By Blue-tinted specs
Canvey Island 5 Margate 2
Leading at half-time, a second half collapse – conceding three goals in six minutes – saw Margate ultimately well beaten at Canvey Island on Saturday.
Canvey’s ground is sponsored by a local cinema. For Margate supporters the afternoon’s entertainment started as Escape to Victory but ended as Apocalypse Now.
There was little evidence in the opening 45 to show why Canvey are Isthmian League play-off contenders. Margate had the better of the first half with Canvey keeper Bobby Mason called into action a number of times to make saves. The home side were restricted to occasional sorties into Margate’s penalty area.
Margate finally took the lead just before the interval when dead ball supremo Ben Greenhalgh converted a penalty after Canvey’s Sam Mvemba was deemed to have fouled.
Canvey emerged for the second half in a more purposeful state of mind and on 54 minutes they equalised, Elliott Ronto with a glancing header from a Conor Hubble corner.
Evans Kouassi then scored two goals in three minutes (57 and 60). The first was a low shot across keeper Dan Jinadu into the far corner of the net from the left side of the box, then he pounced on a rebound after a strike by Bradley Sach had hit the crossbar.
There was the briefest hope of a Margate revival when Freddy Barton scored late on to make it 3-2 but Canvey’s fourth goal, Kouassi’s third, followed almost immediately, a tremendous shot into the top corner from outside the box. Sach added a fifth in injury time.