Match Report

Canvey Island suffered a disappointing 3-0 defeat to Ryman Division One North league leaders Edgware Town on a cold, wet night at the White Lion Ground.

In a game played in torrential rain at times, Canvey failed to get a grip on proceedings and were out-muscled at times by a hardworking Edgware side who kept Ryan Edgar and Gabriel Fanibuyan quiet in midfield. Edgware were quicker out of the blocks and could have scored within the first 15 minutes from the penalty spot.

Andrew West fouled the forward in the box but Ricky Wiseman did superbly to dive to his right and parry the effort away. Wiseman made another excellent save soon afterwards but gradually Canvey started to come into the game and ended the half the better team.

Ian Luck’s pace was causing the Edgware defence several problems and after racing on to a through pass from Chris Bourne down the left flank he forced keeper Darren Bonfield into a good block on 23 minutes. Ryan Edgar also fired a shot over after a decent run.

Their best chance fell to Luck 7 minutes before half time. Leon Gordon opened up the Edgware defence with a surging run and his pass sent Luck through down the middle. Luck held off the defender but despite his low shot beating the keeper, it hit the base of the post.
Danny Curran was also beginning to trouble the Edgware defence with his movement and he sent a snap-shot wide of the goal just before half time.

Canvey looked to continue their positive finish to the first half but were caught out by 3 goals in ten minutes that effectively killed off the game at the start of the second half. The first goal came after possession was given away and Denzil Davidson fired home into the roof of the net from inside the area on 53 minutes.

Worse was to follow 6 minutes later when from a long goal kick, Greg Ngoyi leapt ahead of Wiseman to flick his header over the stranded goalkeeper and into the net. The game was virtually ended as a contest on 63 minutes when the lively Ngoyi burst into the box but was brought down by Wiseman. Ngoyi stepped up to comfortably convert his penalty.

The remaining half an hour was dominated by Canvey but despite creating a number of shooting opportunities they failed to get on the score sheet. Matt Reade recently returning to the club after a spell at Wingate & Finchley missed two good opportunities after coming on as a sub. First he skied an effort over the bar from a few yards out after a goalmouth scramble and then he latched on to a fine right wing cross from fellow substitute Daniel Francis but poked his effort wide.

Despite their possession, Canvey went away with absolutely nothing to show for their efforts and will hope to bounce back quickly from this defeat when they travel to Horsham YMCA in the FA Trophy on Saturday

Man of the Match

Ricky Wiseman : Saved a penalty and pulled off a string off fine stops. Very unfortunate to give away a penalty himself when it appeared he got the ball.