Canvey Island 2 AVELEY 0
FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round, Saturday October 12
Winning club received £10,000

Canvey Island relished the unaccustomed role of cup favourites to go into the hat for the FA Cup fourth qualifying round.

The Essex club - most famous resident Olympic decathlete Dean Macey - have been a national FA Cup story in the last couple of seasons. They put out Port Vale two years ago before narrowly losing to Southend in the Essex derby and last season reached the third round, defeating Northampton and Wigan before bowing out to First Divison Burnley.

On Saturday they were odds-on to beat TheFA.com's featured team, Essex village side Aveley, whose average home gate is only 90. And Ryman League Premier Division side Canvey did what they were supposed to - although they left it late.

With top scorer Neil Gregory's shooting boots left at home for once, Canvey had to wait until the 72nd minute for their breakthrough against an Aveley side content to hold on. Ex-Brentford player Jeff Minton set Lee Protheroe clear and he released Lee Boylan on the edge of the area. With Aveley appealing for offside, Boylan fired home.

The match was wrapped up in the dying minutes when Protheroe found a gap in the visitor's wall and fired home a free-kick.

THE TRAIL SO FAR (featured club in italics)
Extra-Preliminary round - Greenwich Borough 1 Three Bridges 4
Preliminary round - Three Bridges 3 Didcot Town 1
First qualifying round: Chipstead 1 Three Bridges 3
Second qualifying round: Three Bridges 1 Aveley 3
Third qualifying round: Canvey Island 2 Aveley 0

The FA Cup Trail is compiled by Joe Bernstein.