IT’S not every day you have to travel more than 500 miles for a football match.

Combine that with it being one of the most important days in a club’s history and the journey takes on extra significance – so East Thurrock United have pulled out all the stops for this weekend’s FA Cup First Round tie at League Two outfit Hartlepool United.

John Coventry’s cup stars will travel north tomorrow morning in preparation for the match in a luxury coach used by the West Ham United first-team before stopping off at Rawdon Meadows, the Bradford City’s training ground, for an afternoon training session.

They will then move on to Darlington, where they will stay overnight in a hotel, which will also be used by Championship leaders Bournemouth, who play Middlesbrough on Saturday, before moving on to Hartlepool’s Victoria Park ground on Saturday morning.

Thurrock Gazette:

HOW ROCKS' JOURNEY WILL LOOK

And first-team coach Joe Keith, who spent almost a decade as a professional player for Colchester United, Bristol City, Leyton Orient, Shrewsbury and Brentford, wants to give the Rocks lads a taste of life as a pro.

“As soon as we realised we were playing Hartlepool I started to put together a plan,” said Keith. “I want the players to do what I did back in the day and experience a weekend as a professional.

“It is such a long way to travel but we have had plenty of offers from Football League clubs offering us grounds to train at. The likes of Sheffield United, Birmingham and Scunthorpe United have all offered but because of my connections with Phil Parkinson (current Bradford boss who Keith played under at Colchester) we decided to stop off there.

“Covo and Dev (Jay Devereux – assistant manager) thought it was a good idea and the players are looking forward to it. It allows us to prepare in the right way and the players have given everything to reach this stage. All they have to concentrate on is the 90 minutes.”

Keith said the club are staying at the same hotel he stayed in when he was playing for Leyton Orient back in the day. The O’s were playing Darlington the following day and Keith said Rafa Benítez’s Liverpool were also based there.

And Keith added he was confident East Thurrock were more than capable of causing an upset on Saturday against the football league’s bottom club, after their 7-1 thrashing of Conference South side Bath City in the last round.

“We didn’t even play to the best of our ability in the last round,” said Keith. “If all the elements work in our favour and we prepare in the right way I believe we can win.

“We have been given DVDs and information by Dagenham & Redbridge, who have also helped out with the coach arrangements, so we go there with every belief.”