Canvey Island suffered back-to-back away league defeats on Saturday, losing 2-0 away to in-form Brentwood Town at The Arena.

Manager Brad Wellmen made three changes from the starting XI that were beaten 2-1 away to Maldon & Tiptree last time out.

Central defender Rob Girdlestone missed out through injury, with Evangelos Empochontsif coming in to partner Michael Finneran at the heart of the Gulls’ defence. Harrison Chatting and Elliott Ronto dropped to the bench, their places being taken by Bradley Sach and Odei Martin Sorondo.

On a breezy day, the Gulls were kicking into the wind in the first half.

The match started with a good tempo, with both sides having good chances in the opening exchanges.

On four minutes a flick on header from Bradley Sach was controlled by Matthew Price. He played the ball down the left for Evans Kouassi to run onto, and he managed to get the better of right back James Love. Kouassi crossed to the back post for Price, but Love recovered to clear Price’s shot back across goal off the line.

The hosts had a chance soon afterwards when Rob Harvey was played in behind the Canvey defence down the left. However, goalkeeper Bobby Mason did well to come off his line and block the shot, with the follow up from distance at an open goal deflecting behind for a corner.

On 20 minutes a Canvey counter attack saw Odei Martin Sorondo play the ball out left for Evans Kouassi. He managed to evade a sliding challenge from Freddie Gard, driving into the area before seeing a shot from a tight angle turned behind by goalkeeper Ollie Bowles.

There were no further genuine chances in the remainder of the half, with both sides struggling to adapt to the windy conditions and the ball spending large periods not in play.

Brentwood had a good opportunity nine minutes into the second half when a through ball was played into the path of forward Ashley Nzala. Ben Sampayo got himself between Nzala and the ball and went down, but the referee allowed play to continue with Nzala now one-on-one. However, Bobby Mason did well once more to come off his line and make a good save low down to his left.

The deadlock was broken on 75 minutes when Ashley Nzala’s cross from the left was handled by Evangelos Empochontsif at the near post. Tom Richardson stepped up and sent Bobby Mason the wrong way from the spot to score.

The points were sealed with five minutes remaining when midfielder Rob Harvey was played in behind substitute Tobi Tinubu. Harvey reached the edge of the area, shooting accurately across goal from the left and into the bottom corner.

The result sees Canvey drop to third in the table after wins for Aveley and Stowmarket Town.