Match report by David Powell

Canvey Island suffered a second league defeat in a row after a 1-0 defeat against Stowmarket Town at Park Lane.

Despite Stowmarket being down to ten men for the majority of the second half after Erkan Okay was sent off, Canvey were unable to break down a well organised side who are on an excellent run of results having won 6 of their previous 8 games before today's match.

The first half was a dull affair with neither side creating much in the way of clear cut opportunities.

Canvey probably had the better of what few chances were created. Harrison Chatting forced James Bradbrook into a save after winning possession on the left hand side of the penalty area but the keeper did well to block his shot from a tight angle.

The best chance of the game fell to Evans Kouassi on 33 minutes. Odei Martin Sorondo making his debut after signing from Concord on a dual registration found the winger with a great through pass but his shot from the right cleared the crossbar.

The game seemed to turn in Canvey's favour at the start of the second half when Okay received a second yellow card and was sent off for a lunging tackle.

Elliott Ronto chipped a shot from the left over the top corner and then Chatting had a cross palmed wide as Canvey upped the pressure and tried to use the extra man to their advantage.

Odei Martin fired wide from the edge of the penalty area but from a counter attack, Stowmarket took an unexpected lead on 66 minutes.

A quick counter attack involving Reggie Lambe saw the ball played to Evan Collard who finished well with a low driven effort past Bobby Mason.
Canvey huffed and puffed after this passing the ball well and using the wings but rarely able to threaten a Stowmarket defence that stood firm and repelled anything that was thrown at them.

The nearest Gulls came to scoring was when Matt Price flicked a header wide from Jey Siva's left wing cross on 68 minutes.

Price tested Bradbrook with a shot in injury time and the final opportunity of the game fell to Odei Martin but he was only able to head down and into the ground from Miles Mitchell Nelson's deep ball with the Stowmarket keeper saving comfortably.

After being unbeaten in their first 13 league matches, Gulls have now lost their last two and not scored in 3 consecutive home games. They will be desperate to bounce back when they visit Felixstowe next weekend.