On a fine Spring day, an hour by car to Park Lane, home of Canvey Island F.C. A top of the table clash, a genuine six-pointer, as the two sides are 2nd and 3rd in the League with 74 points, 6 behind leaders Aldershot. The Islanders have played 2 games less than The Saints and, surely, the loser today can only dream of promotion next time around. An impressive new £250,000 terrace with a 2000 capacity has changed the view from the sea-wall end. Not available today, but among Canvey's ranks are former Saints Matt Jones and Spencer Knight.
For today, Cookie selected Wilmot in goal; 4 at the back: Evans, Brown, Campbell and Lodge, in for the suspended Naylor; 4 in the middle: Kean, Challinor, Hyatt and Young; and up front: Martin and De Souza. On the bench: Moran, Mackail-Smith, Deacon, Gledhill and White.
Oh dear. This one started badly and got much worse. In the first minute, the League's leading scorer, Lee Boylan was given far too much room in the box to sweep home a cross from the right. 1-0. Two minutes later it was 2 when Berquez stole in front of Wilmot to intercept a back-header and pass into the empty net. 2-0. The Saints began to play and hauled themselves into the game to be rewarded with a headed goal by Campbell on 10 minutes but Canvey re-took control from then on. De Souza seemed isolated up front and the visitors tactic of hitting long balls over the top of the Islander's defence never troubled the home side. Boylan scored again midway through the half, taking a rebound from a fine Wilmot save. 3-1. H.T.
Cookie replaced Evans with Gledhill and Young with Mackail-Smith at the interval but Canvey dominated the second half after Boylan completed his hat-trick in the first minute. 4-1. The best goal of the game came midway through the period when Parmenter hit an unstoppable volley from 25 yards 5-1. Wilmot made another fine save but, once again, Boylan was first to the loose ball and it was 6. Unfortunately, the referee showed no heart and played the full 90 minutes. 6-1. F.T.
The Saints never got into this game and Canvey didn't have to get out of 3rd gear. The visitors heads seem to drop after the 3rd goal and whilst there was individual work-rate from a couple of the Saints today, the unit skills were sadly lacking. A very disappointing display.
The attendance was 703 with towards 200 Travelling City Faithful. MotM? You must be joking. A word for EFM whose efforts today raised over £700 for 5 year old Canvey mascot, Candy Bloomfield, and Gt. Ormond St. Hospital. Well done to them. That was the highlight of the trip to the sea-side, today.
Entertainment 3/10. Atmosphere 7/10. Technical merit 2/10. Referee 5/10.
Report by Awayday |
