Cugley: We must start finding the back of the net

STUNNED Folkestone Invicta boss Neil Cugley takes his side to Leatherhead on Saturday trying to pick up the pieces following their FA Carlsberg Trophy exit at Chatham Town last night, writes Stephen McCartney.

Invicta were on the end of a smash-and-grab raid by their Kent rivals in the preliminary round replay, losing to breakaway goals from nineteen-year-old striker Justin Ascheri and a stunning curling effort from substitute Simon Austin.

Unhappy Cugley has told his side to get their goalscoring boots on as they wasted plenty of possession and goalscoring chances at Maidstone Road.

Jimmy Corbett had his 26^th minute penalty saved by Chatham goalkeeper James Smith, who was booked for bringing down James Dryden inside the box.

Smith was controversially shown his second yellow card in the in the fourth minute of time added on at the end of the second half as he prepared to take a goal-kick.

Despite lying third in the Ryman League Division One South table, Folkestone have only found the net on 13 occasions and Cugley, speaking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk at Maidstone Road last night wants his side to finish off the chances that their creating.

“It’s disappointing because you keep playing and keep playing and we are playing some great football but at the end of the day we need to get something on the end of it,” bemoaned Cugley.

“No disrespect to Chatham, we struggled on Saturday to score and today really they defended ever so well, but we never really tested their keeper and it’s something we’ve got to work on, our final bit in the final third of the pitch.

“We’ve got Leatherhead away and we’ll show what we’re all about really.”

Despite his costly penalty miss, Cugley was pleased that Corbett completed ninety minutes last night and Micheal Everitt could feature at Fetcham Grove.

“We’ve got to put those problems of not scoring goals, we’ve got to try and sort that out.” said Cugley.

“The league is what you’re all about, your bread and butter and you’ve got to show what it’s all about, but you don’t want to get knocked out of any cup competition.”

Cugley explained the reason behind not putting his beleaguered players through a training session this week.

He said: “We’ve got so many injuries at the moment, we’ve got to be careful but we’ll get back next week and we’ll work on it.”

Maybe this is the best time to be playing a Leatherhead side that are coming to terms with the resignation of their manager, Ian Hazel.

Hazel joined the club in October 2007, having previously managed Sutton United. Assistant manager, Mickey Stevens will take over as interim manager until such time as a new appointment is made.

In a statement, Leatherhead chairman, Mr Tim Edwards, said: “We are sorry to see Ian go. Despite the club’s difficult start to the season the board and committee have been very supportive of his efforts but he no longer enjoys the role of manager and wishes to concentrate on his coaching career.

"All the club offer him the very best wishes for the future. We will now direct our efforts into searching for the right man to help develop the team."

Stephens, a former non-league international, will take charge of the team for the first time against Invicta, looking to improve on their record of three wins and three draws from ten games, which leaves them in twelve place in the Ryman League Division One South table - just eight points behind Cugley’s men.

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

Leatherhead v Folkestone Invicta
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 11^th October 2008
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Fetcham Grove, Guildford Road, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 9AS