Hashtag United 1 Canvey Island 1 (Canvey Island won 5-3 on penalties)

BBC Essex Senior Cup Third Round, Monday 28th November

Game number 47 of the season saw me over at The Len Salmon as Isthmian Premier Canvey Island squeezed into Round Four of the County Cup after a penalty shoot out win over Isthmian North side Hashtag United on a cold misty evening in South Essex.

The hosts came into this one having won four straight in the Isthmian North division which saw them up to second spot and four points behind leaders Aveley, so they would hold no fears against Isthmian Premier Canvey Island who themselves are having a decent campaign and sit just outside the play off places in their division.

Canvey's form of late has been largely ok, November began with two wins and a draw, before they lost last time out at Essex rivals Billericay Town, and they knew they would be in a game in this one for sure, Hashtag hadn't lost at home in eight league games, winning seven of those in the process, and in fact this was the hosts third Essex derby in a row, could they make it three wins after victories over Grays Athletic and Basildon United.

This was both sides first foray into this seasons Essex Senior Cup as both received byes into this round due to their positions in the pyramid, Canvey are four time winners of this competition, with their latest one coming a decade ago when they beat Colchester United in the 2012 final, whereas Hashtag have only been competing in the competition for a handful of seasons now, so it was chalk and cheese in terms of competition experience, although that obviously counted for nowt here.

And it was the Isthmian North hosts who had the bulk of the first half openings, they did have the ball in the net too but this was ruled out for an infringement, the visitors did create openings too, and also thought they had taken the lead late in the first period after a glancing header at the near post, which turned out to be handball, found the net, at least I think it was ruled out for that, but it meant the sides went into the break all square.

The second period began more evenly and the expected tight tussle of an Essex derby played out in cold and at times misty conditions, but just past the hour mark came the break through as Canvey got their noses in front, after a cross from the left hand side found Charlie Edwards at the back post, and he sent a header goal wards which keeper Anthony Page could only parry into his own net, he would have been disappointed not to have kept the effort out, but the visitors now had a lead to hold onto.

Hashtag though kept plugging away and attacked at every opportunity, and with eight minutes to go got their reward when the ever reliable centre half Harry Haysom burst into the box to power home a close range header to set up a grandstand finish, or so we hoped.

Neither side could find a winner though, meaning the tie went to spot kicks, and after both had netted their opening two penalties, Canvey netted to make it 3-2, but The Tags skied their third one over, and with Canvey netting their remaining spot kicks, they were the ones to advance into Round Four.

A good battle then between two decent outfits who are both chasing promotion in their divisions this campaign, Canvey will also dream of a fifth County Cup title whereas Hashtag can now solely chase that dream of playing their opponents in the league again next season, although Canvey will hope they don't as they will want to gain promotion too, however they are certainly two sides heading in the right direction regardless of this result here.

Full time Hashtag United 1 Canvey Island 1 (Canvey Island won 5-3 on penalties)