Match report by David Powell

Canvey Island began life without Mark Bentley with a superb 5-1 victory over Bury Town at Ram Meadow in a Pitching In Isthmian League North encounter.

After Bentley had left the club during the week to join Southend United as a coach, Brad Wellman took control of the team and they didn't let him down, producing a performance of attacking flair and taking their chances in superb fashion.

The Gulls created the first chance of the match after 6 minutes. Some good play by Matt Price saw him find Conor Hubble who in turn found Eliott Ronto but his low shot was kept out by Sam Blair.

Soon after Canvey had a scare when Bobby Mason kept out a free kick and the rebound went out for a corner.

On 26 minutes, Gulls took the lead. Hubble's pass was superb and released Kouassi who fired past the keeper at his near post.

Ten minutes later Bury threatened when a goal bound header from a corner was cleared by a Canvey defender and then a minute later a free header flew narrowly over the crossbar.

Canvey extended their lead with a well taken goal on 40 minutes. Jey Siva's left wing cross was inch perfect and was met by Hubble at the near post with a fine header.

Gulls lead 2-0 at half time but were pegged back at the start of the second half when Mason was caught off of his line with a lobbed effort from Cemal Ramadan after a great pass from Carlos Edwards down the right released the striker.

For a few minutes, Canvey were under the cosh but regained their composure when on 56 minutes, Ronto received the ball from a miscued clearance from Blair around 30 yards from goal and chipped the ball past the stranded goalkeeper and into the net.

The game was sealed on 67 minutes when Price crashed home a powerful header from a right wing cross after Hubble had done tremendously to keep the ball alive, get past a couple of players and cross.

Bury may have provided an instant response but a superb goal line clearance from Rob Girdlestone from a goal bound header denied them what seemed a certain goal.

The best was still yet to come as Canvey started to play some exhilerating attacking football. A magnificent passing move involving, Price, Hubble and several other Canvey players saw the ball worked from left to right and the ball eventually played to Kouassi who snuck in at the far post to fire low across Blair to complete the scoring with 10 minutes remaining.

Bury looked a beaten side and Kouassi could have sealed his hat-trick in the closing minutes when he broke through but fired straight at Blair. The loose ball was fired into the side netting by Price.

The final whistle blew to seal an impressive victory that sends out a message that Canvey will be the team to beat this season. They lead the table by 4 points and remain unbeaten in their opening 10 league matches.