Canvey Island 5-0 Ashford Town (Middx)

Canvey Island progressed into the next round of the Buildbase FA Trophy thanks to a convincing 5-0 victory against Ashford Town (Middx) at Park Lane on Tuesday night in a Preliminary Round Replay.

Both managers made changes from the original tie on Saturday, with Canvey introducing four new faces to Ashford Town’s three.

Captain James White returned to central midfield in place of recent signing Matt Lock, while centre back Alex Stephenson returned from injury to replace Elliott Warren who himself had picked up a knock on Saturday.

Tobi Joseph and Josh Hutchinson also returned the side in attack, coming in for Kane Gilbert and Samrai Gebrai.

The visitors created the first chance of the evening on 10 minutes when captain Max Webb was played into the area down the right. Webb shot from 15 yards but Danny Confrey did well to close down the shot and pull off a good save.

Confrey was called into action again less than sixty seconds later when Thomas Brunton sent over a cross from the left. The ball was creeping in underneath the crossbar, but the Canvey keeper managed to claw it out from under the bar before the danger was cleared.

The Gulls should have opened the scoring in the 12th minute after Jason Hallett had beaten two defenders with some neat footwork coming in from the left. Hallett shot across goal which goalkeeper saved diving to his left, but in doing so presented the ball perfectly for Josh Hutchinson to slot into an empty net.

However, Hutchinson fluffed his lines, and from eight yards out blasted his shot at an open goal high over the crossbar with his unfavoured right foot.

Both goalkeepers were forced into action in the 25th minute. First Danny Confrey kept out a low drive from Sam Humphreys from just outside the box, while up the other end Joshua Wilson produced a similar stop to demy Jason Hallett.

Canvey took the lead in the 40th minute when Jason Hallett laid the ball off for Tobi Joseph 10 yards inside the Ashford Town half. Joseph got his head down and advanced towards goal, stopping the ball dead 20 yards out and giving himself some room to shoot.

Joseph took aim and struck a low effort which caught a slight deflection and nestled into the bottom corner.

The advantage was doubled five minutes into the second half in spectacular circumstances. Ryan Melaugh picked up the ball on the left, dribbling until 25 yards from goal and unleashing an unstoppable shot which arrowed across goal and into the top corner.

It should have been 3-0 on 55 minutes when Jason Hallett’s ball from the left put it on a plate for Tobi Joseph to score from six yards, but the forward blasted his shot across goal and wide when it looked harder to miss.

The tie was effectively settled on 61 minutes when the Gulls were awarded a corner. A defensive header helped the ball across goal but only as far as defender Michael Finneran. His header back into the danger area found central defensive partner Alex Stephenson who nodded home his first goal for the club.

Ryan Melaugh scored his second and Canvey’s fourth on 69 minutes. Jason Hallett’s through ball released Tobi Joseph down the right, he looked up and squared for Melaugh who was all alone in the area to score.

The fifth and final goal came with 15 minutes remaining when substitute Kane Gilbert latched onto a through ball and slot across goal and home to add to the goal he scored to take the tie to a replay on Saturday.

There was a nearly a sixth with virtually the last kick off the ball when James White spotted Joshua Wilson off his line with a free kick on the edge of the centre circle, but with the keeper back pedalling the ball sailed inches over the bar.

The Gulls will now head to another BetVictor Isthmian League South Central side in the next round in the shape of Chipstead, with the tie to take place on Saturday 26th October.