Match Report

Canvey Island v St Ives Town

Emirates FA Cup 2^nd Qualifying Round  17-09-2022

A very well planned and perfectly executed away win saw Ives through to match their best ever FA Cup run. The previous time that they have reached the third qualifying round being a memorable trip to York City in 2018/19 season.

The early pressure came from the hosts and it took an excellent diving save from keeper James Goff to prevent the visitors falling behind in ninth minute. The dangerous Evans Kouassi ran at the Ives defence drawing in covering players before feeding in Danny Parish in space just inside the box. Goff had to hurl himself low to his left to turn the striker’s well placed effort around the post.

But the hosts were caught out by Ives first real attack in 14^th minute. Enoch Andoh robbed Luca Albon inside his own half and fed in Jonny Edwards. The big centre forward’s left foot effort seemed to lack power but it was heading for the bottom corner, keeper Bobby Mason dived low to his left and got a hand to the ball but only succeeded in serving it up on a plate for the fast arriving Myles Cowling who gleefully slammed the loose ball home to claim his first goal for the club. 

Now the tide had turned and suddenly Ives were swarming all over their hosts like bees around a honey pot. Andoh was again to the fore in 21^st minute as he danced across the face of the hosts box past three defenders before teeing up Ed Hottor for a ferocious drive from 25 yards that stung the hands of keeper Mason as he palmed it away.

Ives second arrived four minutes later as Nabil Shariff cleverly took down a dropping ball on the edge of the Gulls box and fed in the run of Cowling, as the youngster burst into the box he was clipped by Mason Hall. Excellent referee Oliver Morris-Sanders had a perfect view and instantly pointed to the spot. Edwards sent keeper Mason the wrong way to claim his eighth goal of the season.

The tricky Kouassi seemed to have licence to roam and was still causing problems for Ives defence, in 42^nd minute he turned up on the left where he managed to turn inside Kane Lewis before delivering a teasing ball to the back post where Parish under pressure from Jordan Williams could only steer his header inches wide of the post.

The goal that killed the game in favour of the visitors arrived at the end of a flowing move right on half time. Shariff did brilliantly down the right before delivering a deep cross beyond the far post. The unmarked Edwards unselfishly fed the ball back into the centre where a clever back flick from Andoh picked out skipper Dylan Williams inside the six yard box and he made no mistake.

There was still time before the break for keeper Goff to pull off the save of the day diving full length to his right to deflect a powerful drive from 20 yards from Albon over the top. That save denied the Gulls the opportunity to get the wind in their sails and ensured that the second half had little to write home about as Ives cleverly managed the game with Goff only having to make one more routine save.

Gulls manager Brad Wellmen made two changes at half time throwing on big centre forward Bradley Sach and left back Tobi Tinubu to replace Salmon and Odei Martin-Sorondo respectively. The hosts also changed to a more direct style of play but that generally played into Ives hands as Callum Milne and Jordan Williams rose to the challenge to win their battles with Sach. The chances that the Gulls did manage to carve out generally came via the boots of the tricky Kouassi as he continued to switch between flanks, but all to often he created the opportunity to cross then failed to find his man with the delivery. In 54^th minute he was played in down the left by Elliott Ronto before turning back onto his right foot and delivering a cross to the back post which was inches to high for two of his team mates waiting there.

The same player carved out a similar opportunity with almost exactly the same result in 63^rd minute. This time he managed to dispossess Lewis before trying to pick out the fast arriving Parish with his cross. It was closer to the mark as the Gulls number seven got a touch, but he was stretching and could not direct his header goalwards. 

Goff’s only second half save came five minutes later as Ives players were almost caught out as they appealed for a foul on Cowling. Referee Morris-Sanders waved play on allowing Sach to burst into the box. He got his effort on target but it was straight at Goff who held on well.

As the game wore on the hosts came to understand that it was not going to be their day and there were already home fans departing as early as fifteen minutes before the end. They were perhaps wary of ensuring that they got through the set of five way temporary traffic lights outside the ground ahead of the bulk of the 382 crowd departing.

The early leavers missed Ives creating but not taking any of three good opportunities to put icing on their cake in the closing stages. In 79^th minute Hottor put Tyrone Baker clear and the Ives substitute got taken down by Mason as he tried to round the keeper just outside the box. The man in green only received a yellow card thanks to the efforts of Reiss Chandler to get around and cover behind him.

Shariff did all the hard work to earn himself a 90^th minute chance as he harried and robbed Gulls skipper Rob Girdlestone before trying to lob the out of position Mason and getting it just to high. The final opportunity of the day, and best chance to add a fourth came in the third added minute with returning skipper Michael Riches bursting down the centre and threading the ball inside the full back for Baker to run onto. The wide man went for goal from a narrow angle but only found the side netting with Shariff waiting for a tap in on the edge of the six yard box.

The referee’s whistle sounded a few seconds later to conclude a very satisfactory away day. We await our fate in the third qualifying round draw which has been deferred a day and is now at 1.00pm on Tuesday 20^th September.

On a day when all involved played their part in this victory Ives travelling contingent selected keeper James Goff as their man of the match for his acrobatic and vitally important save just before the break. 

Final Score: Canvey Island  0  St Ives Town  3   

Goals: 

CANVEY: 

ST IVES: Cowling 14, Edwards 26 (pen), D. Williams 45

Team Line Ups:

CANVEY: Mason, Chandler, Martin-Sorondo (Tinubu 46), Salmon (Sach 46), Hall, Girdlestone (capt), Parish, Hubble, Albon, Ronto (Paxman 73), Kouassi, Unused subs: Firmin, Jackson

ST IVES: Goff, Lewis, Herd, Cowling (Sheriff 89), J. Williams, Milne, Andoh, Hottor, Edwards (Baker 61), D. Williams (capt) (Richens 59), Shariff, Unused subs: Osei-Bonsu, Chingoka, Johnston, Kaziboni

Cards: Yellow: CANVEY:   Hubble (57), Mason (79)     ST IVES:  Baker (70), Lewis (85)

IVES SUPPORTERS MAN OF THE MATCH:  James Goff

Attendance: 382

Match report by Nigel Howlett. Video by Ollie Jones & Dave Hook