Canvey meet their match (23.08.03)

AS FAR as 0-0 draws go, United's goalless stalemate with Canvey Island at York Road on Saturday was a pretty entertaining one.
Following last week’s drubbing by Kingstonian, manager John Dreyer opted to start this game with three at the back, with Adam Durrant, Steve Sanders and Brian Connor looking far more convincing in the new formation.
This allowed Kelvin McIntosh to return to his favoured central-midfield position, completing a strong case for the defence.
Anything which did manage to pierce the thin black-and-white line was convincingly repelled by Nick Hart, who made several good blocks and one stunning diving save to stake his claim for a regular start in the No.1 shirt.
With a more settled feel to the defence, the midfield had room to roam, allowing Martyn Lee and Ryan Ashe to get forward in support of the two strikers.
Unfortunately, the Canvey defence were also a force to be reckoned with and kept Lawrence Yaku and Michael Currie on a very short rein, so chances were at a premium.
United’s best opening of the first half fell to Currie, after Yaku burst forward and squared for his strike partner, forcing two defenders to slide in and scramble the ball away for a corner.
Fortunately, the two clear chances the visitors created fell to the hapless Lee Boylan, who came off second best in a one-on-one with Hart on 37 minutes, before scuffing the ball woefully wide with the goalmouth gaping on 42 minutes.
In a slightly traumatic period after the break, Hart won another one-on-one with Boylan, while Rob Cruse had to get back to keep the troublesome striker at bay just a few minutes later.
Ty Gooden then rattled Hart’s woodwork with a close-range header.
However, United were also beginning to threaten, albeit on the counter-attack, and should have gained a one-man advantage on 63 minutes, when Danny Potter charged out of his box to challenge Currie and blatantly punched the ball away, only for the referee to wave play on.
Honours were fairly even for the next 20 minutes, with neither keeper troubled. But that all changed in the dying minutes, when Hart was sent to full stretch to turn Jeff Minton’s rifled shot round the post.
Stung into action, United pushed forward in search of late winner and very nearly got it, when Craig Farley picked out late substitute Phil Gray in the box, whose glancing header drifted just inches wide of Canvey’s post, with Potter a spectator
All in all, however, a draw was probably the right result.

HEADS UP: Phil Gray holds off the Canvey Island defence, while Michael Currie prepares to pounce during a late spell of United pressure at York Road on Saturay. Ref:82601/11

Maidenhead United: Hart, Sanders, Connor, McIntosh, Durrant, Ashe, Cruse, Currie, Yaku, Lee, Farley. Subs Gray (for Yaku, 78), Obe, Paxton, Williams (for Ashe, 63) Wilson.