Canvey, who have ended the year 2000 by taking just one point from two games, must quickly put their recent FA Cup heroics behind them if they are to stay serious Ryman League Premier Division title challengers.

That's the clear indication after Jeff King's men followed Saturday's defeat at Billericay with another below par showing yesterday when they were held 1-1 at Park Lane by solid rather than exciting Kent opposition.

Taking nothing away from either side, but Billericay and Gravesend are the sort of teams Gulls could, and indeed should, be beating if they are to make a realistic bid to keep the top honours away from the likes of Aldershot and Farnborough.

King himself admitted: "We're still suffering something of a Cup hangover. It didn't appear to hit us straight away as we performed to a high standard in our first League game after the Southend defeat, at home to St Albans, but since then we've looked well below our best in our last two premier games.

Not that yesterday's Boxing Day action was the type of occasion to judge too much of anyone.

Sub zero temperatures, coupled with a biting wind that made it several degrees lower, made things uncomfortable for players, officials and spectators alike.

The pitch, hit by heavy rain on Christmas Eve, was unpredictable - wet in some parts and dry in others - and all in all you had to admire the 650 paying fans.

Certainly the Eskimo like weather seemed to affect the match officials. Only two minutes had gone when the Kent side's ex Colchester striker Steve Restarick had the ball in the net . . . only for his effort to be disallowed due to an assistant referee's offside flag.

That decision was puzzling as Canvey midfielder Chris Duffy had in fact passed the ball back to Restarick.

Then, two minutes after Craig Davidson's curling shot had given Gulls a 67th minute lead, referee Mr L Bonaldi - a late call-up when the original official went down with flu - again allowed an assistant's flag to convince him that a wicked cross from the right had caught a deflection off the Islanders' central defender Steve Ward before going behind.

In fact, the ball cleared Ward completely and, to add insult to injury, from the resultant corner goalkeeper Ashley Harrison was clearly fouled before Craig Wilkins scored at the far post. Harrison raced from his goal to remonstrate so much that the referee showed him a yellow card.

Said King: "The officials got both key decisions wrong, but to be fair I thought a draw was a fair result. In fact they might have edged it. We've got to get out championship challenge back on track and the next two games, Slough away and Hendon at home, are ones we badly need six points from."

Canvey's cause certainly wasn't helped by Steve Tilson and Neil Gregory both being out on one-match bans yesterday. That, coupled with injuries to Adam Miller and Mark Stimson, left the home side light, particularly in midfield.

On the plus side Steve Parmenter, out of favour lately, made a bright return and ex Cambridge United central defender Ben Chenery was very solid at the heart of the rearguard. John Kennedy was man-of-the-match in midfield.

Up front Andy Jones, the club's record scorer, showed that he can still play a significant part when turning out for a full 90 minutes as well as the shorter substitute appearances he's used for often these days.

Both sides had their chances with Restarick, a handful throughout, shooting wide of an open goal on the stroke of half-time after Parmenter's free-kick had grazed the top of the bar on the half-hour.

Gravesend's best second-half chance came when substitute Che Stadhart broke clear and Harrison saved superbly with his legs. However, in a late flurry, Canvey could have won with a series of attacks which saw Jamie Turner turn Parmenter's deflected effort wide.

(Right) Tug of war - Canvey striker Steve Jones tangles with his Gravesend opponent as Sammy Cooper looks on.

Picture: LUAN MARSHALL

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.