RYMAN PREMIER: East Thurrock United manager John Coventry says his side will take a step into the unknown when they host Peacehaven & Telscombe for the first time tonight.

Rocks, who come into the match off the back of Saturday’s 4-2 win at Harrow Borough, can climb into the play-off places with a win over the Sussex side.

But Coventry admits he doesn’t know a lot about the side who secured back-to-back promotions to win promotion to the division last year.

“We have never played them before so it is a bit of a step into the unknown,” he said. “I know very little about them other than they have come up from the lower leagues and adapted well to this league.”

Coventry said he saw the Magpies play in the Sussex Senior Cup final against Bognor Regis Town last May, a game tonight’s opponents won 3-0.

But he insists the visitors will not be relishing coming to East Thurrock, after their weekend win – a result that extended their recent form of one loss in 15 league matches.

“We could be playing Barcelona tomorrow and it wouldn’t bother me,” he laughed. “We have instilled a mental toughness in the group and that was good to see.

“We went two goals down but came back in a manner that really impressed me. We didn’t deserve to be behind and got punished after making an error.

“When you are high in the league people will find a new level against you but we believed we could come back and that proved to be the case.”

East Thurrock now have the best away record in the division, winning eight of their 14 games, and Coventry says his side’s ruthlessness on the counter-attack is one of the reasons as to their success on the road.

“We can hurt teams when we break,” he said. “The way teams set up mean we can often cause more damage on the break and it has worked for us away from home.

“Although that is not to say we have been poor at home. If we had won the seven home games we have drawn we would be joint top with Maidstone and Margate.”

And Coventry says, aside from long-term absentee Manny Osei, he has a full-strength squad to pick from.

“I can’t remember the last time I said that,” he said. “It gives me a selection headache in some respects but that is a good position to be in.”

Peacehaven were heavily beaten 5-2 by Grays Athletic at the weekend, but a win for them could lift them to within a point of the top half.