EAST Thurrock United manager John Coventry says the club’s two superb cup runs may have contributed to their struggles at the end of the league campaign.

Rocks’ run to the FA Cup first round and the third-qualifying round of the FA Trophy boosted the club’s coffers and won them many admirers in the process.

John Coventry’s side were in the Ryman Premier League play-off positions come the turn of the year, going unbeaten in 15 games between September and January, but their exertions caught up with them.

Between February and the end of the season, Rocks won only three of 15 league matches and ended the campaign with more draws than anyone else in the division.

But Coventry says he was pleased with his side’s efforts.

“There have been some really good moments and some bad ones as well,” he said. “I look back and the cup runs were fantastic. They are a long time ago now so people may have the tendency to forget that but they were massive achievements for us.

“From never having reached the first round of the FA Cup to getting there twice in four years is great. The players should be proud.

“I always believed we were good enough to get a play-off place, but the cup run had contributed an extra 10 games compared to some teams and our lack of strength in depth told in the end. I honestly believe we are as good as Enfield (who finished fifth).

“That was the same last season and that will probably be the case next season. We have to spread the budget in certain ways. Sam Higgins has been so important for us and if more money goes somewhere then it has to come from somewhere else.

“But we are not feeling sorry for ourselves. This is non-league football.”

Rocks finished 13th after Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at champions Maidstone United, 10 points off the play-offs. And Coventry said it was far cry from the end of last season, in which Rocks only survived relegation on the last day.

“It is a million miles from last season,” he said, after they won 4-2 against Bognor Regis Town to save themselves from the drop. “Higgins did a great job in keeping us up last season and his goals have been hugely important this year. Finding goals in this league is hard.”

Coventry said November’s FA Cup first round defeat at League Two’s Hartlepool United was a personal highlight, with the club training at Bradford City on the way to the ground, although he said the two 5-0 defeats against Met Police were a low point.

“Days like Hartlepool are ones to remember,” he said. “It was one for the fans as well as the players and I will never forget it.”

Player of the season: Sam Higgins Goal of the season: Sam Higgins (Leiston Sept ’14), Sam Higgins (Grays Athletic Dec ’14)