JOHN Coventry says he is unsure what awaits when East Thurrock United make the trip to Kent tonight to take on Margate.

Rocks come into the match off the back of a 6-0 mauling of Truro City on Saturday, lifting Coventry's team into 12th in their first season in the National League South, with 12 points from eight games.

But the East Thurrock boss remains cautious ahead of the match with Margate, who sit 16th ahead of play, and who drew 1-1 with Hungerford Town in their last home match.

"Margate are the sort of side that can be very good one week and not quite the same the week after," he said. "They have very good players there and it will be tough, we all all fully aware of that.

"We are in a good place at the moment and we need to do our best to continue this run tonight."

Coventry watched his side dismantle Cornish side Truro on Saturday in one of Rocks' most effective performances of recent years, although the manager revealed the team didn't arrive at the ground until 2:15pm, just 45 minutes ahead of kick-off.

"We had a long old trip down to Exeter - about five-and-a-half hours, but Exeter to Truro took a while because of roadworks and we didn't get there until 2:15pm.

"But it wasn't too sad as we didn't have much time to think about it and I had done the team-talk at the hotel in Exeter.

"I wanted a 90 minute performance and we needed to be focused and we were. At half-time we changed the focus as we were 4-0 up and I didn't want to concede and we didn't."

Coventry also praised the performance of debutant Kane Ferdinand, who came off the bench to score on Saturday, and the finishing of Tom Wraight.

"Tom is a good player although if he hadn't got the goals he may have been dragged at half-time and he knows that. But his finishing on the day was superb.

"It was an ideal opportunity for Kane to come on and I was really pleased he got the goal. It gave us a chance to look at a few different things and that was good ahead of tonight's match with Margate."

Defender Lee Burns will not play tonight after being substituted early against Truro, while centre-half Joe Ellul is expected to return after he was also withdrawn on Saturday with a knock.

Striker Sam Higgins and midfielder George Craddock remain sidelined because of injury.

The match at Hartsdown Park kick-off tonight at 7:45pm.