"I am so proud of the boys," he said. "Every one of the lads that travelled with us played their part.
"It was a real team effort where we displayed courage, endeavour, resilience and determination.
"Even though we went down to ten men, we made sure that we were always in the game against a very good side and got our reward to nick it near the end.
"The key thing was that everyone stayed positive and kept believing even after we had a man sent-off. We kept two up and went for it."
East Thurrock boss John Coventry added: "They wanted it more than us. They worked extremely hard with ten men and deserved the victory".