After a thrilling home encounter against Folkestone Invicta which was brought to a sudden end on Saturday, the Blues are back on their travels, heading to Canvey Island as part of a busy Bank Holiday weekend of football.
Our Opponents
Canvey Island ended last season in 14th position, taking 54 points from their 42 matches, and generally spending the majority of the season in and around the mid-table positions. In the previous season, The Islanders had an excellent campaign, finishing in 3rd place with 80 points, losing to Aveley on penalties in the semi-finals of the playoffs. Canvey will be looking to return to that level this season, with manger Brad Wellmen stating that the playoff positions are the aim this season in an interview with the local press during pre-season.
Did you know?
Canvey Island are offering fans the chance to pick the half time playlist at the Steve's Taxis Stadium on Saturday, head over to their Twitter (X) page to request your favourite song for the game.
Head To Head
Last season the Blues managed to secure the double over Canvey Island, with a memorable 6-2 win over Canvey at the Maurice Rebak Stadium in October. There were braces for Chukwu, Long and Carvalho as a second half blitz meant that we turned it around from 2-1 down at 49 minutes to take the game 6-2. Notably, one of the goalscorers for the Islanders that day was a certain Luke Deslandes who will be looking to make his mark in familiar surroundings tomorrow. Our last trip to Canvey Island was back in March, as we scored twice in the second half to take the game 2-0, despite going down to ten men late in the day.
Last Time Out
Canvey have started the season with three narrow defeats. Firstly, a comeback from promoted side Chichester City saw them take a 2-1 win against Canvey Island after Conor Hubble had given them an early lead on the opening day. A few days later, a Kane Gilbert goal late in the day couldn't prevent another 2-1 defeat, this time against Hashtag United, before a tricky trip to Dartford last weekend ended in 2-0 defeat.
For the Blues, there have been plenty of goals and lots of entertainment in our opening three matches, starting with a 3-2 home win over Dulwich Hamlet, with goals coming from an Ogo Obi brace and Ryan Lowe's dramatic late winner. At Carshalton, we drew level through Luke Deslandes and Ben Frempah, before Carshalton scored the winner and saw out the final half an hour to take the tie 3-2. On Saturday, we had a 3-1 lead thanks to goals from Destiny Oladipo and Ogo Obi (2) before Folkestone pegged us back to 3-3 in the second half.
Players To Watch
Canvey Island may have lost some of their most potent attacking threats of recent seasons such as Evans Kouassi and Bradley Sach, however they have retained Conor Hubble who provides goal threat from midfield and has already got off the mark this season. Meanwhile, in goal the Islanders have moved to re-sign Bobby Mason who was a regular in the side from 2020 through to 2023 before he had a sole season with Sittingbourne last year.
For Wingate & Finchley, we announced the signing of goalkeeper Charlie Grainger on Thursday, with the former Hastings United and Dulwich Hamlet keeper expected to come straight into the matchday squad on Saturday. Up front, Destiny Oladipo made his first start for the Blues on Saturday and made an instant impact, netting after just two minutes against Folkestone Invicta.
Photos courtesy of Martin Addison.
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