JOHN Coventry refused to make excuses as a disappointing display resulted in East Thurrock United suffering a last-gasp 1-0 defeat to Bishop’s Stortford.

Rocks were in competitive action for the first time in 17 days when Jamie Cureton’s successful spot-kick in the third minute of injury time ensured an Isthmian Premier League loss.

But Coventry insists a lack of game-time cannot be used as a reason for the below-par performance.

“Lacklustre is a word that comes to mind when trying to describing our display,” said the East Thurrock chief.

“Bishop’s Stortford have a lot of young players with heart, passion and desire.

“They wanted to win challenges whereas we didn’t.

“I know we didn’t have a league game for more than two weeks but I don’t want to use that as an excuse.

“In all honesty, I don’t know why we were so poor and it was frustrating.”

Despite a frustrating performance, it looked as though Rocks were going to leave Bishop’s Stortford with a point.

However, Ryan Scott was penalised for bringing down former Bowers & Pitsea striker Shomari Barnwell.

And Coventry concedes East Thurrock got what they deserved when the vastly experienced Cureton converted from the spot.

“It was one of those games where I was waiting for something like that to happen,” added Coventry.

“I have to say it didn’t surprise me that they got a late winner but I was gutted.

“But I was gutted before that because of the performance.”