Canvey Island 0 Lowestoft Town 2

Att 331

Teams:-
Canvey Island: Jones, Miller, Dumas, King, Sands, Orlu, Kavanagh (Mason 74 mins), Dobinson, Woods-Garness (Blackwell 90+ mins), Curran, Chatting (Gilbey 83 mins). Subs; Gilbey, Blackwell, Mason, Blackwell.

Lowestoft Town: Plummer, Williams, Crane, Mitchell, A Smith, Gleeson, Henderson (Dawkin 78 mins), Okay, Eagle (Fisk 67 mins), Benjamin (L Smith 72 mins), Defty. Subs; Frew, Araba, Fisk, L Smith, Dawkin.

Lowestoft get a well deserved three points with two goals in quick succession from Eagle and Defty to seal a 2-0 win at Canvey Island.
The 2-0 halftime lead was just reward for some great football and even when Canvey showed plenty of huff and puff in the second period, Lowestoft held firm to close the match out.

Lowestoft went into the game still carrying a few knocks in the squad but were looking to bounce back from Thursdays disappointment.
In all Lowestoft made nine changes from Thursday night and were after a repeat of their performance at the Crown Meadow when the Canvey keeper Jones pulled off several great saves, to restrict the winning margin for Lowestoft in a 2-0 win.

The sun was finally making an appearance, making it warm for once with the match being played on an undulating pitch which had been watered but was still fairly dry with a light breeze in the air.
The referee for the game was Oleksandr Saliy, who had impressed when officiating a Lowestoft game a few weeks ago.

The game kicked off with Lowestoft in their 4-1-4-1 formation with Mitchell joining Crane at the back and Gleeson in front of them. Henderson was right, Benjamin left and Eagle was in the middle with Okay.
Lowestoft flexed their muscles early on with Defty getting to the line and picking out Henderson but he side-footed a tricky half chance over the bar.
Lowestoft were showing a good amount of early movement and passing with Defty also doing what he does so well in holding the ball up, winning headers and producing some great touches.
A superb pass from the back by Crane picked out Henderson on the far left and with him coming inside, the keeper Jones had to get down to save the effort.
It had been a great opening ten minutes for Lowestoft and Crane certainly appeared to have his eye in with some well executed passes from the back. Henderson and Benjamin were switching on the wings also, as Lowestoft made some early inroads.
An Eagle corner found the head of Crane at the far post but the keeper was in the right place to claim the header at goal, as Lowestoft continued to hold the upper hand.
Canvey had shown nothing and were in their own half most of the time but a punt up the park saw leading scorer Woods-Garness get goal side of Adam Smith and with him then getting the better of Okay he dragged a good opportunity across goal and wide.
Moments later Sands sent another long punt forward and with Woods-Garness getting in behind Mitchell, his first time shot went right at Plummer. Canvey are normally a footballing side but with Lowestoft restricting them it appeared that their only tactic was to punt the ball long for Woods-Garness but it was a tactic that had nearly paid off twice already for them.
Lowestoft were the team playing football though and with Henderson heavily involved and looking threatening, it was looking good for Lowestoft with thirty minutes gone. The only thing missing was a goal but as of yet that key opening had not quite been carved out.
Lowestoft kept plucking away though and Defty got his head on the end of a Benjamin cross from the left but it was another tough half chance and it went across goal and wide.
Lowestoft then presented Canvey with an opportunity after getting in a bit of a pickle at the back and with them trying to play it out of defence, Curran stole in but dragged his chance wide of the target.
Henderson had made some good moves inside from the flank and following another bursting run inside, he was fouled to give Lowestoft a free kick right on the edge of the box. Both Adam Smith and Eagle stood over the ball but on the sound of the whistle Eagle curled a lovely free-kick which hit the post and went in off the keeper, to send Lowestoft 1-0 up (39 mins).
Three minutes past before Lowestoft then doubled their lead as Eagle sent in a corner and Defty headed in from close range for his 20th of the season and Lowestoft's second of the match; 2-0 (42 mins). Lowestoft were well worthy of their two goal lead and with the halftime whistle sounding it was looking good for the Trawlerboys.

The second half started with Mitchell having to cut one out early on at the back for Lowestoft and then a couple of early corners for Canvey were sent in with one of them forcing Plummer to get right behind a header at goal.
Canvey must of heard at halftime that fifth place Margate were losing, as they had come out full of huff and very nearly added the puff with a cross from the right giving Orlu a glorious chance at the far post but his free header was sent wide when he should have buried it for Canvey.
Canvey continued to have the upper hand with ten minutes of the second half gone and with Crane getting caught out in the corner instead of putting the ball out, Canvey forced a couple more corners but got nothing from them.
Lowestoft were looking a little battle worn and tired with so many games of late. However, as always they never curled up and kept giving it 100% with some good football on the edge of the area presenting Benjamin with a chance to shoot, forcing Sands to charge the effort down.
The Lowestoft midfield were also looking a little tired in the legs and a few passes were now starting to go astray for Lowestoft but Canvey were not seeing much in the way of an end product for the possession they were seeing. One major reason for them seeing no end product though was Mitchell continuing his super form at the back, defending stoutly.
Lowestoft introduced a couple of changes to replace some weary legs as Lee Smith came on for Benjamin and Fisk replaced Eagle, who had played well in midfield.
Canvey also made a change with Mason replacing Kavanagh but with the introduction of Fisk, he started to break some of the Canvey possession up a bit and stemmed some of the threat with quarter of an hour left.
A lovely knock from Defty gave Okay a sniff at goal but from a tricky angle his shot didn't threaten and then moments later Henderson charged a ball down in the Canvey area but paid the price for his commitment to the cause, hobbling off the field of play and being replaced by Dawkin.
Canvey kept puffing their chests out without any real threat but the Lowestoft defence were working hard with Mitchell especially having a commanding game alongside Crane.
Lowestoft then nearly well and truly put the game to bed with Okay putting a lovely ball through but with the keeper Jones getting straight down to the feet of Dawkin, his shot was blocked well.
Canvey were starting to look a bit more resigned to defeat now and with Defty laying a ball back to Fisk in the area, muted appeals came for a penalty when Fisk in truth may well have been booked for going over but the referee kept play going.
Canvey's day then went from bad to worse with their top scorer Woods-Garness pulling up and having to hobble of the pitch in injury time, as Blackwell came in for the dying moments of the game.
There was just enough time for Canvey to have one more throw of the dice but with Williams getting back to make a great block tackle on Kavanagh, the midfielders frustrations got the better of him as he grappled with Williams and as a result of Williams retaliating both players left the incident with a booking.
The incident meant that a further couple of minutes were added but Lowestoft held out for a much deserved 2-0 win and yet another clean sheet.

It was a game of two halves for Lowestoft as they played some good controlled football in the first half and rightfully went in leading but in the second period they had to roll up their sleeves and fight.

Four players shone out for me today in another good team performance. Eagle showed that he really does enjoy playing in the centre of midfield and Henderson made several bursting runs to test the Canvey defence, winning the all important free-kick that led to the Eagle goal. After a couple of games in which he's been marked rather heavily, Defty won practically every ball that went up to him, holding the ball up well and having some lovely little touches to bring others into the action.
My Man of the Match though has to be Scott Mitchell who has looked really solid since moving to defence in place of the injured Gaughran. He was alert to everything today and put in the controlled and commanding performance that every manager likes to see from a defender.....top marks Mitch!!

With Wealdstone drawing at Bury and Concord losing at East Thurrock, attention now turns to Tuesday night when Lowestoft will go in hunt of another three points at home to Cray Wanderers.

Terry Bullen