a handful of away supporters turned out for this fixture, which was played throughout in a heavy drizzle on a very hard pitch. Hornchurch kicked towards the restaurant end of the ground in the first half, and much of the play was confined to midfield.

 

 

 

Play was largely confined to midfield in the first half, with Canvey having the better of the midfield possession. Billy Coyne conceded a corner but Darren Behcet dealt comfortably with the ball as it came over. Ross Wall chased a long upfield ball from Rickie Hayles and then turned the ball back to Soz Yao whose cross found Michael Spencer, with Richard Halle quickly moving in to tackle. Canvey went close

 

When a 40 yard free kick by Rob King sped inches over the bar, and at the other end Michael Spencer won a corner which Andy Tomlinson sent over and the ball was touched on to Jonathan Spencer and then back to Tomlinson, whose follow up centre was headed away by Greg Cohen. A Tomlinson free kick was then dropped by keeper James Russell and a corner resulted. Tomlinson sent the ball over and Elliot Styles headed it back across goal where there was no one able to touch it over the line.

 

 

 

Behcet then held on to a Craig Davidson free kick , and the best chance of the half came when a long Behcet clearance fell invitingly in front of Soz Yao, who raced clear and seemed certain to score, until the ball bobbled just as he was about to shoot and Soz could not get it back under control before Richard Halle was able to run back and clear. The only goal of the match came soon after when Richard Halle was booked for a foul on Soz Yao, and Tomlinson took the free kick which was headed home by MITCHELL STUART-EVANS, to score his first goal for Hornchurch.

 

 

 

Hornchurch created the first chance of the second half when Andy Tomlinson’s 40 yard free kick caught out the Canvey defence but the wind carried the ball over the bar and onto the roof of the net. Canvey won a free kick shortly afterwards and Kevin Dobinson’s well struck shot was equally well saved by Darren Behcet, who then pumped the ball upfield and forced James Russell into making a save at the other end as the ball bounced high and threatened to drop into the net. Rickie Hayles then cleared another dangerous free kick from Canvey, before Hornchurch won a corner, which Tomlinson floated over and Russell punched away. The ball was partially cleared, but only as far as Billy Coyne who played it back into the area for Ross Wall who was tackled by Greg Cohen to concede another corner. Tomlinson again sent the ball over and Ronnie Fletcher went close with a header.

 

 

 

A long throw by Billy Coyne caused confusion in the Canvey defence and in the scramble for the ball Michael Spencer almost scored with a spectacular overhead kick which saw the ball skim the bar. The best chance of the first half came when Coyne intercepted the ball on the half way line and played it through to Ross Wall, who neatly rounded the keeper and then screwed his shot inches wide of the post, under pressure from Richard Halle. Russell then held another Tomlinson corner, whilst at the other end a long run by Leon Gordon ended when Ronnie Fletcher neatly cut out the cross into the middle.

 

 

 

Canvey’s officials had made themselves unpopular in the first match when they demanded payment at the gate from several of the Hornchurch officials, including one of the management team, despite them having passes, and they did not endear themselves to anyone with their comments when Mitchell Stuart-Evans needed lengthy treatment which eventually saw him stretchered off the pitch. Calling continuously for the referee to remove Mitchell ‘and get on with the game’ makes one wonder what they would say if one of their own players were injured.

 

 

 

Tambeson Eyong came on to replace Mitchell and Canvey must have wondered what they needed to do to force him off the ball, as his sheer pace and power created havoc with the visiting defence. Darren Behcet made an excellent save to stop a hard shot from Rob King, whilst Wall and Yao combined well before Tarkan Mustafa was able to clear. A Billy Coyne long throw caused confusion in the Canvey goalmouth forcing Russell to punch the ball into a mass of players before it was eventually scrambled clear. Rickie Hayles sent a long ball up to Yao who turned it back to Tomlinson, but Andy’s shot went wide. Mervin Abraham came on for Ross Wall and Ronsard Kehi came on for Soz Yao, and if Canvey had any hopes of forcing the play in the five minutes added on for Mitchell Stuart-Evans’s injury, Mervin and Ronsard caused ample problems up front to make sure that play remained in the Canvey third of the pitch for long periods.

 

 

 

And at the finish, not one Canvey official came into the boardroom. And for the record, the referee rightly added on five minutes and 25 seconds for stoppages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[urchinman1961]

after a slow start chins took control just before half time and never looked back,2 blinding chances we missed,we are a bit to generous in front of goal,but 3 points will suit me fine

[Hornchurch "O"]

Never seen you so exited as you were in the bar after the game.

3 must be your lucky number

[Nutchutney]

I wouldn't say that the win was comfortable but we gave a good account of ourselves and won 3 very important points.

A good team performance against difficult opposition.