Canvey Island 0-2 Coggeshall Town
Gulls' Winless Run Continues
Canvey Island fell to their fourth straight Bostik North defeat with a 2-0 reverse at home to Coggeshall Town at The Frost Hire Stadium on Saturday.
Manager Mark Bentley made two changes from the side that were beaten by Tilbury a week earlier. Jordan Brown came into the side in central defence in place of Zack Littlejohn, while on the left wing Kane Gilbert was replaced by new signing Kyle De Silva who joined before the game on loan from Bromley.
The match started in fairly uneventful fashion, taking until the 19th minute for either side to have a meaningful shot on goal. The ball was played into Adam Vyse 25 yards from goal, and after shifting it onto his left foot he struck a low effort across goal which went a couple of yards wide.
Five minutes later a ball into the area presented Michael Gyasi with an opportunity, but under pressure from two defenders Gyasi shot wide from 12 yards.
The visitors took the lead on 27 minutes when a through ball sent Nnamdi Nwachuku clean in behind the Canvey defence. Nwachuku looked offside but the flag stayed down, and the forward finished well with a low shot across goal from the right and into the bottom corner.
Canvey were awarded a free kick just outside the area in a central position shortly afterwards which James White stood over. White played a clever pass to Adeyinka Cole who had ghosted into the box, but he scuffed his shot from the right wide from close range.
The Gulls were then awarded a penalty on 34 minutes when Curtis Haynes-Brown fouled Frankie Merrifield inside the box. Adam Vyse stepped up and smashed a powerful spot kick straight down the middle which goalkeeper Danny Sambridge saved with his right boot having dived to his left.
Frankie Merrifield headed the rebound back towards goal and found Vyse, but the forward was unable to force the ball over the line thanks to some committed last ditch defending from the Seed Growers.
Coggeshall nearly doubled their lead on 39 minutes when Nnamdi Nwachuku slid the ball through for Michael Gyasi bursting into the box from the left. Gyasi rounded Harry Palmer and shot from a tight angle, although thankfully Jordan Brown had retreated back onto the goal line and was able to divert the ball onto the post.
The rebound fell kindly for Nnamdi Nwachuku to strike from 18 yards, but he skewed his effort wide.
The visitors doubled their lead on 54 minutes when Michael Gyasi’s shot from the left took a deflection and found Nnamdi Nwachuku at the back post. The forward poked the ball goalwards from a tight angle which Harry Palmer got a hand to but couldn’t keep out.
Canvey pushed to get back into the game but were unable to find the breakthrough. They came close on 78 minutes when substitute Martin Tuohy met a corner with a bullet header which was straight at Danny Sambridge who was able to make an instinctive save.
The closest they came was in injury time when a goalmouth scramble resulted in Elliott Warren having a shot kept out on the line by the keeper.
Photo: KJA Sports Images