Match Report

Canvey Island produced a stunning double over fierce local rivals Billericay Town with a tremendous 4-2 victory at New Lodge.

It’s the second time this season that Canvey have put four goals past their near neighbours and they were good value for their win in a highly entertaining game in front of a crowd of just over 400.

Both teams deserve a great deal of credit for producing an absorbing contest and certainly both sides played some good attacking football at times.

Billericay started brightly and were the better side for the opening 20 minutes. Both David Wareham and Steven Ferguson looked a threat on the wings and Ricky Wiseman in the Canvey goal had to be alert to deal with several dangerous crosses.

Billy Bricknell flashed a shot across the face of the goal in the opening ten minutes and then Wiseman had to be alert to tip away an awkward right wing cross from Michael Alaile for a corner.

Despite their pressure though, Billericay often resorted to long aimless balls that Chris Moore and Richard Halle dealt with easily. As a result, Bricknell and Joe Flack began to look increasingly isolated up front and Canvey gradually started to get a grip on the game especially in midfield.

They took the lead on 22 minutes. Canvey won a free kick around 20 yards from goal, slightly left of centre after a foul on Jon Edwards. Halle stepped up to curl his effort around the defensive wall and despite Billericay keeper Tony Tucker getting both his hands to the ball, he could only push it into the net sparking wild celebrations amongst the travelling Canvey support.

Even better was to follow two minutes later for the Gulls when they increased their lead.

A long, high ball was flicked on superbly by Leon Antoine into the path of Jay Curran. Curran did superbly to escape the covering defender and drill a low shot from just inside the penalty area beyond Tucker and into the bottom corner of the net.

Billericay were stunned and Canvey were rampant now as they started to slice the Town defence open with some incisive attacking play.

Both Leon Gordon and Gabriel Fanibuyan were teasing the full backs with their pace and skill and with Stuart Ainsley regularly joining attacks from left back, the Billericay defence were finding it extremely hard to contain Canvey.

Some good play by Gordon down the right saw him cut the ball back to Fanibuyan but he fired his shot from the edge of the area over the bar on 26 minutes.

Billericay briefly rallied and Ferguson found himself in some space on the right hand edge of the penalty area from a left wing cross but the winger fired his shot wastefully over the crossbar.

Curran screwed a shot well wide just before half time after some more good passing football and certainly Canvey would have been absolutely delighted at the interval with their night’s work so far.

Billericay brought on Paul Shave and Bradley Woods Garness at half time in a desperate attempt to get back into the contest.

If they were to get anything out of the game, they needed to make a good start to the second half and they did just that reducing the arrears within 2 minutes.

Wareham picked up a loose pass from Edwards in midfield and played the ball to Flack. Flack attacked the Canvey defence down the left hand side of the penalty area but as he neared the byline, he was brought down by a clumsy challenge from Moore.

The referee showed no hesitation in giving a penalty and Flack stepped up to fire his penalty straight down the middle of the goal and beyond Wiseman.

Billericay had a lifeline and Canvey were briefly rattled but they soon regained their composure.
Curran nearly got on the end of a Gordon cross from the left at the far post and moments later, Canvey restored their two goal advantage with a fine goal on 51 minutes.

Ainsley picked the ball up near the edge of the penalty area and flicked a sublime pass through to Gordon who got to the ball fractionally before Tucker to poke the ball through the keeper’s legs and into the net.

Canvey virtually sealed the game 7 minutes later with another well taken goal. Gordon broke down the right but was fouled by Ashley Dumas. From the resulting free kick, Craig Davidson played a magnificent ball into the penalty area where Antoine leapt and sent a towering header beyond Tucker and into the top corner of the net.

At 4-1 down, the game seemed as good as over for Billericay but as Canvey started to sit back on their lead, this allowed the Blues to exert some pressure on their goal.

Flack had the ball in the net but the ‘goal’ was ruled out for offside before the striker grabbed his second goal of the game on 70 minutes. Some good play down the right by Ferguson saw the ball laid back into Flack’s path and the striker fired home from close range.

Billericay threw everything they had at Canvey in the final twenty minutes and with the Gulls struggling to keep possession, their defence was under near constant pressure at times.

Despite this, the hard running of Curran and Gordon provided a couple of awkward moments for Tucker in the Billericay goal who twice had to clear under pressure from the Canvey forwards.

Billericay bombarded the Canvey defence but found the Gulls’ rearguard of Tarkan Mustafa, Moore, Halle and Ainsley in excellent form.

When Billericay did have a sniff on goal, Wiseman was excellent, claiming crosses and loose balls with confidence.

Steve Corbell replaced the tiring Fanibuyan with Jack West coming on as an extra attacker for Billericay.

The final ten minutes saw Billericay virtually camped in the Canvey half but the Gulls were determined to make sure they held on to their two goal advantage.

On 84 minutes, Canvey hacked an effort away from the line but the loose ball fell to a Billericay forward who curled a shot towards goal. The ball seemed to be sailing towards the net but Wiseman somehow leapt full length to his right to miraculously push the ball away from danger. It was a quite stunning save and at that moment, Billericay knew it wasn’t going to be their night.

The Blues won a string of corners that forced some desperate defending from Canvey.

Wiseman had to help a header over the crossbar on 88 minutes but with Stuart Batch replacing Edwards, Canvey held out for a superb victory.

Certainly Gulls deserved the three points after producing a performance full of passion, hard work and some excellent passing football. All eleven players were superb and after a poor run of results on their travels in recent months, this was certainly a match that will give confidence to the team for the remainder of the season.

Canvey now travel to Hastings in the league on Saturday.

Oysterfleet Man of the Match:

RICKY WISEMAN:  Despite a terrific attacking performance by the Gulls, Wiseman was faultless between the sticks to help earn Canvey a fantastic victory, making one incredible save in the process.

Match Report by David Powell.