Gary Kimble’s first home game as Canvey Island manager ended in a 1-1 draw with Wingate & Finchley at the Steve’s Taxi’s stadium.

In a tight game of few clear cut scoring opportunities, a draw was probably the right result but Gulls needed a superb injury time strike from captain Elliott Ronto to claim a point that takes them off of the bottom of the Isthmian Premier League.

Gulls started brightly with the in form Max Fiddes breaking through on 3 minutes but he saw his effort saved well by Charlie Grainger with his feet.

George Barrett in the Canvey goal was called into action not long after, stretching well to flick a speculative long range effort around the post.

The rest of the half was a cagey affair with neither side able to create much in front of goal.

Wingate had the greater possession but struggled to test Barrett.

Into the second half and Wingate had the first opportunity of the half, curling a free kick wide of the target from 25 yards.

On 66 minutes, Gulls had a decent opportunity to score when Ollie Reeve's left wing free kick was flicked back across goal but just eluded Lewis Jaggs coming in at the far post.

A few minutes later substitute Fin Dorrell blazed wide from close range after a through pass was flicked by the defender into his path.

It was Wingate who took the lead on 82 minutes after a spell of pressure.

A good run down the left saw the ball squared across goal for Loic Hernandez to tap home from a few yards out.

Approaching the 90th minute, Ronto picked up the ball around 30 yards from goal. He had Reeve in space to his right but ran forward a few yards before unleashing a powerful drive that flew past Grainger and into the net for the equalising goal.

Wingate had a few attacking flurries in the remaining minutes of the game but Canvey held out to make it 4 games unbeaten in the league and give themselves a bit of momentum before Saturday’s visit of Carshalton Athletic.

Match Report by David Powell