Return To The Island - Concord Rangers vs. Harlow Town

Clear sky over Thames Road.

I'd visited Canvey Island once before to see Canvey Island beat Tooting and Mitcham 3-1 at their Park Lane ground. I returned to Canvey for Concord Ranger's home FA Trophy tie against Harlow Town. My previous FA Trophy tie had finished 4-3 and so I was hoping for a decent game. Rangers have had a quick rise from the Essex Senior League to the Ryman Premier but were struggling a bit this season. They claimed their first league win of the season against Horsham last weekend. Harlow are going well in the Ryman North and sit in the play off places. When I last saw Harlow they were miles adrift at the bottom of the league but were saved from relegation.

Kick off in the autumn sunshine.

The game has a very scrappy beginning with both sides failing to get a hold of the ball. Concord are really looking to catch Harlow on the break and this is how they open the scoring. A long ball is not dealt with by the Harlow defence and the Concord forward has an easy finish. There are mass protests by the Harlow players but the goal stands. Harlow try to get the ball on the ground and play and the winger shots from a tight angle when he probably should have tried to set up one of his team mates. Minutes later they are made to rue that miss as Harlow are again caught on the break and the Concord player fires an angled shot across the keeper. The Concord fans think they have a third just before half but the shot goes just wide and they have to settle for a two goal lead at half time. 

Concord on the attack in the first half.

Harlow appear to have been given a serious rollicking at half time and proceed to dominate the second half. They pile forward and it appears only a matter of time before they score. They get the first when the ball is crossed in to the box and the striker has almost a free header to half the deficit. The equaliser is almost an exact copy of the first and the Concord players are shell shocked. It looks like Harlow are going to score a hat trick headers but the Harlow player some how manages to miss when unmarked six yards out. The Harlow faithful and their air raid siren (very Lincoln City late nineties) don't have to wait long for what turns about the winner. The Concord players fail to clear the ball and the Harlow players scores an absolute screamer from just outside the box. Concord have a corner in injury time but it unfortunately comes to nothing. Another fantastic Fa Trophy tie.  

The main stand at Thames Road.

The ground is quite a long way from Benfleet station but fortunately there are four bus route (22, 23, 26 and 27) which run close to the ground and the journey takes under ten minutes. Trains to Benfleet depart from Fenchurch Street on a regular basis and take about forty minutes. I didn't see a pub on the bus to the ground but the town centre can be reached by bus if you want a drink somewhere else beforehand. The clubhouse is quite large and quite cheap. If you want to look at the water you can't do it via Thames Road as there is a sewage plant at the end of the road which stops you getting to the water. This of course makes the ground smell a little bit. The barmaid in the clubhouse says there are good and bad days and it would appear that I visited on a bad day! This didn't stop me enjoying my visit to Thames Road though! 

Dugout side of the ground with other areas of seating.