Canvey Island FC - The Official Website

Having scored twice thanks to Jason Hallett and Leon Gordon, The Gulls were unable to cope with the Lowestoft fightback in the second half in which the hosts scored the 3 goals they needed to book their place in the Semi Final.

Canvey started the match brightly, with Alex Rhodes shooting narrowly wide on 7 minutes after latching on to Jay Curran's through ball. Curran played the role of provider once again on 11 minutes, this time doing well to find Jason Hallett who also fired wide of the target.

It looked as though Rhodes had broken the deadlock on 14 minutes when he turned Jason Hallett's low cross past Andy Reynolds and into the Lowestoft net, but the linesman's flag ruled out the effort.

Lowestoft had their first real chance on the half hour mark when recent signing shot wide when well placed inside the Canvey penalty area.

Soon after the hosts also had a goal ruled out for offside when Joe Francis turned the ball home, but once again the flag was raised to ensure the match remained goalless.

A legitimate goal was finally scored on 37 minutes when Jay Curran delivered a superb cross from the right wing to the back post, where Jason Hallett was on hand to head the ball home.

The Gulls doubled the lead just before half time with Hallett having a hand in this goal as well. Some good link up play between Curran and Hallett saw the latter slide a through ball into the path of Leon Gordon who stayed calm under pressure to slot the ball into the corner of the net.

Jason Hallett had a tremendous first half, but he was forced off during the break having picked up a shoulder injury, and he was replaced by Danny Heale.

Lowestoft joint-managers Ady Gallagher and Mick Chapman must have fired up their team during the interval, as The Trawlerboys came out looking like a different side in the second half.

They pulled a goal back on 56 minutes when Scott Mitchell's right wing cross was headed in by Robert Eagle.

Soon after, Canvey manager replaced Danny Kerrigan with Matt Game following his return to contention following a lengthy injury.

On 67 minutes James Russell was called into action, doing well to turn Matt Nolan's long range shot around the post by diving full to his right.

However, he was unable to keep out substitute Jamie Forshaw's effort 3 minutes later. The striker was given too much time to collect the ball and turn before hitting a precise show into the bottom corner.

The hosts were now well and truly in the ascendancy, and scored what turned out to be the winner with 10 minutes to play after some excellent movement off of the ball had Canvey's defence chasing shadows. The ball was cross from the left wing to the back post when Lubomir Guentchev had all the time in the world to smash the ball home from close range.

With Canvey looking dead and buried, Rob King very nearly took the match to penalties in the 89th minute from a free kick, but his effort dropped just wide of the post. 

Lowestoft saw out the 4 minutes of added time to complete an impressive second half turnaround.