Canvey 2 2 Crawley

[YELLOW]

Well what a game, with Duffers scoring a last gasp goal to prove his critics wrong.

 

A bit lucky to get a point to be honest. Crawley looked a decent side and from the first minute opened up our defence on numerous occassions. Only bad finishing and inpsired keeping from Danny Potter kept them out.

 

It was no surprise when they scored a scrappy goal in the first half.

 

First half we were fairly lacklustre but the start of the second half was much better. Ollie Berquez scored with a great finish and suddenly we were on top and looking to win the game.

 

We conceded a bad goal with the Crawley player nicking in at the near post to score. Crawley had a few chances to confirm victory but didn't take them and as the game moved into stoppage time Duffers picked the ball up, went on a mazy run and drilled a low shot into the net to send the Yellow Army into a frenzy!!

 

Could well have won the game with the keeper having to palm the ball away for a corner in the dying seconds.

 

In the end a point won. It was not a great performance with numerous passes going astray and the defence and midfield at times looked very lightweight. Credit to the players for really battling and never giving up. It certainly looked like it wasn't going our way but today we got the luck unlike Saturday.

 

Crawley were a better side than I thought and played some really good football. In fairness they'll be dissapointed to only get a point considering the chances they had. They will also argue that maybe Danny Potter should have been sent off when one of their forwards was through on goal in the second half.

 

Nevertheless we remain 11th but still lots of room for improvement. The time has definitely come to give Jon Keeling a run out and what about Greggors? No goals in 9 games!!

 

A lot of food for thought.

[Staying-up]

Yes I think we were lucky to get away with a point. One of the top Conference sides would have buried us tonight.

What is becoming a worry is that we cant win at home. We have now won just 1 game in eleven going back to last season. Not sure where its gone wrong. But we need to get some home wins soon.

 

I agree with Yellow EFM I would like to see Jon Keeling given a run out. Plus I would like to see Junior ahead of Greggers as its not working up front right now. A lot of the time Lee Boylan is having to get the crosses in and there is no striker there to put them away. better to have Junior there getting the crosses in for Boylan.

[YELLOW]

Great atmosphere second half with all the singing lot under the bus shelter. Should do that more often!!!

 

Great to score in the last minute. It really shut up them Crawley morons who were given abuse to our fans and coming out with the usual comments about how crap our ground is and how bad the Ryman League is. As if we could give a stuff!!

[ken]

I felt Crawley were the best side we have seen at park lane this season, they played an exciting passing game that ripped us apart for large periods of the match (kind of the way we used to play before we resorted to the constant long ball) as far as some of the comment go, the Danny potter foul I thought was one of the most blatant dives I have ever seen (the Crawley manager agreed with me at the time) as far as Jnr instead of Gregory, does no one remember when we tried that, it was awful, boylan couldn’t score. Gregory is doing an alright job, the problems we have at the moment are that no one up front is getting the service (minton and ty missing doesn’t help that) we loose our shape to easily which makes us resort to the long ball (not good when your team is about 3ft tall on average) we don’t take shots anymore (1 in the 1st half of today’s game) we are not getting the second balls after an attack and we are loosing out to the counter attack. All of these problems are mainly to do with the step up in the quality of the opposition and im sure we will sort them out. The win at home will come and with the yellow army giving their vocal support (sounded good today lads) we will do ok. This is our 1st season there are bound to be a few teething problems, but im sure they will be ironed out.

[ronin]

The only thing we can take from tonight`s game is the fact we never gave up and got a point. Crawley had more ideas, played better and looked fitter than us. It`s going to be a long season if we don`t learn from games like this and change our attitude on and off the pitch.

 

Yellow you say the atmosphere was great 2nd half, well from where i was 1st half our support couldn`t get much worse. Again all i heard was abuse against Crawley or our own players, no support. Oh and i`d like to find the joker who cheered 2nd half when Chenners went off injured, some supporter you are.

[CANV EFM]

chenners went in the first half didnt he? i thought the first half was as boring as cr.p.. im not sure i can get on with conf football.. all speed and hoofing, zero passing.. anyway.. great point won well done to the lads for dogging one out

[ronin]

You`re right Canv it was the first half, hamstring injury apparently.

[blooming barmy bongo]

I don't about you guys, but i think that we need to have a tall striker, as it seems poor old lee has to try and head the ball against some 7ft nutter. whatever happened to that Ahmed bloke that was here in the friendlies. I think he could of assist lee alot as well as take on the defenders. I also think that John Keeling should come on from the start, as he can run rings around the defenders.

[ken]

I agree, if we have to play the long ball (which we seem to) we need someone to knock the ball down to lee. Ahmed was released after that one good game, I don't know why, it would have been good to see him against some proper opposition

[Guest]

Couldn't believe the speed at which Crawley came out of the starting blocks - they were definitely up for it and felt they played extremely well throughout the game. I reckon they will be looking at two points dropped.

 

Didn't come as a suprise when they scored.

 

Think I only counted 3 runs down that side by Duffy in the first half. Apart from the goal didn't do anything of note.

 

Lads started the second half well and it seemed like Jeff may have had a few words. Deserved goal and the game was there for the taking. Ollie had a good game.

 

Fell for a well taken "sucker punch" goal and we seemed to lose shape after about 25 minutes. Brilliant save from Danny, although the Crawley lad should really have buried it. A few minutes later they ballooned one over the bar at close range when it seemed impossible to miss.

