Crawley will not be Down for long, says Folkestone Invicta boss Neil Cugley

FOLKESTONE INVICTA boss Neil Cugley says the trip to basement side Crawley Down will not be easy on Saturday, writes Stephen McCartney.


The newly promoted side have struggled to adapt to life in their inaugural Ryman League Division One South campaign, losing to Ramsgate (0-1), Dulwich Hamlet (0-4), Maidstone United (1-5) and Eastbourne Town (1-3).

But Folkestone Invicta go there with confidence, having booked their place in the FA Cup First Qualifying Round after Stuart King scored both goals in their 2-1 replay win at Whyteleafe in midweek.

The Kent club will now look forward to a visit from Brighton based side Whitehawk, who came away from Ramsgate with a 1-0 win on Tuesday, thus denying Folkestone a lucrative east Kent derby against Jim Ward’s men.

Cugley explained why he feels Crawley Down will start to climb the table, especially with the vastly experienced John Maggs, who left his managerial role at Horsham in the summer.

He said:  “I think they’ve signed five (players) this week, and John Maggs’, the general manager has gone back there now.  They won’t finish down there at the end.  They’ll be alright. 

“It will be a tough game now because he’s gone in there and he’s got a lot of new players’ coming in.”

Folkestone Invicta have collected three wins and a defeat in their first four league outings and Cugley regularly says that “there is no pressure” on his side to clinch promotion at the end of the season after finishing bottom of the Ryman Premier League last season.

Cugley said: “We’ve had six games, we’ve won four, drawn one and lost one so it’s maybe better than I thought it would be.

“We’ve had a lot of different players coming in and the problems with the injuries don’t help.”

Injury-prone striker, Paul Jones, meanwhile, is expected to play some part in Saturday’s game, good timing especially as King is due in for an operation on his arm shortly.

Cugley said: “We’ve got Jonsey hopefully back Saturday.  Who else is out? Richard Atkins, it was a great shame for the young lad, broke his collar bone, he’s out for six weeks.  Kingy is out for four weeks.”

When asked how his forward line will look, Cugley replied, “If we can get Jonsey back and James Everitt it’s not too sad with Smithy (Darren Smith) in behind. I don’t think it’s a poor side.”

Visit Folkestone Invicta’s website: www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk  

Crawley Down  v  Folkestone Invicta
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 10^th September 2011
Kick Off 3:00pm
at The Haven Sportsfield (Haven Centre), Hophurst Lane, Crawley Down, West Sussex RH10 4LJ