Match Report

St Ives Town v Canvey Island

Emirates FA Cup 2^nd Qualifying Round – 21-09-19

Both sides go into the hat for Mondays 3^rd Qualifying Round draw, but it is probably Ives who will be the more relieved of the two sides to still be in the competition after this stalemate in the blazing sunshine at Westwood Road.

Already missing seven regulars through injury, suspension, non-availability and being cup tied this was never going to be an easy game for the hosts. But even with that number of players missing they still matched their lower level visitors up to the break only to then be dealt a further blow to their threadbare resources as Jarvis Wilson saw red for a needless lunge on Albert Levett in first half stoppage time.

A half time reshuffle saw the Ives come out with such a solid defensive shape that they restricted the Gulls to only a single opportunity throughout the entire second half and that was brilliantly kept out by Cambridge United loanee goalkeeper Finley Iron. However visitors manager Mark Bentley may well regret not being a little more adventurous against the ten men as the Gulls maintained a rigid back four who spent most of the second half marking no one.

After a cagey opening period from both sides it was the visitors who carved out the first opportunity from a corner on the left. Josh Hutchinson delivered his flag kick deep to beyond the far post where Elliott Warren rose above the Ives defence to head the ball back into the mix. It was half cleared to James White who rather snatched his effort from the edge of the box wide of the post.

Ives first opportunity came four minutes later as the ever busy Jack Snelus harried and robbed Dan Humphries before wriggling past White and firing in a low drive from a narrow angle that forced keeper Lamar Johnson into a diving save at his near post. The resulting corner came to nothing.

The next goalmouth action in the 24^th minute saw George Purcell manage to find just enough space to turn and get in a shot from 20 yards that deflected wide off Charlie Johnson. The resulting corner was won in the air by Michael Finneran and he managed to direct his header on target forcing Iron to tip the ball over the top. The next corner from the left by Hutchinson was again won in the air by the visitors as Warren directed his header down into the six yard box. Johnson’s attempted clearance looped into the air to the far post where Jason Hallett bravely went in with Iron and won the header but his goal bound effort was hacked off the line by Ty Ward.

The game then seemed to enter a quiet period with both sides cancelling each other out for the next twenty minutes but it exploded back into life in the final few minutes before the break. In the final minute of the 45 the pace of Dylan Wilson rewarded him with Ives best opportunity of the afternoon as he outpaced Warren to get on the end of a long ball out of defence by Jeff Woodward. Wilson decided to take on the opportunity first time trying to lift the dropping ball over Johnson but he did not quite get enough on it and the big keeper made a comfortable save.

Play swung immediately to the other end where Purcell thought he had put the Gulls in front. A long White free kick was knocked down into the box by Warren and Purcell pounced to knock home from point blank range but the assistant’s flag had gone up instantly from the knock on indicating that much to Ives relief the Canvey number ten had gone just to soon.

Ives relief did not last long as in the final added minute Jarvis Wilson had a mad moment as he lunged in recklessly on Levett just outside the box. With both feet off the floor and studs showing he made it easy for referee Alistair Wilson who very quickly went for the red card. The only fortunate thing for Ives was that they survived the free kick which was fired into the wall by White and thirty seconds later the half time whistle blew giving them an opportunity to re-group.

With Ben Jackson already on having replaced a strangely quiet Ben Seymour-Shove who had limped off with a tight hamstring three minutes before the break manager Ricky Marheineke had the personnel on the pitch to allow him to re-organise the ten men into a very solid formation and invite the Gulls to come on and break them down and this was exactly how his side shaped up for the start of the second half. Instantly they lost possession Ives got everyone back behind the ball and defended their own half resolutely. 

The Gulls seemed to have very little idea how to find a way through and on the one occasion that they did carve out an opening keeper Iron showed his mettle as he pulled off an excellent point blank block to deny Tobi Joseph in 66^th minute. The opportunity had been carved out by one of the very few incisive moves by the visitors in the second period as the broke quickly having broken up one of Ives rare forays forward. Purcell did well to keep the ball in play on the right and fed it to the feet of Hallett 25 yards from goal in a central position he in turn cleverly flicked it into the run of Joseph who was through one on one with Iron. The keeper closed him quickly and stayed big blocking the shot when it came with his legs allowing Tom Wood to clear up behind him and hack the ball to safety.

The hosts only opportunity after the break came only seconds later as a quick break by Snelus pulled in a number of defenders allowing him to feed in Wood breaking on the right. His pull back picked out Dylan Wilson in the centre by the penalty spot but Finneran was alert to the danger and did just enough to block the young striker’s attempt on goal. The ball ricocheted back to Ward who tried his luck first time from 30 yards but only succeeded in screwing his effort well wide.

It almost began to seem like both sides were settling for a return on Canvey Island in midweek as the clock began to run down on the second period. The ten men of Cambridgeshire were generally fairly comfortable in repelling anything that the unadventurous eleven from Essex could throw at them and the only save that either keeper had to make in the remaining 25 minutes was nine minutes from time when Iron  had to plunge to his left to keep out a 30 yard snap shot from Hutchinson. 

So the battle will be re-joined at the Prospects Stadium on Tuesday evening when Ives will be hopeful that a few of their walking wounded may be available to make the trip and boost the depleted squad allowing them to take the game to the Gulls in a more positive fashion. 

Final Score : St Ives Town   0   Canvey Island  0

Goals : none

St Ives team : Iron, Woodward, Ward, Wood, Jarvis Wilson, Johnson, Seymour-Shove (Jackson 43), Parker (capt), Dylan Wilson (Clifton 82), Snelus, Snaith (Phillips 86)

Unused subs : none

Man of match : Charlie Johnson

Attendance  :  187

Report by Nigel Howlett. Photos by Louise Thompson

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