Coventry: East Thurrock owe it to the league to be competitive against Maidenhead United

John Coventry, the manager of East Thurrock United, has said they owe it to the rest of the league to be as competitive as possible in Saturday’s match at Maidenhead United.

Thurrock, who held the Magpies to a frustrating 0-0 draw when the sides met earlier in the season, go into the game free from pressure, according to Coventry and confident of getting a result.

The promoted side are 13th in the table and lost 3-2 at home to Whitehawk on Saturday, but have comfortably achieved their start of the season goal of remaining in the division.

Coventry, a West Ham United fan who said Alan Devonshire has done a great job at York Road, said: “He (Devonshire) knows exactly what he wants from his side and sets them up in that way. They’re a big side, solid, hard to break down and with Marks and Tarpey playing up front together they have no problems scoring goals. They’ll be a handful and it’s not just them we have to worry about.

“The benefit to us is that we go there relaxed but, as you know, that could go either way. We don’t go there under any pressure whatsoever, but we owe it to the rest of the league, and particularly those at the top, to make sure we’re competitive. I’m confident we can be competitive but you don’t always know what you’re going to get on the day.”

Thurrock’s results this season show they’re easily capable of throwing a spanner in the works of Maidenhead’s title quest. However, when they played title rivals Ebbsfleet United a few weeks ago they went down to a 6-1 defeat.

“The goal when we started this season was to make sure we’re still in the league and we’ve achieved that,” said Coventry. “But we’ve reached the back end of the season now with a small squad and the pressures and strains are starting to show their hand. We had to change things around last week against Whitehawk and, when you haven’t got your best 11 out there, you’re going to find it difficult in this league.”