Match Report

Canvey Island extended their unbeaten run to 5 matches with a comfortable 3-0 win over Potters Bar Town at Parkfield Stadium. In a game riddled by stoppages, Canvey had that extra bit of quality and took their chances well.  They had to produce a battling display but always looked in control of this game.

The Gulls edged a first half of very few clear cut chances. They suffered a big loss when former Potters Bar midfielder Gabriel Fanibuyan limped off after 13 minutes. Danny Curran replaced him in the centre of the park.

Potters Bar probably had the best chance of the opening 30 minutes when their forward shrugged off Dave Kreyling as he chased a long ball but fired weakly straight at James Russell.

Canvey took the lead with their first effort on goal after 35 minutes. Steve Corbell was caught by a defender on the edge of the penalty area and from the resulting free kick, he stepped up to curl a precisely placed shot beyond the keeper and into the net.

Potters Bar reacted to this goal with a decent period of pressure. A header from a corner was blocked on the line and then on 38 minutes, Russell made an excellent parry from a 25 yard free kick that seemed to be curling towards the top corner.

Canvey though extended their lead three minutes later with Corbell again showing his adeptness for set pieces. This time he curled in a free kick from wide on the right to the far post where Danny Curran got in ahead of his marker to head into the back of the net despite the keeper getting a hand to the ball.

Canvey lead 2-0 at half time and hoped to build on this lead in the second half.

Unfortunately the second period was dominated by the referee’s whistle and several stoppages to the game due to injuries. This disrupted Canvey’s rhythm a little and suited Potters Bar but although they did create a couple of moments of danger they rarely looked like beating James Russell who once again excelled in the Canvey goal.

Russell was lucky not to receive a red card on 53 minutes when he raced from his goal and caught the onrushing forward outside of his penalty area. He luckily received only a yellow card with the Canvey defence clearing the resulting free kick.

The on loan keeper redeemed himself 8 minutes later making a fine save to fingertip a low angled drive from the left hand side just wide of the post. Soon after, a dangerous cross from the left was nearly turned in at the far post by the Potters Bar forward who injured himself in colliding with the goal-post as he tried to reach the ball.

This lead to another lengthy stoppage and when play resumed, Canvey regained their composure and started to probe the Potters Bar defence with Leon Gordon and Corbell looking dangerous on the wings.

It was a moment of quality from Gordon that provided Canvey’s killer third goal on 74 minutes. Gordon picked up the ball just outside the penalty area and flicked an intelligent pass through to Jay Curran who had time and space to fire home emphatically from close range to take his tally to an impressive 5 goals in his last 5 matches.

That effectively was game over and the Gulls felt they should have had a penalty shortly after when it appeared that Nicky Rugg was dragged back in the box by the defender. George Blewer replaced Dave Kreyling who limped off with Canvey very much in control of proceedings.

The pace of the Potters Bar forwards was still occasionally causing the Canvey defence some problems and Russell was forced into another good save doing well to block a fierce snap shot from the Scholars’ substitute and then holding the ball.

The referee called a halt to proceedings after nearly 8 minutes of stoppage time to confirm another good victory for Canvey. They had to battle for this result but on a difficult, bumpy pitch, they showed their quality against a Potters Bar side who made life difficult at times for their opponents.

Next up for Canvey is a home fixture this weekend against Waltham Forest where they’ll be confident of continuing their fine run of results.

Yellow’s Man of the Match:

STEVE CORBELL:  Scored an exquisite free kick and provided the second for Danny Curran. Worked extremely hard down the left wing.

Match Report by David Powell.