Canvey Island 2-1 Mildenhall Town
Vyse Brace Secures Comeback Victory
Canvey Island recorded back to back wins for the first time this season on Saturday, beating Mildenhall Town 2-1 at The Frost Hire Stadium in the Bostik North.
Manager Mark Bentley made one change from the side that defeated Basildon United on New Year’s Day, bringing forward Adam Vyse into the starting XI in place of the injured Jose Figura.
It took until the 25th minute for any action of note and resulted in the visitors opening the scoring.
A ball in behind the Canvey defence released striker Thomas Debenham, but his shot from the edge of the box was parried away by goalkeeper Harry Palmer. The danger wasn’t over however as the ball was collected by Abouhadje Kouassi on the right, and having cut back to reduce the angle his shot from went through Palmer and then Jordan Brown on the line to score.
Canvey had an opportunity to restore parity almost immediately, but Adam Vyse’s shot from a tight angle following a corner was driven into the side netting.
The Gulls did draw level on 38 minutes after Mildenhall defender Thomas Boxer handled inside the box from a corner. Adam Vyse stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way from the spot to equalise.
Vyse should have scored again three minutes before the interval following another dangerous Sam Collins corner. This time the ball was flicked on at the near post towards Vyse, but the forward was unable to make the required contact to score from point blank range.
Josh Hutchinson hit the crossbar twice for Canvey with crosses from the left wing in the early stages of the second half, either side of Abouhadje Kouassi coming close to scoring his second for the visitors.
A swift counter attack saw Kouassi burst into the box on 53 minutes, but his shot from the right was well saved by Harry Palmer low down.
Canvey hit the woodwork for a third time on 65 minutes when a low cross from the left was struck towards goal by Adam Vyse at the front post, but his shot caught a deflection before hitting the top of the crossbar and going behind for a corner.
The corner was played deep but kept in play by Vyse. He played it back to Jordan Brown to swing in an excellent cross which Martin Tuohy headed into arms of goalkeeper Blake Horton.
The Gulls took the lead on 74 minutes when Josh Hutchinson and Sam Collins combined on the left wing deep inside the Mildenhall half. Collins sent over a superb cross which Adam Vyse was on hand to head home from close range.
Mildenhall put plenty of pressure on in the remaining quarter of an hour, spending more time in the Canvey half than they had at any other point in the match. The closest the came to equalising was on 85 minutes when a cross from the left was flicked on by tall forward Thomas Debenham, but Abouhadje Kouassi could only shoot into the side netting after sliding in at the back post.
The final chance of the match fell to the home side deep into five minutes of additional time, but Sam Collins’ long range effort was brilliantly tipped over the bar by the Hall keeper.
Photo: KJA Sports Images