2012-13 Uncovered: Tuesday 1st January - Gulls Travels

   So 2012 ended with a damp squib.  Which, as ever, isn't a euphemism.  Brentwood Town game off, as well as loads more others in non-league.  No local ESL action.  Not enough money to afford either the Billericay or Dagenham games.  Or any game that cost over a tenner, which also ruled out Leyton Orient or Charlton.  Or just anywhere that was on.  As you can tell, I'm still desperately short of moolah.

   So it was with blessed relief that 2012 passed.  Heart attack, surgery that went awry, friends and family around me also falling seriously ill, then a company director running off with the staff wages to pay for his divorce ensuring the year finished in poverty.  2013 couldn't come quick enough.

   The constants that kept me going throughout the year, though, radio work and football, were the high points, and as the New Year was brought in watching the curiously yummy Jackie Bird up in Edinburgh (she's in her 50's, she looks it, but somehow you just want to doink her regardless - or senseless), it was there again.

   Not at New Lodge though.  Yet again, despite getting in touch with them well before the game, no replies, no nothing.  It's a pity, but doesn't bother me in the slightest.  It just means that other local sides get more radio coverage.  Not for Brentwood Town today, though, either.  Their match at Redbridge rained off again.  They now have the unenviable task of 29 league games to fit into 17 weeks, having played just 13 in the previous 23.  Blimey.

   That left just the Rocks who, thankfully, were on, and just a short and cheap train journey away from the Bay.  East Thurrock United, mind, were having a tough time of it, too.  Drawing too many games had left them dangerously close to the Ryman Premier drop zone.  An injury list longer than an MP's expenses form. 

   And, more hurtfully, league leaders Shitehawk had waved their wad at Hakeem Araba and lured him away with a ridiculous offer he couldn't refuse.  It's always depressing at this level when clubs buy success.  It goes against the entire ethos of non-league football.    

   Whitehawk, of course, aren't alone in this.  But a club with gates of 200 can't sustain a squad of players lured from clubs with far bigger crowds.  As soon as the sugar daddy leaves the club will fold..  And, again, they won't be alone in that.

   It was with those cheery, cynical thoughts that Benfleet station came into view. The Rocks were at, of all the teams to play whilst I contemplated money ruining non-league football, Canvey Island.  The classic example.  A club built on the money and ego of one man.  They marched up the leagues, into the Conference, with FA Trophy and FA Cup runs galore. That one man then spits his dummy out and leaves the Gulls up to their necks in bird shit.

   Luckily, though, there was a hardcore of between 300 and 400 supporters who would not let the club die. They took the decision to drop three divisions into Ryman One North and start afresh.  A brave decision, but it meant that it was only people committed to Canvey Island F.C. who were involved.  It was, at last, a club again in the true sense of the word.

   Progress has been slow but steady, learning from their past, not running before they can walk.  Promotion to the Premier five seasons ago and featuring regularly in the play-off battles.  And, last season, an epic Essex Senior Cup triumph over Colchester United.  You can't help but feel pleased for a set of people that have turned a plaything into a genuine local football club again.

   It was a gloriously bright start to 2013.  No buses from the station today so it was a 3 or 4 mile walk.  It was so sunny, and unusually mild, so the stroll was a pleasure.  Especially wandering out of the station.  Just ahead of me was a grey haired man wearing a stetson.  For some reason I began humming "I was born under a wandrin' star."

   Coming our way on Ferry Road was a cyclist.  As he goes by, Lee Marvin gives him a volley of abuse.  "Yeah, whatever", he mutters, riding by.  A minute later, another cyclist on the path, and another very loud slagging, this time rightly responded to by the cyclist.  Chortle.

   Along comes a third cyclist, and this time Lee Marvin walks right in front of the bike, making it stop, to give the cyclist a piece of his undoubtedly tiny mind.  He doesn't know what I know.  That it's actually a cycle path and we're the ones in the wrong.  The third cyclist puts him right and then we exchange glances and shrugs, together in thinking what a twat the Paint Your Wagon man is.  Double chortle.

   About an hour later, I'm in the press box at Park Lane.  Glen is not having the best of times.  The PA system is packing up.  I try to make myself as invisible as possible, which is quite a feat when you have the bulk of a wild hog, but without the hygiene.  My offer of playing the Hearts cd is inexplicably turned down, too.

   I have a look around from my box seat.  I remember in the ESL days, way back in my youth, and the ground seemed huge.  As Glen pointed out, though, that was before the main stand was built, and that gives it a feeling of being closer to the pitch.  Then again, in my youth, electricity hadn't been invented, so it was just a pitch and a puddle to shower in.

