CANVEY Island's bid to make the play-offs looks certain to go the final Saturday of the season in three weeks' time.

Saturday's 1-0 defeat at fellow contenders Bury Town means that Gulls may well need to win all four of their remaining games to make virtually certain of being in the promotion mix.

They are currently down in eighth place, three points off the final play-off spot, but have a game in hand on five of the teams above them.

But that extra match sees them make the difficult trip to second-placed AFC Sudbury, the only side realistically capable of pipping top dogs Dartford for the title, tomorrow night.

If John Batch's men get no reward from tomorrow's trip, victory in their final three games might not be enough.

Despite having scored nine goals in two games to revive their promotion bid in the previous week, Gulls were never going to find it easy in Suffolk on Saturday.

Bury themslves have enjoyed a good season and the three points gained here allowed them to displace Canvey in sixth position -two points ahead from a game more.

The visitors battled well enough in front of a 282-strong crowd, but were finally beaten by a Sam Reed headed goal from Steve Bugg's pass 10 minutes from time.

Reed and Bugg had both missed out for the hosts early on, but Canvey fought back to stretch the home rerguard without being able to seriously test Bury's keeper.

Kevin Dobinson was his usual rock solid self at the centre of the visiting rearguard, but Gulls' fans fear that defeat at Sudbury tomorrow could sentence them to just missing out on a play-off spot for a second season running.