Canvey Island picked up a point on the road following a long Tuesday night trip to Hastings United in the Isthmian League Premier.

In a game that they led for most of the 90 minutes thanks to Bradley Sach's early strike, the Gulls will have been gutted to concede deep into injury time as Finn O'Mara rescued a point for the hosts at the death.

In truth, the rhthym of the game was very much controlled by the hosts, as they dominated possession from the start. It left Canvey to feed off of mostly counter attacks and set plays, but when they fell right, they brought pressure to the U's backline.

Canvey's first chance came in the first 5 minutes as a well delivered free kick caused a scramble in the area, with the hosts doing just enough to clear their lines before anyone attacking could pull the trigger.

They soaked up the early Canvey pressure however and went on to create a chance of their own, Kane Penn testing Bobby Mason as the Gulls shot stopper kept the ball out.

On the 13th minute, Canvey survived a scare at one end before going on to score at the other.

A Hastings set play caused chaos in the area, with Mason Hall managing to get a vital block in to deny the hosts a goal.
As they screamed to the referee for an accused handball, Canvey took the initiative and drove the ball up to Bradley Sach. With the goalkeeper off his line, he chipped the ball up and above him from around 40 yards out to open the scoring and send the travelling Yellow Army into hysteria.

The hosts didn't let the goal get the better of then however, continuing to pile pressure on the Canvey defence as they set the pace for much of the game to follow. The Canvey defence held strong however, Hall and Ronto clearing whatever came their way with Mvemba and Sorondo closing down the channels.

They did manage another two chances just before half ended. On 38 minutes, a blistering run from Mvemba saw his cross laid central to Hubble, who then fed the ball to Edwards to shoot, only for the midfielders shot to clear the crossbar.
Rogers then saved another Canvey shot shortly before half time, before Mvemba was booked as he attempted to stop the hosts counter attack.

Into the second half and it was Hastings who came out fighting, controlling much of the game as their high press forced Canvey to sit deep and deal with the danger.

Hector-Ingram had the best of the early chances as he put a header over the bar but, for the most part, many chances ended up high and wide of Mason's goal as he and his defence marshalled their area well.

Wellmen could see the danger from the touchline however and brought on Tinubu for Kouassi to help sure things up at the back.

Again and again the hosts came forward. Sam Adams forced Mason into a flying save on 64 minutes before Chinedu McKenzie saw his shot cleared off the line in the 84th.

Canvey began to think they'd done enough to keep the hosts at bay and could have extended their lead on a rare attack late in the half. Good work on the right from Tinubu saw him find Paxman sprinting into space. His shot was smothered by the onrushing Rogers however as the score remained at 1-0.

The Gulls luck ran out though just before the 90 minute mark. Mvemba was adjudged to have been time-wasting by the referee, a second yellow card meaning that he was sent off and the Gulls were left with just 10 men as the fourth official's board want up for 5 minutes of injury time.

The hosts threw everyone forward and continously peppered the Canvey area, resulting in a series of corners.
On the first, Sorondo cleared the ball off the line, seemingly doing enough to secure the points. On the second however, a well played ball floated over everyone in a grey shirt and found Finn O'Mara waiting to tap home at the back post to grab his side a point and break Canvey hearts.

There was almost late-late drama however as the Gulls came forward in the last minute and earned themselves a free kick 25 yards from goal. Paxman took responsibility, his ball into the area desperately looking for a Canvey body but Rogers was on hand to lock it down before anyone could get the touch.

That, ultimately, was that and the points were shared between the two sides after a resilient defensive display from the Gulls came up just short.

They'll need to patch themselves up now ahead of another long trip south to Lewes on Saturday.