Match Report by David Powell

Canvey Island were held to a 3-3 draw by Basildon United in an Isthmian Division One North fixture at the Basildon Beigels Stadium.

After the excitement of Saturday’s 3-2 victory over Cray Wanderers to seal a place in the FA Cup First Round this was something of an anti-climax with Gulls far from being at their best.

A young and energetic Basildon side deserved their point and will feel they could have got more after racing into a 2-0 lead after 23 minutes.
Gulls were slow out of the blocks and conceded a penalty in the first attack of the game. Bobby Mason brought the striker down in the penalty area and George O’ Connor stepped up to convert the kick.

On a wet, heavy pitch, Gulls struggled to get going but eventually settled down and created a couple of promising moves.

Tom Blackwell tested Collin Andeng Ndi with a low drive before a counter-attack provided Basildon with a second goal on 23 minutes.
Tyrone Baker was allowed to run at the Canvey defence and fire in a shot that Mason failed to hold and the loose ball fell to Samuel Jeremiah who fired home.

Canvey needed an instant response and nearly got it two minutes later when Connor Hubble fired inches over after the ball fell to him from a goalmouth scramble.

Two minutes later, they were back in the game. Excellent play by Harrison Chatting saw him thread a pass through to Tobi Joseph who rounded the keeper and fired into the empty net.

Canvey were on top now and Hubble tested Andeng Ndi with a curling 25-yard free-kick that the keeper pushed away. Joseph moments later beat his down the left but his cross was scrambled away.

Basildon were still a threat and poor defending allowed Joshua Rusoke to cross from the left to an unmarked Kamal De Bourg who volleyed over at the far post.

Canvey had one more chance on the stroke of half time when Blackwell got on the end of Jey Siva’s left-wing cross at the far post but headed over.

The same combination nearly got Canvey an equaliser right at the start of the second half but Siva’s low cross was sidefooted by Blackwell straight at the keeper.

Canvey struggled to break down Basildon for the next 20 minutes but their patience yielded results when they won two penalties in the space of 5 minutes.

On 67 minutes, Dan Humphreys broke from the right into the penalty area but was caught by a crude tackle. After consulting his linesman, the referee pointed to the spot and Hubble stepped up to confidently fire his spot-kick into the corner of the net.

Five minutes later, Canvey were 3-2 up. Chatting latched on to a loose ball in the penalty area and as he skipped past the defender he was caught although he managed to stay on his feet. The referee gave a penalty and Hubble stepped up to fire his penalty into the same corner as he had done the previous one.

Gulls looked set to go on and win the game but on 76 minutes conceded a sloppy goal when from a free-kick, Callum Boylan the son of Canvey goalscoring legend Lee Boylan poked the ball home after indecisive defending from a free-kick.

The game swung back and forth in the last 15 minutes as both sides looked for a winner.

It was Canvey who came close to winning it with substitute Evans Kouassi having two decent chances in the final few minutes.

First, he ran at the Basildon defence, skipped past a defender but curled his shot agonisingly wide of the far post. Then in injury time he cut in from the right and fired in a shot that the keeper saved at his near post with Joseph in a better position.

The whistle sounded minutes later with Gulls feeling this was two points dropped.