Sloppy Harriers defending at both ends of the first half gifted the points to Canvey despite a late resurgence in the second half by the visitors.

With numbers stretched to the limit because of suspension there was a debut in the defence for youth-teamer Ashley Walker, while Tom Byrne was on the bench.

Harriers suffered the worst possible start, falling behind after 59 seconds; Jeff Minton got to the byline on the left and pulled the ball back into the goalmouth, Terry Fleming's attempted clearance was weak and went straight to Dwain Clarke who lashed it into the back of the net.  The home side dominated possession in the first half and could have gone further ahead shortly afterwards, Mario Noto crossed low from the right and Jason Hallett headed wide at the far post.

Luke Reynolds wasted a glorious chance on 17 minutes to get Harriers back into the game; McGrath crossed from deep on the left to an unmarked Reynolds who headed over from the middle of the penalty area.  In the closing stages of the half Harriers got back into the game a little; a Harkness corner from the right late in the half could have had Harriers level but Gavin Hurren headed wide across the face of goal and then Russ Penn set Jon Newby free through the inside-right channel but he pulled his shot wide of the far post.  Right at the end of the half Canvey doubled their advantage; Minton's corner from the right was knocked down by Jon Keeling who out-jumped two Harriers defenders and Hallett was on hand to fire home from close range.

After the break Harriers changed formation, switching to 4-4-2, with Byrne coming on for his debut on the right wing.  Despite the changes it was still all Canvey, however, and it was only thanks to Danny Lewis that Harriers didn't fall further behind when Noto was allowed to run through the heart of the defence before hitting a swerving, dipping shot that had the keeper twisting in midair to push away.  Soon afterwards Keeling left Jake Sedgemore trailing in his wake on the left wing before crossing low to the near post where Minton fired straight at Lewis.

Harriers gradually began to get into the game and a low cross from the right by Newby was begging to be put away but there were no red shirts on hand to convert, the ball was crossed back in from the left and Byrne tried a volley that Danny Potter held.  Bimson almost gifted Harriers an equaliser when his careless backpass went straight to Reynolds on the left whose shot was weak and easy for Potter to gather.

On 72 minutes Harriers grabbed a lifeline; Byrne picked up the ball on the right and jinked his way into the penalty area before rolling the ball perfectly into the path of Reynolds who fired home his third goal in five games.  Harriers huffed and puffed for an equaliser, Gareth Sheldon in particular wasting a number of chances.  The best chance to get something out of the game came four minutes from the end, Sheldon and Harkness combined on the left with the latter crossing for Reynolds who flicked on to Lee Thompson, his knock-down fell back to Reynolds who fired over the bar.  Finally, in stoppage time Sheldon went close with a chip that drifted wide of the far post.