JOHN Coventry insists East Thurrock United need to put their FA Cup exit behind them.

Rocks suffered a 3-0 defeat to Ebbsfleet United in their fourth qualifying round replay.

As a result, the National League South side missed out on a first round tie at home to League One side Doncaster Rovers.

But Coventry was full of praise for his players, who held Ebbsfleet for close to 150 minutes over the course of the two meetings.

Coventry said: “Everyone worked extremely hard but, on the night, we weren’t as good as we were on Saturday (in the initial tie).

“We missed our opportunity on Saturday.

“They thoroughly deserved the win and are an extremely good side.

“It was nice having a little cup run but now we need to concentrate on the National League South.”

Andy Drury broke the deadlock for the National League side with 58 minutes on the clock.

Fleet doubled their advantage just three minutes later through ex-Grays Athletic frontman Aaron McLean.

And Myles Weston, the former Southend United winger, wrapped up the scoring in the stoppage time.

Rocks had presentable chances in the initial tie, with James White hitting the crossbar and Sam Higgins being denied by Nathan Ashmore when through one-on-one with the goalkeeper.

But Coventry believes it is important to look forward rather than back.

The Rocks boss added: “We have got to put that behind us now.

“The squad has always been very thin and we had a few injuries at Ebbsfleet. We knew it would catch us up a bit at some stage.”