CANVEY Island chief Mark Bentley believes Dan Humphreys has a bright future ahead of him.

The former Southend United youngster joined the Gulls in the summer and, having bided his time, has broken into Bentley’s preferred starting line-up.

Humphreys grabbed the opener in the Isthmian North side’s 2-1 FA Trophy first qualifying round replay win over Chipstead in midweek and Bentley feels there is more to come from the wing-back.

“Dan has been superb for me,” said Bentley.

“He is a great kid and I think he has a good future in the game ahead of him.

“We changed formation for the Chipstead replay and that suited him.

“I decided to go with three defenders and wing-backs and, because Dan likes to get forward anyway, playing a bit further forward worked well for him.

“He took his goal well and continued to get up and down the wing.

“Dan is a player I really want to work with.”

Humphreys put Canvey in front only for Chipstead to respond with Sam Bell finding the back of the net four minutes later.

However, the Gulls were not to be denied victory at Park Lane as Tobi Joseph grabbed what proved to be the winner.

And Bentley was pleased to see his side book their place in the second qualifying round, where they will travel to Haringey Borough.

“We went ahead and I was hoping we would go on and score more, but we took our foot off the gas,” added Bentley.

“But we got through and that was the most important thing.”