The attendance figure, which beat last season's best in the Conference, was the main plus point for Carlisle on an afternoon where their wasteful finishing cost them two points. They had much the better of the contest, and dominated the opening 20 minutes, but in the end had to settle for a point as the part-timers from Essex came increasingly into the game during the second half. It was all United in the opening stages, with the free role given to debutant Carlos Roca allowing United to run at the visitors and cause them plenty of problems. Peter Murphy's early free kick was blocked and Chris Billy had a shot from the edge of the area similarly thwarted as Canvey were forced to defend with desperation at times. Karl Hawley brought a good save out of Danny Potter in the fifth minute and the keeper produced a finger tip save to turn aside another Billy effort on 16 minutes. Canvey's 57-goal striker from last season Lee Boylan had the visitors first effort in the 19th minute but it was Roca who almost lit up the whole game with a great solo run in the 24th minute. He beat three men in a mazy run from inside his own half but pulled his shot narrowly wide from 15 yards out. The visitors though began to create chances of their own as Boylan pulled a shot just wide of the far post after making space on the edge of the box and two minutes later ex-Peterborough and Ipswich player Neil Gregory should have scored when inside the six yard box but hooked over. Paul Simpson decided to bring on Craig Farrell for the largely ineffective Kevin Henderson at half-time. Farrell too struggled to really impose himself on the game as the second half calmed down with markedly fewer openings than in the first 45 minutes. But it was Farrell who came oh so close when his six-yard shot was brilliantly blocked by Potter as the goal gaped. The visitors had another chance when Jon Kennedy drove over and then with five minutes left Jon Keeling's effort caught the top of the cross-bar. United managed to maintain some pressure into stoppage time but the visitors kept their shape and earned an historic point in their first-ever Conference match. Al's verdict: This game proves that the Conference will be no cake-walk. Granted there will be far poorer sides than Canvey coming up here this season but after making so many chances and not taking them, we almost paid the penalty as the visitors began to grow in confidence and we began to look less assured. Roca had a terrific game and looks an exciting talent, let down on occasion by his tendency to take on too many players. However he looks very like another Leon Osman. The man of the match went to another debut man in Chris Lumsdon who I thought gave us a bit more control in midfield than we showed last season. However Peter Murphy was not on his game and although Hawley looked lively, neither Henderson or Farrell could quite provide the support needed. It was good to see we are still playing good football but we'll need to be more ruthless in front of goal to get promoted. For Canvey, Boylan was fairly quiet but still had sniffs of goal and at the back ex-Brighton man Peter Smith was a rock and was never outpaced by Roca. |
