Walton & Hersham 3-1 Canvey Island

Match Report by David Powell

Canvey Island exited the Isuzu FA Trophy at the first hurdle after a 3-1 defeat away at Walton & Hersham.

On a frustrating afternoon for the Gulls, early substitions to Kouassi and Girdlestone saw them have to reorganise against a young and pacy Southern League side, who hadn't played for a week and a half.

It was Canvey though, who made a bright start, with Bradley Sach getting through on goal, but Dickinson in the home goal made a good save to deny him.

The hosts always looked dangerous on the break however, and their pace helped them grab the opener in the 9th minute.
A quick break fed in Trae Cook-Appiah on goal, as he rounded Jackson and squeezed his strike into the net.

Canvey though, responded well with Kouassi firing over after a mazy run.
At the other end, Jackson had to remain alert, and produced a fine stop to keep out a long range strike from Stan Flaherty.

The Gulls were forced into bringing Deslandes and Mvemba into the game early on, and the two made their mark as they drove forward, the former in particular jinxing his way into the box several times but unable to get the decisive shot away.

In the second half, it was Canvey who started the half in the same vein as the first ended, and they almost equalised within mere minutes of the restart - Joe Paxman unlucky to see his effort from range crash off the post.

They wouldn't be kept waiting much longer however, and the equaliser arrived when Elliott Ronto delivered in a looping cross that drifted towards goal and caught out the keeper to nestle into the top corner of the net - his second goal in two games.

Canvey then thought they had taken the lead shortly after when Sach put the ball in the net after Luke Deslandes' initial shot had been saved, though the linesman ruled the effort out for offside.

In the last ten minutes of the game however, Walton's fresher legs helped them win the game as they scored two goals to progress into the next round.

On 83 minutes, Cook squeezed home a shot after good work down the left by Sam Tutt. Whilst initially cleared, it was adjudged by the linesman to have crossed the line to give the hosts the lead.

On 87 minutes, Deslandes could have leveled things up again as he dribbled his way into the penalty area, but his shot was brilliantly kept out by Dickinson who pushed it aside for a corner.

Walton sealed the match going into injury time when Eddie Simon headed home from a few yards out from a right wing cross.

Canvey will need to quickly recompose themselves on Monday when they travel to Carshalton Athletic in the Isthmian League.