Match Report

An entertaining pre season friendly against Tiptree United saw the home side complete a 4-3 victory over The Gulls at Chapel Road last night. On a near perfect pitch that resembled a bowling green, attacking football was the priority of both sides as defensive errors were exposed and punished regularly.

The match started fairly evenly, with both sides taking their time to get their foothold in the game. When the deadlock was broken however, it was done is spectacular fashion.

After Chris Moore had fouled the highly impressive Dane Nelson some 30 yards from goal, it seemed as though this was a clever decision by the veteran defender to halt the progress of the pacey winger. However, from the resulting free kick, former Canvey defender Paul King rocketed a powerfully driven strike into the top left corner. James Russell did manage to get his fingertips to the ball, but a save was always unlikely against what was virtually an unstoppable 13th minute attempt.

Canvey levelled the scoring 3 minutes later courtesy of a well executed set piece. Following Greg Cohen’s free kick being turned behind, Leon Gordon’s right wing corner was met by the head of Nick Reynolds, beating Paul Rutherford in the Tiptree goal and equalising for The Gulls.

New signing James Rowe started to cause havoc for the Tiptree defence, and could have grabbed himself a couple of goals before the interval. On 24 minutes, a defensive error gifted the ball to Rowe just outside of the penalty area. However, his first time shot was well saved by Paul Rutherford and pushed behind for a corner.

4 minutes later and Rowe was in the middle of the action once more, latching onto a Ryan Edgar through ball and racing towards goal. Some good last gasp defending blocked Rowe’s attempt, and Leon Gordon’s attempt from the rebound was tipped behind from a tight angle.

On 32 minutes and Nick Reynolds almost grabbed his second goal of the game. A delightful right wing cross from James Rowe was controlled well by Reynolds on his chest, bringing him one on one with Rutherford. Reynolds tried a cheeky lobbed shot over the Jam-Makers keeper, though he opted to stand up rather than go to ground and collected the shot with ease.

Canvey took the lead just before half time when Nick Reynolds was fouled in the box. The award of the penalty was argued long into the night by the home side, but this mattered not to Leon Gordon who hit a well taken penalty to the goalkeeper’s right and into the side of the net to give Canvey the lead which the first half performance deserved.

The second half was a much more open affair, and Tiptree equalised with 4 minutes of the restart from the penalty spot. Once again, the pace of right winger Dane Nelson caused the Canvey back line problems, with Andrew West eventually committing a foul inside the area. Nelson picked himself up to slot home the penalty and bring the scores level at 2-2.

A minute later and another penalty claim from the home side was dismissed, with Tiptree now making inroads into Canvey’s defence. However, the danger at the other end remained constant, and when Reynolds right wing cross hit the crossbar, this was a reminder that there were still goals left in the game.

On 57 minutes and Canvey came close to regaining the lead. A tremendous left wing cross from trialist Greg Cohen was met on the volley by Leon Gordon, though his effort flew narrowly over the crossbar.

Canvey were now piling the pressure on, and a minute late were back on the attack. Leon Gordon found Nick Reynolds in the penalty area, who in turn produced a terrific turn to set himself up for a left footed shot. Some desperate defending deflected the shot, and substitute keeper Matt Belcher tipped the ball around the post for a corner.

Tiptree were weathering the storm, but eventually the goal came thanks to a crisp finish from James Rowe. Receiving the ball on the 18 yard line on the left of the area, Rowe hit a curling effort into the right side of the net leaving Belcher with no chance of preventing the goal.

This goal seemed to spark the home side back into life, and the equaliser came only 3 minutes later. Almost inevitably, the talent of Dane Nelson was the key once more, jinking his way into the box from the right wing before driving a low effort past James Russell and into the far side of the net.

What turned out to be the winning goal for Tiptree was the softest goal of them all, with a simple ball completely exposing a static Canvey back line and allowing substitute Lee Underwood an easy finish on 71 minutes.

3 minutes later and Canvey were denied a blatant penalty when Leon Gordon was tripped from behind in the area, but the kick was not awarded much to the disbelief of the visiting players and supporters.

The rest of the match saw Canvey on the attack though not really managing to carve out another goalscoring opportunity. The final whistle sounded to end this 7 goal feast which would have seen Alan Hansen pulling his hair out for years to come.

Overall, this was a good work out for Canvey as our pre season campaign continues away to FC Clacton on Saturday.

Oysterfleet Man of The Match

Nick Reynolds: Scored his first goal for the first team and earned his side a penalty. Expect big things from him this season.

Match Report by Glen Eckett