Canvey Island 2-2 AFC Sudbury

Report from Park Lane by Harry Merrell

An open affair with limited chances saw two sides share the points at Park Lane on Saturday.

Talking to Mark Bentley he was disappointed that his side “didn’t manage the game properly in the second half after going 1-0 up", and that he expects his team to “win their home games."

Mark Morsley and AFC Sudbury will be disappointed also that they didn’t capitalise on a game which was there for the taking after dominating large parts of the game.

The visitors had a great chance to take the lead inside the opening four minutes after Tobi Joseph got up well to clear the ball, but only as far as Callum Harrison. He connected with the ball beautifully but goalkeeper Rob Budd was able to parry the ball far away from the goal to keep it goalless.

There was another massive chance for Sudbury just inside 10 minutes when a poor clearance from defender Darren Phillips was scuffed into the path of Reece Harris. He teed up Billy Holland whose shot was well saved by Budd, who was definitely the more busy of the two keepers in the opening exchanges.

It was all Sudbury in the first twenty minutes. A free kick from was put deep into the Canvey box but was cleared well out of reach of the goal. Reece Harris was first to the ball and was not closed down and so had a go from range, but his effort was high and wide of the goal.

Just before the half hour mark it was daylight for Canvey who had been poor up until this point. James White put a ball deep into the Sudbury box, Jason Hallett knocked it down beautifully for Michael Finneran to place the ball into the bottom right corner to put Canvey 1-0 up against the run of play.

Canvey seemed to finally wake up and start to create some chances of their own, getting more of a foothold in the game since opening the scoring. Another deep free kick into the box from White was knocked down by goalscorer Finneran knocks it down for Rob Lacey, but his shot was heroically blocked on the line by Billy Holland to keep the score within reach for Sudbury.

A cagey first half which was a tale of two sectors, with the opening period being controlled by AFC Sudbury but Canvey finishing the stronger after scoring their goal.

Canvey started the second half the brighter of the two sides, with a dangerous cross from the left by George Woodward forcing experienced defender Adam Bailey-Dennis into an important clearance.

An equaliser was found by AFC Sudbury just before the 55th minute following a beautifully worked move down the left hand side. Tom Maycock cut the ball back to the skipper Baris Altintop who poked the ball in at the near post to put Sudbury back in the game.

Another massive opportunity fell Sudbury’s way going into the 70th minute when Frederick King raced away from James White, although his shot was weak and comfortable for Budd to save diving to his right to keep the score level.

Coming towards the dying embers of the game, AFC Sudbury had Canvey peggedd back deep in their own half. An excellent whipped corner from Callum Harrison on the right hand side was met by Lewis O’Malley, although he put his header just over the bar which was a massive let off for Canvey.

The hard work from AFC Sudbury paid off when Liam Bennett drove down the right hand side and got the better of James White. He drove towards the Canvey goal but was clipped by Dan Humphreys, causing the referee to point straight to the spot. Harrison stepped up and sent Budd the wrong way to his right and in off the post to give Sudbury a late lead.

It was a great reply from Canvey however to earn a share of the spoils having been second best. Substitute Freddy Eastwood who passed the ball back to George Woodward, who in turn drove into space and just outside 25 yards hit a sweetly-struck shot which sailed into the top left corner.