Canvey Island continued their pre season campaign with a 4-3 defeat to AFC Clacton of the Ridgeons League. On an extremely hot and humid day Canvey were 3-0 up at half time but a poor defensive display in the second half allowed Clacton to score 4 goals in the last 25 minutes and win the game.

It was the Ridgeons League One side that started brightly and they were very unlucky not to get on the scoresheet in the first 30 minutes of the game.

Mark White nearly scored after 2 minutes but poked his shot wide. Their best chance fell to Paul Hillier on 19 minutes but after finding some space in the area his shot thumped against the crossbar with Capleton beaten.

Canvey after a sluggish start began to gain more possession and show their quality. Dave Kreyling headed wide from a corner and then Nicky Rugg cracked a low shot wide. With Ian Luck also looking menacing in attack, Canvey began to look a real attacking threat.

Three goals in the space of 6 minutes looked to have won the game for the Gulls. Firstly on 35 minutes Rugg was denied by Clacton goalkeeper Sam Quinn but did well to steer the ball to Matt Reade who sent a looping heading beyond the stranded goalkeeper.

A minute later and it was two. Nicky Rugg did well to send in a cross from the right and again Reade impudently flicked the ball home from close range.

A shell shocked Clacton defence conceded again on 41 minutes, Rugg this time picked the ball up on the left hand side of the box and fired in a low shot that took a deflection off Gregg Heighway before nestling into the bottom corner of the net to leave the 100 or so travelling Canvey fans very happy at half time.

It looked like Canvey would rack up a cricket score now but Clacton certainly didn’t deserve to be three goals down and showed great spirit to instigate a tremendous comeback.

It was still Canvey who looked the most likely to grab the next goal. Luck fired an effort over at the start of the second half and then forced Quinn into a decent save with the Clacton defence clearing before Gabriel Fanibuyan could reach the rebound.

The turning point in the game came on 65 minutes when Canvey broke through the Clacton rearguard. The ball was passed across goal to Matt Reade to complete his hattrick but with the goal gaping he side-footed inches wide.

That miss was to prove costly when seconds later Clacton went up the other end and scored with Sean Hillier firing home a half volley from inside the area.

Canvey though nearly restored their three goal advantage a minute later when Luck dragged an effort just wide.

Panic though really set in on 71 minutes when Sean Craven broke through down the right and lobbed the ball beyond Mel Capleton to Mark White who headed home into an empty net.

Clacton were soon level on 79 minutes when Sean Hillier curled a 25 yard free kick home with the Canvey defensive wall in total disarray.

It was all Clacton now and a winning goal from them seemed almost inevitable. Capleton had already made a fine fingertip save to deny a header but from the resulting corner, Heighway was left unmarked to flick the ball home from close range on 86 minutes to win the game for Clacton.

So Canvey will intend to put this result behind them and look for a positive performance when Peter Taylor brings a Crystal Palace 11 to Park Lane on Tuesday night.

Yellow’s Man of the Match
Matt Reade:  Two well taken goals and a lively performance.

Match Report by David Powell.