Canvey 1 - 0 Folkestone

[ShedBoy]

Another 3 points in the bag.

 

A game we dominated from start to finish, should have won it 3 or 4 nil. To be honest we didn't play to our best so picking up the points in such comfortable style is very positive

 

Alex Rhodes and Hussain Isa were excellent, Rhodes picking up the MOM Award.

 

Atendance 322

 

 

[YELLOW]

Thought we made hard work of our win. We didn't really test their keeper enough for the first hour of the match and once we scored, we had numerous chances to finish the game but didn't take them.

 

As a result we had a few scary moments at the end and James had to make two excellent save to secure the points.

 

Saying that, we were strong defensively and both Alex Rhodes and Isa were good on the wings.

 

Thought Folkestone were very poor and pretty much were playing for the point from the first whistle.

 

Only lost once in 8 league games which is a superb record.

 

Next week at Kingstonian will be a tough match though.

[Canvey Fan 1926]

Don't think there was much in it between the two teams, we may have had more 'chances' but really wasn't much better than them.

 

If we play like that against better teams, how can we possibly challenge for the play-offs?! An unconvincing win against a very poor side really doesn't fill me with confidence for the rest of the season!

 

Maybe I'm being overly critical, but I felt this was another poor performance where the result could have gone either way...

[YELLOW]

That's a game, we would have probably lost last season (Waltham Abbey at home for example)

 

Agree, we were far from convincing but we do tend to raise our game against the better sides.

[Canvey Fan 1926]

I'm hoping you are right - these are the kind of games we need to get a result and I'm happy we've started doing that! After all, a win is a win...

 

We do have a habit of playing to the opposition rather than playing consistently well. We have a talent squad of players, and should/could be winning games like these by 4 or 5 goals!

 

But we'll definately have to up our game against Kingstonian otherwise we'll be in trouble!

Edited November 7, 2010 by Canvey Fan 1926

[Matt H]

Folkestone were lucky that we could only score one. They had three good chances to score but Russell's reflexes were top notch. Their 'Keeper was having a torrid time with all those backpasses. My only criticism is that we seem to be too afraid to shoot on site. Often we try and play neat triangles down the pitch, which we're good at especially between Rhodes, Dumas and Game but we're clueless once we get the ball into the area and/or we need to take too many touchs on the ball. Thankfully Rhodes and Isa were putting in some wicked crosses yesterday, unfortunately we had no-one to capitalise on them.

 

 

A couple of constructive observations from yesterday's game:

 

1. When we're defending set-pieces all 11 players move back. We used to leave Rowe on the half-way line to pick up clearances and couter-attack. Recently there has been no-one.

 

2. In a similar vein, our attackers hardly move forward together as a unit, partially because Danny Heale plays so deep. Yesterday in the second-half I forget who it was either Isa or Curran attacked at speed down the right. The only player that kept up with him was Rhodes, making it 2 attackers verses 3 defenders and the Goalkeeper. When we did move forward as a unit we scored. The ball went from Heale to Game to Isa to in the back of the net.

 

3. We are too lenient on opposition Goalkeepers. For many a game now I've felt our players need to crowd the Goalie out. He's the only player allowed to go for the ball with his hands and often it's too easy for him to come and collect the ball. As I said, their 'Keeper yesterday wasn't having the best of games, but we weren't challenging him physically enough when going for high balls. Even if you give away a foul you're going to knock his confidence and he'll have second thoughts about coming for it the next time and that could lead to ball landing anywhere!

 

 

Other than that, I thought yesterday was a very positive result and we played some great football, in the typical Canvey style. What a difference four points from two games makes in moving 8 places up the table. I would be well happy to come away from Kingsmeadow with a point before we go into what is in my eyes a more important fixture against currently 5th placed Cray Wanderers, whom are only two points ahead having played a game more.

Edited November 7, 2010 by Matt H

[The Great Eckscape]

I thought we played some good stuff in the first half, and were able to work the ball into wide areas with ease. However, the final ball into the box was poor and consequently we weren't able to capitalise on our dominance. We didn't play as well in the second half, yet we scored the goal that our first half performance deserved. On another day we'd have been 2 or 3 up at half time, but we weren't and it must have been frustrating.

 

Folkestone were very much a long ball team, and although that can be quite effective against us at times, I thought Ward and Easterford were excellent. As much as I like Chris Moore, he may struggle to regain his place now that Easterford has impressed so much since getting his chance.

 

I do agree with Matt about letting their goalkeeper come out and claim every cross with ease - we need to start making life tougher for goalkeepers so that they aren't allowed to snuff out so many potential goal scoring opportunities.

 

I think one major criticism of our side is that we raise our game depending on the opposition as Yellow says. Against Aveley and Folkestone, we let our performance slip to match our opponents in both second halves rather than pushing on and burying these teams. However, when we do come up against better sides we are often able to match or better them for 90 minutes. We need to start taking these performances against the better sides into these matches with the bottom of the table teams so that the last 15 minutes are more bearable!

 

Still, 7 points from the last 9 is a very good return, roll on Saturday!

[Diddy's Big Bro]

Just one thing i'd like to add to all the above. It would be nice to see Isa hit the byline instead of cutting inside everytime. In the end there left back know exactly what he was going to do.

 

I know 3 points is 3 points. But If only we could of scored a couple more goals then maybe we could break out the "You couldn't Score in the Brockwell" song without fear or having to eat our words. lol