Ryman Premier: After a fine undefeated five-match league run in which they had scored 17 goals, Canvey crashed in Sussex.

The hosts, who play home games at Worthing as they have no ground of their own, bounced back from the previous week’s 6-1 thrashing by Harrow Borough to jolt the promotion intentions of John Batch’s Islanders.

There seemed no signs of what was to come in an even first-half which saw Gulls go close when Jay Curran missed out from a couple of yards and Richard Halle had his effort cleared off the line by Lee Carey.

But after the break, when the Islanders again showed an unusual failure to convert opportunities with Jon Edwards missing out, it all went wrong for the visitors.

Only 19 minutes remained when Jean-Michel Sigere opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Canvey defender Chris Moore had handled in the box.

And worse was to come when substitute Williams Peauroux made it 2-0 10 minutes later.

Canvey’s afternoon of misery in front of a 204 paying attendance was complete in the dying minutes when Sigere netted his second with an acrobatic volley to secure Horsham’s first league win in five attempts.

Despite this defeat Canvey remain in fourth spot in the Premier table and will be looking to make amends next Saturday when, in an extremely tight division, they host fellow promotion chasers Maidstone.

This marks the first of two December home games at Park Lane where a full admission-price-paying adult can bring along two children free of charge.