Brightlingsea Regent 1-5 Canvey Island

Match Report by David Powell
Photo Credit - Richard Kemp

Canvey Island gained their first win of the season with an emphatic 5-1 victory over Brightlingsea Regent at North Road on Tuesday night.

Despite going a goal down after barely a minute, Gulls produced a fantastic attacking performance, with Evans Kouassi and Danny Parish in particular looking impressive up front.

They got off to the worst possible start however and it seemed like it would be a tough evening for Gulls when after a minute, the speedy Harrison Carnegie broke through the Canvey defence, beating the offside trap before slotting the ball past Rhys Byrne to give Regent the lead.

Canvey didn’t let their heads drop however and showed great resolve to come back within 8 minutes. From a short corner on the right, the ball was worked into Kouassi who turned his marker and fired a low shot past home keeper Charlie Turner to bring the score level.

Brightlingsea looked threatening in the attack and on several occasions, the Gulls had to be sharp to clear their lines following some quick counters. The Regent defence however, was also having trouble containing the lively Kouassi, who looked dangerous every time he got the ball at his feet.

He was influential in Canvey’s second on 34 minutes. The winger broke down the left, beat a couple of defenders and provided an inch perfect cross that Parish tapped home from close range to open his scoring account in Canvey colours.

Indeed, Canvey continued looking threatening, with Conor Hubble and Luca Albon in midfield threading clever through balls to their forwards that the Brightlingsea defence found hard to deal with.

It was nearly 3 a few moments later, when Kouassi’s fine pass released Parish with just the keeper to beat, but his shot was saved well by Turner.

Back down the other end, Byrne was called into action just before half time, pushing away Conor Barnby’s low driven effort from 25 yards. This proved to be pivotal, as with the last action of the half, Canvey extended their lead.

Another fine break saw neat work from Kouassi and Parish take the ball past the Regent rearguard to set up a one on one with the onrushing keeper. Parish unselfishly laid the ball off to Kouassi, who fired home to give Canvey a commanding 3-1 lead at half time.

Into the second half and Mason Hall saw himself go into the referee's notebook early on for a late tackle near the edge of the area. From the resulting free kick, the Canvey defence did well to block Temi Oladejo’s goalbound effort.

Conor Hubble then came close for Canvey on 53 minutes with a free kick effort of his own, which just clipped the woodwork with the keeper beaten. Canvey were thirsty for goals by this point however and few minutes later, they scored a 4th with another well worked strike.

Kouassi again caused chaos with a run down the left and as he drove towards goal, he laid the ball back to Albon who drove a shot home from inside the penalty area to score his first goal for the club and extend their lead.

Canvey, and Kouassi especially, were starting to enjoy themselves and another fine pass from Hubble found him in sight of goal again, but Turner saved well this time with his legs to deny him a hatrick.

A 5th goal would arrive however on 64 minutes. Great play again by Hubble saw him recycle an attempt at goal and play a great cross from one side of the box to the other, finding Parish unmarked who placed a clever looping header past Turner and into the net.

Canvey brought on Mike Finneran, Tobi Tinubu and Odei Martin Sorondo for the last 20 minutes and, although Regent had a couple of opportunities to reduce the arrears, the Canvey defence made a number of good blocks, with Byrne as well looking commanding in his area. Before long, the full time whistle blew to secure Canvey's first victory of their Isthmian Premier return, and sent the travelling Yellow Army home with smiles on their faces.

The Gulls now turn their attention to Cray Wanderers away on Saturday, in a positive mood after their dominant display.