EAST Thurrock took away the derby bragging rights after completing a Ryman Premier double over the Islanders on a rainswept evening.
The first half was played out in dreadful conditions, with driving wind and rain and both sides deserved credit as they went into the break on level terms. The rain abated and the wind dropped slightly on the resumption but, with what elements that were there in their favour, Rocks garbbed the game’s third goal and held on for a hard-earned win that elevated them to tenth in the table.
Playing against the wind in the first half East Thurrock created the first opening when Sam Higgins’ effort was fumbled by keeper Tim Brown but former Canvey player Mitchell Gilbey was just unable to scramble the ball in.
However, in the tenth minute in in bizarre circumstances, Rocks took the lead. From a corner Gilbey and Lewis Smith combined with Smith slipping the ball into the path of Reece Harris who dug out a scooped shot that looked like it would fly over the bar as well as Brown but the wind held up the flight and it dropped behind the keeper though it wasn’t initially clear which side of the crossbar it had gone. No-one seemed sure what had happened and Brown quickly recovered the ball and set up for a goal-kick, but by then a couple of the Rocks players had started to celebrate.
Referee Jake Hillier didn’t look too sure but, having spotted that the ball was pulled from the back of the net which is flush with the pitchside fence, he checked for any holes and having failed to find any, awarded the goal.
Canvey came back well and mounted a period of sustained pressure, winning a succession of corners and creating a number of half chances – the best of which brought a goaline block from Tom Stephen after Gulls debutant Enoch Showunmi stabbed the ball goalwards from close range.
Rocks twice threatened through Gilbey who was determined to make his mark on his return to the Prospects Stadium. First he raced through several challenges but lashed a shot well wide from close range, then produced a more effective finish to a second run, laying the ball into the path of Sam Higgins whose drilled shot was well-saved by Brown.
Canvey then moved up a gear and more sustained pressure saw one time Rock Ashley Dumas head over the bar and then Harrison Chatting thumped a shot wide.
It looked as if Rocks would survive to the break, particularly when they won a free-kick on the apex of the penalty area with 45 minutes gone. Smith thumped a shot against the wall and then tried a bit of audacious trickery with the rebound but lost possession. Gulls raced downfield and Smith, who to his credit had chased back, gave away a foul in an almost identical position to that he had just taken at the other end. Joe Carter took the pot at goal for Canvey and his strike went through a mass of players and skipped off the wet pitch into the net past keeper David Hughes, who was possibly unsighted.
The players looked delighted to get out of the driving rain at half time – and even more pleased to see it had stopped on the resumption.
Rocks still had the wind at their backs and dominated much of the second half in terms of position on the pitch though they created little by way of chances and were almost caught out when a quick counter saw Marlon Agyakwa beat Hughes to a through ball and he flicked a header past him, but also just wide of the upright.
Rocks had a half chance when Higgins set up the industrious Harris but he struck his shot wide.
Tempers flared momentarily on 66 minutes when Gulls’ Jack Simmons and Rocks Simon Peddie had a coming together and both were booked. Peddie clearly had a sense of injustice but he took his agitation out on Canvey in the best possible manner, stooping to head home a Tom Stephen corner two minutes later.
It was a lead that Rocks were able to hold onto with a degree of comfort. Canvey never gave up and battled to the end without ever forcing a clear opening and in the end the points went Rocks’ way in their fifth win in the last six meetings between the two sides and they leapfrogged their derby rivals in the table.
