DANNY Heale believes that 55 points will be enough to secure Canvey Island’s Ryman Premier League status.

The Gulls have won five games in succession to pull six points clear of the relegation zone.

And the Canvey boss thinks that his side must pick up another eight points to be sure of safety.

Heale said: “It’s hard to tell how many points you need to stay up in this division.

“Normally 50 points would be enough to stay up.

“We have a bit of breathing space at the minute but if we don’t pick up anything at Bognor Regis Town then those below us could close the gap to three points.

“I think that somewhere between 50 and 55 points will be enough to keep us up.”

Heale’s side travel to league leaders Bognor Regis Town after picking up five wins in a row.

And the Gulls boss has been delighted with Canvey’s recent run of form.

“We said a few weeks ago that we needed to pick up points quickly and thankfully we have done that,” added Heale.

“It has lifted everyone because we have had no luck at all this season.

“Anything that could go wrong has gone wrong and we have not been able to pick a settled side until this run of games.

“We knew these difficult fixtures were coming. We have Bognor tomorrow and we also play Havant & Waterlooville and Billericay Town before the end of the season.

“But I knew that someone down at the bottom was going to put a run of games together.

“Thankfully that has been us and I can’t speak highly enough of the boys.”

Canvey will be without defender Steve Sheehan for the clash with the table-toppers. Heale expects Sheehan to be out for two weeks, so has brought Billericay Town defender Alex Stephenson in on loan.