 

Suprised Danny wasn't sent off. Their player initially hand balled it as he ran in. It looked like Danny made slight contact inside the area - so I was also expecting a penalty. Referee on a scale of poor to extremely poor - was poor - normal mistakes made to both teams but nowhere near as bad as some refs I've already seen.

 

After the stupid comment about Lee Boylan on a previous thread - his first touch and control have been excellent recently - beautiful little flick over his head.

 

Was speaking to a Shots fan at Farnborough whom I know and he said the biggest thing he noticed about going full time was control and first touch. It's not just our players, but I have noticed some woeful passing and control in the conference - probably down to the speed of play etc.

 

Positives from the game - has to be the determination of the lads and not giving in. We need to grind out results at this level.

 

Negatives - Duffy - apart from the goal very quiet. Boylan not getting any real service. Midfield - we could do with certain players being available again.

 

 

[Guest]

THE CHEER WAS FOR COWAN COMING ON

LONG OVERDUE (FELT BY MANY INC. ME)

THOUGHT HE PLAYED WELL.

[YELLOW]

A few people seemed to be targeting Matt Joseph for a bit of abuse. I don't think he has really done it over the last couple of games but in fairness he is more of a full back rather than a wingback.

 

Ben Sedgemore has also been a touch dissapointing recently. Not a criticism because he is an excellent player but against Halifax and Crawley he went missing and didn't dictate the game like he did at Carlisle and Exeter.

 

In fairness to Greggors despite his lack of goals he has been very good. He has never stopped working and his link up play has been impressive.

 

I think also Ollie's performances of late have been very positive. He needs to learn though to pass the balll a bit quicker when in good positions rather than holding on it too long.

[Guest]

Quote:

YELLOW EFM said:them Crawley morons who were given abuse to our fans and coming out with the usual comments about how crap our ground is and how bad the Ryman League is. As if we could give a stuff!!

And of course, no abuse was coming back.

And lets face it... your ground IS $hit, you have next to no support, I had to queue up at Half Time and Full Time to use one of just FOUR toilets in a portakabin and the teabar (staffed by just the one person who cooks (and later re-cooks) food AND handles money, not to mention having a dead daddy long legs in the oil tray of the hotplate) shut just after Half Time.

And who bricks a coach full of kids, families & pensioners?? Canvey Island, thats who!! And you call us morons!

The trouble for you (and us, to an extent) now is that when OUR idiots hear about it, your real fans will end up being the scapegoats at the return match.

[ronin]

You won`t find many of us trying to defend the condition of our ground,it`s embarrasing but we`ve got to put up with it for a while longer yet. As for abuse between fans, i wish some of that energy could be put into supporting the team!

 

Can`t say much about the coach incident apart from it should never have happened and as you say it gives an excuse for someone having a go back. I`m 99.9% certain that whoever did it was not at the game but that`s not the point.

[ken]

this is the 1st I have herd of the coach incident but that doesn’t represent our fans any more that the crawley fan who had to be chucked out and kept causing trouble as he kept trying to get back in. every team has their morons.

 

I personally felt that the 'banter' between the two teams was quite good on Tuesday and can understand why the crawley fans were a little peeved, they were the better side, but hay that’s football it happened to us the Saturday before.

 

[CanveyFan]

I was at the game last night and I have to say it was a very entertaining affair. Crawley came flying out and looked a very decent side and I realised why they won their league last year. Agree with the comments about duffy how hes not played well recently but I think if he prhaps shot a bit more rather than cut back he could be more dangerous. But I also would like Jon Keeling to be given a run out.

 

As for the people slagging Lee off, I thought he had a good game last night and was unlucky when he hit the bar with a superb lob. Danny was very lucky to stay on the pitch as goalies get sent off for less but a terrific save after to keep it at 2-1. Although the free kick for Crawleys second, I felt was perhaps unfair as the Crawley player seemed to just drop and then obstruct the ball but oh well nevermind.

 

All in all, a good game but I thought apart from a few spells Crawley deserved to win so I think its a point gained. As for the people who bricked the coach, thats disgraceful and as said by Ronin they were probably people not even at the game who just wanted to cause trouble.

 

[YELLOW]

Got a feeling there was a few kids hanging around outside the ground. The stewards kept peering over the fence at the away end so wonder if we had the same problem we had for the Southend FA Cup of kids outside causing the trouble.

 

If the coach was 'bricked' in a area well away from the ground like the town centre then that's very unfortunate and probably proves what a crap place Canvey has become lately.

[ronin]

I was told it happened by Leigh Beck school.

[YELLOW]

Just to add, there was only a small section of Crawley fans giving abuse. It was all pretty minor just banter really but it was bloody irritating and unfortunately some of our lot fell for it and hurled some back.

 

The thing that pisses me off is that we had over 400 Barnet fans the other week and we had no problems then. Generally they got behind their team but this section of fans seemed intent on winding up the Canvey fans rather than watching the game which was rather sad.

 

At the end of the day it was probably only about 10 people doing it so it's not really worth worrying about.

[YELLOW]

Quote:

ronin said:
I was told it happened by Leigh Beck school.

Can't say I'm that surprised. Unfortunately it's more than likely the perpetrator was under 16 years old and not even at the game so doubt anything will be done.

It's a shame really as I saw those who had made the journey by coach and as the Crawley supporter states above they were indeed a mixture of old, young and families. Bet that really spoiled their night.

Scary thing is, is it could well happen to us.