JOHN Coventry admits East Thurrock United were lacking quality as they fell to a semi-final defeat in the Essex Senior Cup.

Rocks lost 2-0 to National League South rivals Chelmsford City at the FutureFuel Stadium.

Goals from Jonathan Giles and Shaun Batt ensured the Clarets booked their final spot where they will play either Billericay Town or Romford.

And Coventry had no complaints with the result, saying his players were not at the required level to win the match.

“Well done to Chelmsford, they deserved it,” said the East Thurrock manager. “I am disappointed as no one wants to lose at this stage but I have to look at my team and we weren’t good enough.

“To beat a side like Chelmsford you need to be on your game. We lacked quality in many moment and had good opportunities. We got into good scoring positions four times in the first 15 minutes but we didn’t score.

“We went behind but stayed in the game but whenever there was a chance to put in a good ball or play a killer pass we lacked the quality and we can’t complain after that.

“If you dished out points out of 10 based on performances we may have got a few sevens but nothing higher than that. You wont win a semi-final in any competition with that.

“I am not taking anything away from them. We never had any sustained spells of pressure and didn’t given them enough moments of concern.”