Cugley realistic about Trophy progress

FOLKESTONE INVICTA welcome Hitchin Town to Cheriton Road tomorrow in the preliminary round of the FA Carlsberg Trophy and could consider themselves justifiably unlucky not to go into the tie top of the Ryman League Division One South table, writes Tom Marchant.

 

The Seasiders could consider themselves justifiably unlucky not to have come out of last weekend's encounter with Godalming Town with any points, having enjoyed enough of the play to maintain their top of the table position.

The Surrey side stole all three points from a fortunate free kick which had left home goalkeeper Jack Delo stranded.
“Very unlucky”, conceded Folkestone boss Neil Cugley, when speaking to www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk.  

“I thought we played some very good football and you have to remember we had four players out and two of them in particular – Jacko (Jimmy Jackson) and (James) Dryden – are two of our best players and that's not being disrespectful to any of the others. Those two were also our leading goal scorers last season so they will be missed but generally I thought we played ever so well.

“I seem to keep saying but I felt we should have been a couple up by half time and that was disappointing. The goal we gave away was poor and Jack was disappointed with that and he knows he should've saved it but to be fair to him he has had a superb start to the season so you can't moan too much”.

New signing Simon Austin also made his debut for Folkestone in attack and the manager declared himself “happy with what I've got” when quizzed on future player arrivals, particularly with the return of goalkeeper Luke Stonebridge and the signing of lightning quick Dean Grant (duel registration with Dover Athletic).

“I think he'll (Austin) be a real asset for us and unfortunately he isn't available this weekend as he's at a wedding. I think he will give us something different where he is comfortable with his back to goal and his ability to get the ball down. We spoke after the game and he was amazed at how much football we played and how much he enjoyed it, getting the ball to feet. I think he's another one that as the season goes on will get better and better.

“My aim is to get us into the play offs. I've never been involved in them and we want that insight into what it's all about and after everything that has gone on it would be a great achievement. There's a lot of positive things happening about the Club at the moment and on the football side the reserves and youth team have started well. The youth team I watched on Sunday and they were very good and the reserves have one two of their four so far.”

For the visit of Hitchin Town this weekend in the F.A Trophy, James Everitt (broken foot) and Dave Corey (hamstring) are the major injury concerns.  Dryden was involved in training on Tuesday night and was due to be assessed whilst Jackson will face a late fitness test on Saturday to see whether he has recovered from the foot injury sustained with a chainsaw.
After the visit of Hitchin, Folkestone go ten days without a match in the League with Walton Casuals (scheduled for next Saturday) involved in F.A Cup action.

“We have been fairly lucky with injuries up until now, but we've got the Dryden one, Jacko trying to cut his foot off, Ratty and Dave Corey, and suddenly you haven't got a big squad,” added Cugley.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s Trophy tie, Cugley said: “We have to be realistic about the Trophy as we're not going to go a long way in it as we're not a big enough club to compare with Conference South and Conference standard sides. That said, we will certainly be doing all we can to get through to the next round and there is a little bit of money involved too.

“Hitchin beat Godalming earlier in the year so they must be a fairly decent side and it will be a tough game and I've been speaking to the Godalming manager about them. We will keep doing what we're doing in terms of how we want to play football and at the end of the year we'll assess how far its got us and whether we've been successful – League wise I think we will be.”

Meanwhile, former Folkestone Invicta player and coach, Scott Lindsey has left Gillingham, where he was technical development coach, and has teamed up with League Two side Lincoln City as first team coach.

The Imps, third-from-bottom in Coca-Cola League Two, have appointed former Blackburn Rovers striker Chris Sutton as their new manager.

www.kentishfootball.co.uk will be covering this game.

Article courtesy of www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk

Folkestone Invicta  v  Hitchin Town
FA Carlsberg Trophy Preliminary Round
Saturday 3^rd October 2009
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU