Canvey Island 1-1 York City (18/3/06)

[Match Reports]

York City's winning streak finally ended against midtable Canvey Island. At a windswept Park Lane, City couldn't play the football that had taken them as high as 4th in the Conference table but still managed to get a point out of the game.

The first half was pretty one sided with City putting together the majority of the better football that was on display. The first real chance was a spectacular long range piledriver from "The panth" which had to be tipped acrobatically over the bar by keeper Potter.

After that, City won plenty of corners and enjoyed a lot of possession as their opponents struggled to play into the wind. In fact, Mark Convery really should have opened the scoring around the half hour when he was put clean through from a clever flick from centre back James Dudgeon. However, he seemed to rush things and he ended up tamely firing straight at the alert Potter. So, at half time, the score was still 0-0.

Following the interval, City's passing game began to be affected by the wind as it grew in strength. The travelling faithful of 250 odd took shelter, quite literally, in one of the "bus shelter" type stands, whilst the players largely scrapped it out in midfield. Canvey did have one reasonable chance when Ibe was clean through to the right of porter's goal but he sidefooted wide of the far post.

Then finally came the breakthrough for the Minstermen. A low cross from the right invited Darren Dunning to thump the ball high into the corner of the net and open the scoring. That seemed to be that as Canvey weren't created anything, even turning to the rather overweight striker Gregory (fattest player in this league for sure - Redmile is skinny in comparison!) to add his presence to their set pieces.

But, as a floated corner kick curled towards the goal, City keeper porter had a minute of madness. In a virtual copy of what almost happened at Southport, the keeper's attempt to punch the ball went backwards and was going into the net anyway before Canvey goal poacher Lee Boylan made sure from inches out.

City could have won the game near the end as they hit the post and failed to get the loose ball in, but they also did well to resist a barrage of corners from Canvey before the final whistle blew.

Match Ratings

porter 5 - Had nothing to do until the handling error which ultimately cost City the deserved 3 points.

thomas 6 - Steady display before Price replaced him near the start of the second half.

peat 7 - Had a pretty solid game at left back and put in a few reasonable crosses, especially in the first half.

mcgurk 5 1/2 - For some reason he wasn't his usual self with some poorly directed headers and occasional lack of communication with team mates.

dudgeon 8 - Man of the Match - Didn't miss a header all afternoon. Perfect player to have in your team for this kind of scrappy game.

convery 6 1/2 - Quiet game, should really have scored the 1v1 chance but didn't seem to know he had time. Lots of neat build up and link play in the first half.

panther 6 - Solid if unspectacular performance.

bishop 6 1/2 - Got stuck in and fought for the cause in the midfield when it was needed.

dunning 7 - Quality goal and all round contribution was good too, again, especially in the first half.

bishop 6 1/2 - Unlucky near the end and generally showed some neat control and skills.

donaldson 5 - For some reason he had the touch of a frying pan, but never stopped trying. The conditions meant it would never really be his kind of game.

Substitutes:

price 6 1/2 - Some useful defensive tackles when introduced.

merris 6 - Sub for Dunning close to full time.

the referee 7 - For once, I thought the ref had an okay game and you couldn't really have any complaints. Not sure what the incident involving Dudgeon was so I can't comment on that.

Overall Summary

It would have been good to get all three points from this game, but with the weather conditions resembling Siberia it was always going to be a struggle as the wind made good football impossible. Overall though, City did occasionally play some good stuff and looked a class above their opponents for most of the game - Canvey were an okay midtable team but lacked ideas going forward. The loud cheers from the home contingent at the final whistle maybe said it all - they knew they had scraped a point against a good side.

City have to hope that this is a point won in the long run. Next up is league leaders Accrington, who struggled to get a point against Stevenage today. Expect plenty of flags (probably not too many fans though!) in the away end as they will be wanting to secure their league title win. With some City fans not too keen on Accy following the antics of their management and players in the game in October, and the fact that it is a big game for both clubs, hopefully a large crowd will vociferously support City's bid to stay in the play off race. Add to this the fact that there hasn't been a team in this league that has looked a better side than an on form Minstermen, and the team should go for the win.

The next two games against Accy and Burton could make City's play off chances look good if they win them both, they are really crucial for the club.