JOHN Coventry says East Thurrock United are now being considered as title contenders, after their 4-1 mauling of Kingstonian on Saturday.

The Rocks manager says the result has catapulted his side from relative mid-table obscurity to the forefront of many team’s minds after their cup commitments in the early months of the campaign meant they have been playing catch-up in recent weeks.

But three straight 4-1 wins has lifted Coventry’s team to 10th in the division.

Rocks are now just nine points off top spot, with games in hand on all those above them. They will end 2015 against Enfield Town on Boxing Day before a trip to fierce rivals Grays Athletic on January 2.

But Coventry has urged his team to stay focused, while praising their recent run.

“If we win all of our games in hand there are only a few teams that will be ahead of us as we have gone under the radar a little bit,” he said. “People are recognising that we may be one of the teams to watch and I don’t mind that.

“This time of year always throws up some funny results. Form goes out the window so whoever plays better on the day will take the points.”

Sam Higgins took his tally to 20 goals in 18 games on Saturday, with Lewis Smith scoring 18 and Tom Wraight hitting his ninth of the season against Kingstonian.

And Coventry said his team could have scored seven against the K’s – who are many people’s tip for promotion this year.

“We played really well,” he said. “The score line didn’t flatter us at all and we could have scored seven goals in all honesty.

“We opened them up time and time again and we had that clinical edge in front of goal. The first-half was quite even but we ran away with it in the second-half.

“There were some good individual performances from a lot of players and that in turn meant it was a good team performance.”