CANVEY Island boss Mark Bentley is keen to end a run of four consecutive defeats when his side visit Romford today.

The Gulls make the trip to East Thurrock United’s Rookery Hill in woeful form having originally made an encouraging start to 2019.

And although Bentley is eyeing a return to winning ways against the Isthmian North’s bottom side, the former Southend United midfielder is aware that the hosts will make Canvey work for all three points.

“It will be a really tough game,” said the Gulls chief.

“When you are on a four game losing streak you would usually look at the fixtures, see that you’re playing the team that is bottom of the league and be thinking it’s a great time to play them.

“But I remember that they went on a great run at the end of last season to stay in the division and it was around this time of the year where their form started to pick up.

“We have had a great week in training and we’ve been trying to get back to basics.

“We can’t take a win for granted because we were nervous before scoring the first goal against Romford in the reverse fixture, which we won 2-0.”

The fixture takes place 24 hours later than usual due to Romford groundsharing with East Thurrock.

And Bentley hopes that will enable some players carrying injuries to recover.

“Playing on Sunday could actually give more time to some players carrying knocks to be fully fit,” added Bentley.

“Josh Hutchinson and Kyle Da Silva are 50/50.”