CANVEY Island manager Danny Heale insists he is the right man to lead the club out of their current dip, following a heavy defeat to rivals East Thurrock United.

The Gulls were beaten 4-0 at Rookery Hill in torrid conditions on Tuesday night, as a Sam Higgins hat-trick downed Heale’s men, after they had been beaten 4-0 by Hampton & Richmond Borough and 3-1 by basement club Lewes in the last 12 days.

Heale replaced Steve Tilson as manager in time for the start of the 2013/14 season, with the club finishing 13th that year, while they survived relegation from the Ryman Premier League on the final day of last season.

Canvey started this campaign well and were top of the standings in mid-October. However, since then the club have lost 11 of the last 15 league games and taken just eight points from the last 45 on offer.

But the Gulls manager has backed himself and his players to get themselves out of their current predicament.

“I have total confidence in myself,” said Heale. “There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes and I am working harder than ever to change results. If we were struggling on the pitch and not creating chances then there would be a much bigger problem and maybe I would question myself but we aren’t.

“The boys are all playing for me and the shirt and they need to believe in themselves. I am still learning and the tide will turn.

“We have a big couple of games against Farnborough and Brentwood Town and we need to be confident heading into those.”

Heale called for a reaction against East Thurrock, after Saturday’s lacklustre performance against Lewes. And although the match finished 4-0, Heale says the heroics of Rocks goalkeeper Lucas Lidakevicius, who saved a Jay Curran penalty, as well as wayward finished cost his side.

“It is typical of the way things have been going,” he said. “We created some really good chances and East Thurrock got lucky with their first goal, as it went in off Higgins’ backside.

“Their goalkeeper made some really good saves.

“He saved the penalty and it would have rolled back to Jay had it not got stuck in the mud. It was a boggy pitch and we hit the frame of the goal and it was incredibly frustrating.

“We are working hard and being creative but the luck of the gods is not with us. We are struggling for funds, what with the new clubhouse in the offing (costing an estimated £300,000), and it is hard to sort out the wage bill.

“We won seven matches in a row earlier in the season and maybe people got carried away back then. But we will come out of this run, and are doing all we can to make this happen.”