DANNY Heale admits Canvey Island are in a relegation dog fight as they bid to drag themselves away from the basement of the Ryman Premier Division.

The Gulls manager watched his side conceded an injury time goal to lose at Enfield Town on Tuesday, having taken a 2-1 lead into half-time.

It was Canvey’s fourth defeat on the bounce and Heale says he is finding the financial restrictions hard to handle, since former chairman George Frost stepped down in the summer.

“I maintain the belief we can get out of this mess,” he said. “It looks like we will get drawn into a fight at the bottom of the league but it is not like we are getting turned over every week.

“When George Frost was here it was all going rosy. We had money and were going well, but to go more than half a season without a chairman is difficult.

“We have serious money restraints this season. It is like when your parents go away on holiday when you are younger and you have no-one to fall back on.”

Enoch Showunmi and Jay Curran had scored for Canvey to put them ahead at Enfield but an injury time strike by Nathan Livings condemned the away side to defeat.

And Heale says the challenge now is keeping morale up ahead of the team’s visit to VCD Athletic on Saturday.

“I have to keep morale up,” he said. “The management are working hard to keep things positive but we need things to start going for us on the pitch.

“It is a transitional period for us all but you have to take the rough with the smooth and I know we have enough about us to come through this.

“We have a board meeting tonight where we will hopefully resolve some of these problems.

“I keep using the term ‘fine margins’. We have been beaten by the odd goal in our last three games but lost them all. We need to be tighter at the back but I thought our back four put in a good shift.

“I live on Canvey and it is a club that is close to my heart so I will do everything in my power to turn this run around.”

Canvey have signed former East Thurrock United midfielder Simon Glover ahead of the game.

l East Thurrock United were beaten 1-0 by Kingstonian in the Ryman Premier. A 75th minutes strike from Jesse Darko proved the difference, as Rocks slipped to only their second defeat in 18 league games.