Match Report

Canvey Island
0
Hendon
3
Date:
Saturday 16 February 2013
Competition:
Isthmian League Premier Division
Attendance:
321
Venue:
TBA

Match Report

Hendon put in what was probably their best performance of the season on Saturday afternoon as they came away from Canvey Island with a comprehensive 3-0 victory. The win was just the second ever league win at the Prospect Stadium for the Greens.

Gary McCann made just one change to the side that beat Bognor Regis Town seven days earlier as Jack Connors replaced Belal Aite-Ouakrim, who dropped to the bench where he joined Dave Diedhiou, Isaiah Rankin, Junior Lewis and the returning Carl McCluskey.

Both sides went into the game in excellent form, both having won six of their last eight games, which saw the Seagulls lying in 3rd place before the game, and the Greens having moved away from relegation trouble into 12th.

It was the home side who had the bulk of possession in the opening few minutes, but they were unable to do very little with it, with the back four of Howard Hall, Sam Flegg, Elliot Brathwaite and Scott Cousins in fine form once again.

The opening goal came in the 12th minute with the Greens' first attempt at goal. An excellent passing move, which became a feature of the Hendon performance during the game, ended with Casey Maclaren pulling the ball back to Dean Cracknell who fired the ball past Ashlee Jones into the net to shock the home team.

Shortly after the goal, Casey Maclaren saw an effort go wide of the target, and then Lee Angol appeared to have been fouled by the keeper, but the officials ruled that Jones had played the ball and gave a throw-in to Hendon.

In the 18th minute Canvey had their only effort on goal that was to test Sean Thomas throughout the game, and even then James Hawes's effort was low and relatively easy for the visiting keeper to deal with.

For the remainder of the half, Hendon were always in control and creating the better chances. Good work by Lee Angol and Junior Morias set up Casey Maclaren who saw his shot blocked by Jones, whilst Morias himself saw and effort fly wide of the target as well.

The home side did have some periods of possession, but whenever they looked like reaching the final third they found Flegg and Brathwaite in an uncompromising mood and any threat was snuffed out with ease.

The only time Canvey really threatened again was towards the end of the half when a headed effort at goal was cleared out for a corner by Cousins, whilst just before half-time Casey Maclaren saw his effort dip slightly too late and go over the bar.

Any fears that Hendon had that Canvey would really fight back in the second half were dispelled early on as the game continued in similar fashion to the first despite the home side replacing Nicolas Bondon with Kevin Dobinson.

Just before the hour mark Hendon doubled their lead. Lee Angol played a beautiful ball from the right wing, which dropped into the path of Junior Morias. The strong youngster beat his marker, looked up and fired a fierce low drive beyond the dive of Jones into the back of the net. The understanding between the two Wycombe Wanderers youngsters was a joy to behold as they continued their excellent form since joining on loan from the Chairboys.

Almost immediately Dave Diedhiou was brought on to replace the tiring Jack Connors, who had been causing problems on the left hand side for much of the game.

It wasn't long before the Greens had further chances to extend their lead, but both Casey Maclaren and Morias were unable to find the target.

From then on Hendon were happy to let the home side come at them and respond by hitting their hosts on the counter attack. Eventually Canvey's frustration boiled over when James Rowe committed a nasty looking foul on Angol, and was perhaps a touch fortunate to just see yellow.

With the Hendon back line continuing to dominate, helped by the excellent Kevin Maclaren in front of them, the Greens were able to hold on comfortably with very little in the way of scares.

The final touch on a wonderful performance came from Aite-Ouakrim, who had replaced Morias with ten minutes ago. Deep into stoppage time he went on one of his trademark runs and finding himself in space on the edge of the area, he fired the ball low and hard past the despairing dive of Jones.

There was just enough time for Canvey to kick off again before the referee blew the final whistle.

The result sees the Greens move up to 11th place in the table, the first time they have been in the top half this season. It was also their 7th win in nine games, one of the best runs the club have had under the leadership of Gary McCann.

"That was a tremendous performance," said a delighted assistant manager Freddie Hyatt shortly after the game.

"We thoroughly deserved to win that game, and we are very proud of the team this evening".

Report by Steve Rogers

Hendon

1
Sean Thomas
2
Howard Hall
3
Scott Cousins
4
Sam Flegg
5
Elliott Brathwaite
6
Kevin Maclaren
7
Dean Cracknell
8
Casey Maclaren
9
Junior Morias
10
Jack Connors
11
Lee Angol
12
Dave Diedhiou
13
Isaiah Rankin
14
Belal Aite-Ouakrim
15
Carl McCluskey
17
Junior Lewis

Match Events

13''
Dean Cracknell
Kevin Dobinson replaced Nicolas Bondon
46''
59''
Dave Diedhiou replaced Jack Connors
59''
Junior Morias
James Rowe replaced James Hawes
62''
78''
Isaiah Rankin replaced Howard Hall
81''
Belal Aite-Ouakrim replaced Junior Morias
Mitch Gilbey replaced Jay Curran
88''
90''
Belal Aite-Ouakrim

Canvey Island

1
Ashlee Jones
2
Ashley Miller
3
Ashley Dumas
4
Rob King
5
Rickie Hayles
6
Richard Orlu
7
Harrison Chatting
8
James Hawes
9
Bradley Woods-Garness
10
Jay Curran
11
Nicolas Bondon
12
Kevin Dobinson
14
James Rowe
15
Robbie Blackwell
16
Mitch Gilbey
21
George Cocklin