CANVEY Island’s poor start to the season continued with a 41-12 defeat at Beccles.

The Islanders have now lost their opening three games of the campaign.

But coach Steve Murphy was keen to remain upbeat following the latest reverse in Norfolk.

“Considering we had three players making their debut and another four players who hadn’t played for more than two years we did well,” said Murphy.

“We have 14 first team players injured at the minute and lost two more on Saturday.

“It was always going to be difficult but I’m proud of the way the players responded to rally around and make sure this fixture went ahead.

“We can turn the corner but it’s going to take some hard work and dedication!”

Despite their problems, Canvey started well and pressurised Beccles straight from the kick-off but were unable to get points on the board.

Beccles had no such problems and opened the scoring with a penalty before bagging another 18 points inside the opening 25 minutes to lead 21-0.

The Islanders soon hit back with two penalties from John Edwards before another Beccles penalty handed them a 24-6 lead at half-time.

Canvey started the second half with only 14 men as Matt Lay remained in the sin bin but Edwards was still able to add another penalty. Edwards soon landed another kick to make it 24-12 but Canvey then seemed to tire and Beccles began to dominate.

As a result, their impressive centre soon went over to complete his hat-trick before the hosts added a penalty and another late try to seal their victory against a winless Canvey team who remain bottom of the table.