EAST Thurrock United boss John Coventry will step up his search for new signings this week.

Rocks saw Andy Pugh depart the club last week after rejoining Dartford, but that did not stop East Thurrock recording a 1-0 Isthmian Premier League win over Lewes thanks to Mitch Gilbey’s first half goal.

And, with there being eight days until his side’s next outing, Coventry is looking to welcome a new striker.

“The fact that we are struggling for numbers is well documented,” said Coventry.

“That hasn’t changed and I’ve enquired about getting somebody in, but it’s proving difficult to make signings at the moment.

“We are limited financially as to what we can attract, so we will just have to keep going with what we have got for now.

“We only have 14 senior players at the moment and we could name just two senior players on the bench.

“I deliberately didn’t rush into getting someone in because I will probably have to put a seven-day approach in for a player.

“That meant there wasn’t enough time to bring someone in before the weekend and we haven’t got a game until Tuesday week, so that has given us a little bit of breathing space.”