Match Report

Canvey Island suffered an awful 3-0 defeat at the hands of Horsham at Worthing’s Woodside Road ground.

Canvey were disappointing throughout rarely troubling Horsham keeper Rob Tolfrey and the Hornets grabbed three goals in the final twenty minutes to compound the Gulls’ misery.

Canvey never really got going in this game. At times they gave possession away far too easily and their defending on occasions was poor.

Canvey started brightly and edged a first half of very few clear cut scoring opportunities.

Richard Halle fired a shot from outside the area high and wide after three minutes after good work by Gabriel Fanibuyan and Jon Edwards and then Horsham keeper Tolfrey was booked for handling outside the area a couple of minutes later. Halle fired the resulting free kick into the defensive wall.

Horsham felt twice they should have won a penalty when Evan Archibald and then Gary Charman went down under tackles in the penalty area. Canvey felt they also had a case for a penalty when Jay Curran went down under Sam Page’s challenge but the referee waved away the protests from the Canvey players.

Horsham started to settle and Charman did well to cut in from the left and burst past Chris Moore as he went on a determined run towards goal but he blazed his shot high over the crossbar on 25 minutes.

Four minutes later, a superb cross-field pass from deep on the left by Mark Knee picked out Archibald at the far post but he miscued his volley and sent it well wide of Ricky Wiseman’s goal.

Canvey though had enjoyed the greater possession and really should have gone in front with two excellent scoring opportunities within the space of a few minutes.

On 34 minutes, a good pass by Halle released Stuart Ainsley down the left. He put in a fine low cross that Curran somehow managed to fail to turn into the net from a couple of yards out with the goal gaping.

Moments later, Halle got on the end of Ainsley’s left wing corner at the near post but Lee Carey headed his powerful header off of the line.

Horsham to their credit finished the half with a flourish with Lee Farrell firing an angled drive from the right hand edge of the penalty area inches over the crossbar after good work by Jean Michel Sigere and Jacob Mingle.

The second half started rather scrappily with neither side able to create much in the way of goal-scoring chances. Sam Page did have the ball in the net for Horsham but his effort was disallowed for offside.

On 58 minutes, some good work by Fanibuyan down the byline to keep the ball in play saw him pass back to Edwards who fired a wild shot over the crossbar.

Halle curled a free kick high over the crossbar but by now Canvey were running out of ideas and Horsham seemed to be edging the midfield battle.

They grabbed the opening goal on 70 minutes when Moore handled Carey’s left wing cross in the penalty area. The referee gave a penalty and former Hornchurch striker Sigere stepped up to squeeze his effort past Wiseman and into the bottom corner of the net.

Canvey sent on Ian Luck and Leon Antoine for Edwards and Curran but by now Horsham were far the better side and sealed the game with a goal 10 minutes from the end.

Substitute Williams Peauroux picked up a loose ball in a midfield melee and showed some neat skill and pace to get past Moore, race into the penalty area and finish confidently beyond Wiseman.

Steve Corbell came on for Ainsley but the game was as good as over for Canvey and Horsham were looking capable of grabbing a third.

Peauroux was fouled on the edge of the Horsham penalty area but Mingle’s free kick was blocked by Ben Patten before Horsham sealed the game with a third in stoppage time.

Peauroux broke down the right wing and his cross eventually fell to Archibald in the penalty area. Wiseman made a good reaction save to keep out Archibald’s shot but Sigere was on hand to convert the rebound with an acrobatic volley.

The whistle blew soon after to complete a thoroughly miserable afternoon for the Gulls. Canvey are in action next weekend when they face a tough match against Maidstone United at Park Lane.

Oysterfleet Man of the Match:

GABRIEL FANIBUYAN: The one player that showed any real spark of invention and skill at times.

Match Report by David Powell.