Canvey Island ended their pre season with an impressive 3-1 win over Slough Town at a sun-drenched Park Lane. Canvey played some exciting football throughout and could certainly have won by a larger margin. Slough from the British Gas Business League Division One South and West were second best for much of the game as right from the off, Canvey took the game to their opponents.

After 8 minutes Ian Luck broke through the Slough rearguard but touched his shot wide of the target. Luck was certainly having plenty of joy up front and a few minutes later volleyed a great cross from the left by Chris Bourne wide of the target.

Slough rarely threatened the Canvey goal and with Colin Wall having an excellent game and assisted by both Andrew West and Jon Stuart, they looked solid at the back for most of the game.
Luck again caused nightmares for the Slough defence latching on to West’s long raking pass to turn the defender and fire powerfully just over the bar on 26 minutes.

A few minutes later it was Nicky Rugg testing the Slough defence. Some good work saw him find space on the left hand side of the area and he drilled in a low cross that deflected off a defender towards goal. Luckily Matt Pollard was alert enough to turn the ball behind for a corner.

Eventually Canvey’s dominance paid off with a goal on 42 minutes. Gabriel Fanibuyan added to his already growing reputation with another goal of real quality. Fanibuyan picked up Rugg’s intelligent ball and attacked down the right flank. He showed great strength and pace to trick his way past several defenders before firing a powerful low shot across the keeper from a difficult angle. Pollard got a hand to the shot but couldn’t prevent it from going into the net.

Canvey were up and running and they started the second half the way they finished the first by grabbing a goal. On 51 minutes, Luck showed his pace when he beat the keeper to a loose ball. He still had some work to do but calmly dribbled across the face of goal before tucking the ball away into the empty net despite the efforts of a defender on the line.

Canvey nearly let their efforts go to waste when they allowed Slough back into the game two minutes later. A misunderstanding between West and Wiseman over a long pass allowed Lee Charles to take advantage and dribble the ball into an empty net for one of the easiest goals he is ever likely to score.

Unlike recent games against Clacton and Croydon Athletic, Canvey stepped their game up a gear and almost straight away scored a third goal.

Chris Bourne picked the ball up on the left and calmly passed it to the onrushing Ryan Edgar who toepoked a brilliant effort into the top corner of the net from just outside the box.
At 3-1 Canvey were comfortably in control and despite making several substitutions they continued to attack with flair and real purpose.

Danny Curran replaced Rugg with just over 15 minutes remaining and almost straight away nearly scored a goal of real quality. He dribbled through several tackles but his powerful shot was turned away for a corner by Matt Pollard. Edgar fired a shot high and wide and then in the final 5 minutes, Bourne was sent clear down the left wing but fired his shot just too high and wide as he cut in from the flank.

So a 3-1 score-line that will leave Canvey buoyant before they begin their Ryman Division One North campaign at Northwood next weekend.

Yellow’s Man of the Match:
Chris Bourne: Great performance on the left wing. His pace constantly troubled the Slough defence all afternoon.

Match Report by David Powell.