CANVEY ISLAND 1 HORNCHURCH 2 - report and line ups

[Dagger03]

Saturday 25-July-2015

CANVEY ISLAND  1  HORNCHURCH  2

 

1 – Sam Mott

2 – Billy Coyne – Paulius Ditkevicius 73

3 – Junior Luke – Matt Rose 88

4 – Jed Chouman

5 – Danny Thompson

6 – Joey May – Dave Collis 71

7 – Abs Thompson – Vlad Sighiartu 80

8 – Tom Pennells – Lee Prescott 59

9 – Calvin Poku – Michael Osunkoya 67

10 – George Purcell – Kieron English 80

11 – Tobi Joseph

 

CIFC – Jake Larkins – Richard Davies – Ashley Dumas – Charlie Barlow – John Easterford – Steve Sheehan – Tambeson Eyong © - Glen Poole – Jay Curran – Martin Tuohy – Harrison Chatting

Subs – Ozzy Adenizi – Dan Gilchrist – Marlon Agyakwa – Jake Pitty

 

 

There was surface water on the pitch in the morning, following the heavy rain on Friday and overnight, but, apart from a soggy patch in one corner, the playing surface was in excellent condition by kick off time.

 

In a first half dominated by Hornchurch, Canvey were forced to defend for long periods.

 

On 23 minutes Richard Davies fouled George Purcell on the edge of the area. Purcell took the free kick, his hard drive beating the wall and coming back off the post.

 

Purcell went close on 30 minutes, after a good move involving Junior Luke and Tobi Joseph along the left. This time Purcell fired in a high volley, the ball skimming the crossbar.

 

It was something of a surprise when Canvey took the lead on 32 minutes, when along clearance by home keeper Jake Larkins gave a scoring opportunity to Jay Curran who beat Sam Mott with a well-directed lobbed shot.

 

Hornchurch continued to press hard, and Calvin Poku twice opened up the defence, once with a pass out to Abs Thompson, who cut in and shot from a narrow angle, the ball hitting a defender and going out for a corner. And again when Poku backheeled the ball to Purcell whose right footed shot went wide of the post.

 

Hornchurch drew level on 40 minutes when Calvin Poku scored his first goal for the Urchins, when he finished off some fine work by Abs Thompson, whose penetrating run left he home defence in tatters.

 

A minute from half time Tambeson Eyong found space on the right with a good run, but his shot was wide of the post.

 

 Canvey struggled to contain Hornchurch, with Joseph on the left and Thompson on the right frequently leaving their markers stranded, and Hornchurch went ahead on 61 minutes, when George Purcell played the ball into the goalmouth from close to the half way line and Calvin Poku calmly headed home.

 

Canvey introduced several substitutes, and Sam Mott twice in the space of two minutes made excellent saves from Ozzy Adenizi.

 

But it was Hornchurch who continued to force the pace, and they almost increased their lead when Michael Osunkoya outpaced the defence, only for his shot to beat Larkins and drift inches wide of the post.

 

This was an excellent performance against a Canvey side tipped to be a force in the Premier Division this season, more so as Hornchurch were without four key players in Elliot Styles, David Knight, Alex Bentley and Leon Smith.