CANVEY Island will be reunited with a familiar face at Needham Market tonight as former striker John Sands aims to shoot down his old club.

The forward linked up with Needham a week ago and has played a significant part in their last two games, albeit without scoring.

But Sands is a former Ryman Premier League golden boot winner and scored 24 times in 47 matches for the Gulls between 2013 and 2014.

And Canvey manager Danny Heale says the striker will pose a threat, although believes his side are more than equipped to win the game.

“There is a really positive mood and everyone is looking forward to the next game,” he said. “Needham have started well and John Sands will be there so that will add fuel to the fire.

“People may have raised their eyebrows when he left here but we talk quite a bit and are still on good terms. But John has been plagued by his injuries since he left us.

“On his day he is one of the best forwards in the league and we need to keep a close eye on him tonight.

Canvey have started the season well and are unlucky to have just four points from nine so far, with only last minute goals stopping them from sitting joint top at this stage.

And Heale has been buoyed further by a 3-0 win over Leatherhead, thanks to Martin Tuohy’s hat-trick, as the Gulls recorded a first clean sheet in the league campaign since the end of January.

“I feel as though we have started the season very positively,” he said. “We edged it against Enfield and conceded late on, should have beaten Leiston and we were very good against Leatherhead.

“We kept our mental strength and a clean sheet which is really encouraging.

“We have been working tirelessly, making sure we are harder to beat. We were good on Saturday and I want more of the same.

“We need three more points with a tough game against Dulwich Hamlet coming up on Saturday.”

Needham have started the season well and will come into the clash on the back of an excellent win at Kingstonian at the weekend, following back-to-back draws which opened their season, including a point at recently-relegated Lowestoft.

Martin Tuohy, Tyrell Miller-Rodney and Lawrence Yiga scored the winning goals for Canvey in an impressive 3-2 win in the fixture last season.

Jake Pitty remains sidelined through injury and Jack Simmons and George Sykes are doubts for the clash with dead legs.