CANVEY manager Danny Heale says he has a bit of a score to settle with his friend Neil Harris when he takes charge of a Millwall side in an attractive pre-season game on the island tonight.

Former Southend United striker Harris has taken up a coaching role at the Championship side and will take charge of them against Heale’s Ryman Premier Gulls this evening in a match expected to attract a decent crowd.

“It will be nice to lock managerial horns with Neil and try to beat him,” said Heale.

“He’s not sure what sort of players he’ll have in his squad but he’s been told he’ll be bringing a mixture of first-teamers, YTS and scholars with him.

“But we’ve got a bit of a score to settle because I used to run my little boy’s team, and he used to run his little boy’s team.

“And we won the league the first year and they were runners-up, and they won it the next year and we were runners-up.

“So it’s 1-1 and we see this as a bit of a decider!”

Canvey’s sponsors Oikos has paid for 350 local pupils and school staff to go and watch the game, and Heale says it would be great to attract some fresh faces to the Prospects Stadium this season.

He said: “We really value our regulars and always will, but if we can get a few kids interested and they like what we see then hopefully we can build our fan base up and create a new generation of fans for the club.”

The match kicks off at 7.45pm. Tickets will be available on the gate priced at £8 for adults, £5 concessions, and £1 for under-12s accompanied by a full paying adult.