Bury Town 0-1 Canvey Island

Canvey Island's rollercoaster of a season continued with a 1-0 win away to high-flying Bury Town at The Denny Bros Stadium on Saturday.

The was only the Gulls' second win in eleven attempts away to Bury, with a second half strike from Sam Bantick and a hard-working performance throughout bringing the points back to Essex.

Manager Mark Bentley rang the changes after the 3-0 defeat at home to Hullbridge Sports a week earlier, introducing five new players into the starting XI.

Goalkeeper Lamar Johnson missed out through an injury picked up in training which will see him sidelined. In his place came 21-year-old keeper Emmanuel Idem who has previously been with Macclesfield Town and is currently on trial with West Ham United.

Central defensive pairing Michael Finneran and Alex Stephenson were both dropped to the bench, with James White dropping back to partner debutant Darren Phillips. Matt Lock came back into the side to fill the gap left in central midfield left by White.

The other changes were in midfield where Ryan Melaugh and Rob Lacey came in for Kane Gilbert and the departed Josh Hutchinson.

Albert Levett registered the first shot on goal in the third minute after a knock down from Sam Bantick down the left. Levett got a clean connection on his shot which was straight at goalkeeper Daniel Barden who saved.

Up the other end, a ball across the edge of the box from the left found its way to Ryan Jolland on 11 minutes, but his shot was saved by Emmanuel Idem above his head to prevent the ball from finding the top corner.

The home side were enjoying plenty of possession in the attacking third without being able to seriously test Emmanuel Idem, looking particularly dangerous from wide areas.

Canvey did manage to warm the hands of the keeper on the half hour mark when Jason Hallett brought the ball down for Albert Levett. The midfielder headed the ball through the Blues’ defence for Sam Bantick to run onto, but under pressure his low shot from 20 yards was straight at Daniel Barden who saved.

Bury did create a good chance of their own three minutes later when the ball was clipped over from the right and met by the head of Ryan Stafford. The right back nodded across goal at the front post and narrowly wide of the target.

The Gulls took the lead eight minutes into the second half when the ball was poked through the home defence for Sam Bantick to run onto. Bantick had a defender in close quarters but kept his composure to slot the ball across goal and into the bottom corner.

They had another chance on 58 minutes when they were awarded a free kick 10 yards inside the Bury half on the left. The ball into the box was a good one but narrowly evaded three Canvey players before going behind for a goal kick.

On 64 minutes Canvey were awarded a free kick 25 yards from goal in a central position after Ryan Jolland had pulled back Jason Hallett by the arm, earning himself a yellow card in the process. James White hit the free kick goalwards which deceived Daniel Barden diving to his left, bouncing once before hitting the outside of the post.

Bury started to build pressure as the match entered the final quarter of an hour in search of an equaliser.

On 83 minutes a ball over from the right was headed away by a defender but only as far as Ryan Jolland just inside the box. Jolland shaped his body well and unleashed a volley which looked to be hitting the target before catching a deflection and going behind for a corner.

The hosts had two superb chances in the dying moments, both in similar circumstances and involving Ryan Stafford.

On 89 minutes a low ball from the left found Stafford in acres of space on the far side. He hit the target but his shot was brilliantly blocked by George Woodward inside the six yard box.

Then, deep into stoppage time, an identical ball found Stafford once again, this time producing a magnificent save from Emmanuel Idem who had been a spectator for most of the match. The ball looped up into the air and stayed in play, looking to anyone in the stadium that Ross Crane would tuck it away at the far post. However, somehow Crane managed to steer the ball across the line from point blank range and into the grateful arms of Idem who was still on the floor from the save.