CANVEY Island slumped to a 31-13 defeat at home to Braintree in Essex One.

The visitors ran home five tries compared to Canvey’s two.

But Islanders spokesman Martin Eyles was disappointed by the manner of the setback.

“We lost that on Saturday as opposed to them winning it,” said Eyles.

“At times we flattered them. There were too many missed tackles and not keeping hold of the ball cost us.

“Possibly the two week-break we’ve had didn’t help.”

Second placed Braintree went ahead with a try after just 10 minutes but Canvey responded with a penalty from Jon Edwards.

However, Braintree soon stepped things up and bagged three more tries to lead 24-3 at the break.

The visitors scored again at the start of the second half but Canvey replied with James Breading out-pacing the Braintree defence to score.

Islanders winger Steve Hassan then touched down but seventh-placed Canvey could not get back into the game.

Billericay, who sit fifth, suffered no such difficulties in beating second-from-bottom Stanford le Hope 27-10 but 11th-placed Pegasus Palmerians lost 29-7 at home to table topping East London.