Canvey Island picked up an impressive 1-0 victory over National League South side Dartford as the Gulls continued their preparations for the new season.

In a game of few outstanding chances until late on, it was Canvey who got the vital breakthrough thanks to another free kick from midfield talisman Conor Hubble.

The Gulls looked to test their opponents early on and a long ball into the left channel found a Trialist after a mistake from the visiting defender. However, the Canvey striker could only direct his shot into the arms of the visiting keeper.

Dartford looked to fashion a chance of their own, but despite some neat football from the visitors, they found a succession of half chances flying wide and high of the Canvey goal, meaning a stalemate at the halftime whistle.

The second half continued much to the same pace the first had ended, with the visitors looking to get efforts on targets, only for some astute Canvey defending to deny them.

On the 70th minute, a free kick from the left hand side was driven hard towards the bottom corner of the Canvey goal, forcing the Trialist keeper into a diving save. The resulting corner missed an attacking head on the first attempt, but the ball back in fizzed just wide of the goal, with no touch from the opposition striker to carry it home.

On 73 minutes, Dartford went close again, another shot from the left hand side forcing Canvey's keeper into an athletic save to make sure the ball travelled over his crossbar.

Despite the pressure from the higher ranked side, it was Canvey who took the lead six minutes later. Good pressure from Tobi Tinbu meant a miskick from the Dartford defender fell to Bradley Sach, who travelled towards goal but was brought down from around 25 yards to earn a free kick. Conor Hubble stepped over the ball and fired straight into the bottom left corner, with the keeper rooted to the goal line.

The visitors searched for an equaliser and their best chance came not long before the full time whistle. Another ball played wide found the threatening presence of Dartford's No.17, who cut back inside and fired a powerful strike that crashed against the Gulls crossbar. From the follow up, the visitors tried again twice from close range, but for a superb reaction save and then a block from a defender to deny them a goal.

The proved to be the last action of the game, with the referee blowing the full time whistle to signal a great result for the Gulls.

Canvey now move on to their penultimate pre-season game against East Thurrock United at the Movie Starr Stadium this coming Tuesday.