Rest is very much being welcomed at Park Lane according to Canvey boss Danny Heale.

Alongside Maidstone United, the Gulls are the only side to be up to schedule on games played in the Ryman Premier League following the wet winter.

Fixture backlogs have left teams around the non-league scene having to scramble around for free dates in their diaries and even playing games every two days.

Heale said he thought the congested fixture list in recent weeks played a part in their ten game unbeaten run finishing at Bognor Regis on March 18.

This was then followed by a defeat away to Harrow Borough, which prompted the manager to take a different approach before last Saturday’s game against Margate.

“I thought we looked tired at Harrow,” Heale said.

“So afterwards I decided to give the lads the following Tuesday off training just so they could rest a bit.

“Looking at our performance on Saturday, I think the rest has done us wonders.

“Margate played three games in the week leading up to coming to us and in the second half we looked much fitter than them and it gave us the advantage in the end.”

Despite the benefits of players being able to put their feet up, Heale still thinks he side will struggle to make it into the play-offs with an 11 point gap to bridge and just five games left.

But he added his team sitting in ninth place in the Ryman Premier League will not give up.

Heale said: “We are where we are and from now we’ll just have to play each game as it comes and see what happens.

“We have a good bunch of lads here and even though we’ve had to mix it up a bit with all the fixtures, the guys coming in have all done well and that shows what a good squad we have.”