   The game is an important one for the Gulls.  A 3-0 gubbing at derby rivals Concord Rangers on Boxing Day had jolted their play-off challenge a little and their pride immensely.  Manager Steve Tilson might be a 'legend' in many people's eyes in South Essex, but if he doesn't get his team back on track soon, he'll be a legend that used to be a manager.

   That's not a prospect awaiting Covo.  After the New Year greetings, he confirmed he's spent New Year's Eve in a curry house.  Forget about the injury woes and players departing, I was just hoping that the away dug-out had a bucket, just in case.  Or at least a fan to waft away what might be aired during the game.  Chortle.

   The Rocks started with Hakeem's replacement, L'Heureux Muega from Worksop Town, starting.  Good grief, even taller than Araba.  The Rocks like their passing game but they definitely have an option for mixing it if the need arises.  The height of an NBA man, the physique of an MMA man.  Blimey.

   It's just as well there was a talking point like that because for 35 minutes there was sod all happening on the pitch.  Final passes into the box going further astray than Kerry Katona inviting Lindsay Lohan over for a quiet night in.  

   The Gulls keeper, Ashlee Jones, had a bit of a flap at a corner early on.  That was the most creative moment either side produced up until then.  I began to wonder what I was doing here.  God knows what the radio listeners were thinking.  Apart from 'what's on elsehwere?'.

   It's funny how games just turn around though.  East Thurrock come forward.  Kye Ruel on the right gets a low centre in.  The Canvey defence just stand there scratching their arses.  Sam Collins says thank you very much and taps home from inside the six yard box.

   A few minutes later, it gets almost comically worse for the Gulls.  The poor keeper.  He slices a clearance terribly.  When I say sliced, I mean it goes behind him, and starts to trundle into an empty net.  He, and new Rocks forward Meuga, chase the ball frantically.  The keeper gets there just before it crosses the line and clears.  I feel sorry for the guy, making a ricket like that.  But still, chortle.  And at least it doesn't cost his side.

   You get the feeling that there's really something in this now.  Lost the derby game, losing at home, drifting from the play-off zone.  Whisper it quietly, but Steve Tilson might just be under a bit of pressure.  Canvey need a big 45 minutes.  Not 24 hours in 2013 and a story may just be developing.

   The Gulls come flying out of the blocks in the second half.  Perhaps they feel their places at the club are at stake, too.  But still, they almost lose it completely.  A rare East Thurrock break, Tom Stephen puts a corner on the right into the six yard box, another panic, and new boy Meuga shoots home.  2-0.  Except that the ref has blown for an infringement.  The relief around Park Lane is palpable.

   Buoyed by this break, Canvey intensify their pressure.  Bradley Woods-Garness has a curling shot superbly parried away.  Meuga and home player Dobbo decide to engage in their own  MMA battle.  Luckily the ref sees nothing or Meuga would have gone.

   The Rocks luck runs out soon after.  A lovely, swerving cross is sent in from the left at pace into the six yard box.  Simon Peddie simply can't let that go by him.  He sticks a foot out.  It goes in.  Own goal 1-1.  Momentum firmly with the hosts.

   They surge forward, fuelled by self belief and the inclusion of sub Harrison Chatting.  Canvey look a different side once he's come on.  There's a throw in near the bye-line on the right.  It finds Woods-Garness inside the area.  His back's to goal.  But he somehow turns and volleys into the roof of the net at a tight angle.  What a bloody goal.

   From thereon in it's all Gulls.  The pressure mounts, but the Rocks defence tighten up.  What they can't do, however, is get any foothold on the game in the Canvey half.  It's all set up for a smash and grab from the away team, but there's not smash about East Thurrock anymore.  All they can grab is their nether regions as the sky and cold finally closes in.

   It finishes in a home win far more comfortable than the scoreline suggests.  And far, far more comfortably than anyone from Canvey could possibly have hoped for at the break.  Covo has his work cut out.  Injuries, star players leaving, and jelly botty from that curry.  There's a wry grin on his face though.  You simply can't help but admire a football man like Covo, accepting victory and defeat in equally good grace.

   You also can't help but admire what a great job the people now at Canvey Island have done.  It's full of good people from top to bottom.  Exemplified when Glen, finding out I walked from the station, has a word with Keith, a steward, who happily gives me a lift all the way back to the Bay.  

   Proper touch, that, and hugely appreciated, rounding off a good day out superbly.  Park Lane is once again a great place to watch your football.  If it goes on like this, 2013 is going to be infinitely better than 2012.  

   Especially if Kerry and Lindsay give me a call for that quiet night in.

   Canvey Island 2,  East Thurrock United 1