Match Report

Canvey Island suffered a 1-0 defeat to play off hopefuls Carshalton Athletic at Park Lane. A goal from Richard Jolly, 8 minutes from time gave the Surrey side a narrow victory but Canvey will feel they did more than enough to gain at least a draw.

They dominated much of the game but a failure to convert the chances they did create was to cost them dear.

The Gulls started well and created the better opportunities in a first half that lacked clear cut scoring chances.

Stuart Ainsley fired a speculative shot high over the bar after coming in from the left wing and then on 20 minutes, Carshalton struck the woodwork when a swirling right wing cross from Barry Stevens deceived Ricky Wiseman in the Canvey goal and crashed off of the crossbar and away.

Canvey responded well a few minutes later when a neat move down the right saw Gabriel Fanibuyan put in a low cross and Leon Antoine tried a clever back flick towards goal but the defender did well to block his effort.

Canvey suffered an injury blow with Ainsley being forced out of the game on 30 minutes to be replaced by Steve Corbell.

Corbell was involved in the action soon afterwards when he curled a superb free kick from the left into the penalty area and Chris Moore flicked his header just wide of the target.

Carshalton were creating very little of note up front and their forwards Jolly and Charlie Ide were kept quiet by Moore and new signing Frankie Everett who enjoyed an impressive debut.

Kevin Dobinson and Richard Halle were both combative in midfield and Canvey played some good football at times in the first half without really testing Richard Stroud in the Carshalton goal.

On 41 minutes, Tarkan Mustafa broke well down the right and put in a low cross that reached Antoine but he was unable to get any power on his shot and Stroud was able to save comfortably.

Canvey continued where they left off in the second half by putting pressure on the Carshalton goal.
On 52 minutes, Leon Gordon broke well down the left hand side of the area but his attempted lob dropped just wide of the far post.

Then on 61 minutes, Canvey won a free kick around 25 yards from goal. Halle smashed in a low shot that Gordon attempted to divert towards goal from a few yards out but the ball rolled agonisingly wide of the post.

Gordon did well 5 minutes later when he got down the right and chipped in a ball to Antoine who headed inches over the crossbar from close range.

Up until now, Wiseman had hardly been tested but in the space of ten minutes, he had to be alert to make several fine stops.

On 68 minutes, Jolly chased a long ball down the right hand side of the area and fired in a first time half volley that Wiseman did well to scramble away.

Four minutes later, Jolly found space down the right and struck a low cross-shot that the Canvey keeper was able to beat away at his near post.

Wiseman then showed good awareness to punch away a dangerous ball from the right from Ide under pressure from Jolly.

Canvey were beginning to tire a little in midfield and this gave Carshalton a bit more room to exploit them on the counter attack with the pace of Jolly in particular a real threat.

Canvey replaced the tiring Fanibuyan with Ian Luck on 79 minutes but 3 minutes later, Carshalton grabbed their winning goal. Jolly chased a long ball down the middle, used his pace and strength to get away from Everett and then hammered an emphatic finish beyond Wiseman and into the bottom corner of the net.

Canvey were stunned and tried to get back into the game but despite some late pressure, Carshalton held out with David Graves and Liam Harwood in particular having good games.

Stroud held a Corbell corner well under pressure from Moore but it was Carshalton who nearly sealed the game in stoppage time when Jolly broke through the Canvey offside trap but Wiseman did well to spread himself and block his shot.

The final whistle blew soon after and Canvey will certainly feel aggrieved at not taking at least a draw from this game.

The Gulls are next in action on Easter Saturday when Ashford Town Middlesex are the visitors to Park Lane.

Oysterfleet Man of the Match:

LEON GORDON: Worked hard the entire match and came close to scoring on a couple of occasions.