Match Report

A last minute strike by Howard Newton denied Canvey a deserved point away at Staines Town last Saturday. After The Gulls had battled back from going behind early in the encounter, Staines have now snatched 4 points from us thanks to goals in the dying moments of the match this season.

The match started with the home side attacking from the start, playing some good football to carve out some early opportunities. Ricky Wiseman saved well from Richard Butler on a couple of occasions, but was unable to do anything about the goal that followed on 12 minutes.

A long searching ball put Scott Taylor through on goal, who in turn rounded Wiseman and slotted the ball calmly home into an empty net.

Taylor almost doubled his and Staines tally soon afterwards, but this time Wiseman smothered the shot and defused the danger.

After a turbulent 20 minutes, Canvey started to get a foothold in the game, and began created chances of their own. Minutes after seeing his free kick sail narrowly wide of the target, Richard Halle managed to smash the ball home following an initial half clearance on the goal line by the Staines defence.

Canvey managed to end the half on top of proceedings, though would find life a lot tougher in the second half.

On 51 minutes, eventual match winner Howard Newton was adjudged to have been fouled in the area by Ben Patten, though the Canvey players seemed adamant that contact on the ball had been made. Having already found the net once, Scott Taylor stepped up to take the spot kick, though could only watch as Ricky Wiseman dived well down to his right to save the penalty and hold the ball.

The match seemed to lose it’s way in the rest of the half, with Staines looking the more likely to score.

However, when they did score, the timing of the goal could not have been worse for the travelling supporters. In the dying moments of normal time, Howard Newton got on the end of a slick passing move by Staines to slam the ball home to earn the three points for his side.

Overall, Canvey will be disappointed that they came away from this match empty handed. However, this was another improved performance by The Gulls, and against lesser opposition a positive result would surely have been achieved.

Oysterfleet Man of The Match:

RICHARD HALLE: After scoring his first goal since the opening day of the season, he dominated the midfield with a string of well timed tackles and telling passes.

Match Report by Glen Eckett