Luckily for us, our hard work is paying off, says Folkestone Invicta assistant manager Roland Edge

FOLKESTONE INVICTA assistant manager Roland Edge says hard work is paying off during this charge up the league table.

Neil Cugley has guided the club into fourth-place in the Bostik Premier table with 29 points on the board from 14 games following their 2-1 win at Leatherhead last night.

The Tanners took an early lead through on-loan Gillingham striker Liam Nash’s cheeky dinked penalty straight down the middle, that he won after drawing a foul from Matthew Newman.

But Folkestone Invicta drew level on the stroke of half-time through Josh Vincent’s header from Scott Heard’s corner and won it in the second half through Sam Hasler’s fine long-range strike.

Folkestone Invicta are above fifth-placed big-spenders Billericay Town in the table, although the loud Essex outfit do have three games in hand.

When asked whether the surprise package are serious play-off contenders, Edge’s response was somewhat surprising.

“I wouldn’t even say that.  I don’t want to sound pessimistic. I just think we’re on a good run and at some point that run is going to end.

“It’s going to be how we respond to that.  That’s dictated if you make the play-offs or not. At the minute we’re trying to stay on a run. We’re trying to beat everyone we’re playing against with a three-point mentality rather than a draw’s good enough.  Luckily for us, our hard work is paying off.”

Folkestone Invicta welcome Tooting & Mitcham United to Cheriton Road on Saturday, their third meeting of the season.

The two sides met there in The FA Cup Second Qualifying Round with Folkestone claiming a 3-1 win, before they came away from Imperial Fields with a 1-0 win in the League.

“Tooting are a good side. We played them at the beginning of the season. I think they had a few people missing in The FA Cup and we didn’t really play well on the day but we ran out 3-1 winners,” recalled Edge.

“Since then we played them at their place and they really gave us a tough time.  I think their manager has done really well.  They’ve got energy, they’ve got athletes everywhere. We have to show them respect, obviously not too much and we’ve got to knuckle down and try to get another three points.”

Folkestone Invicta then make the short trip to Dover Athletic on Tuesday 14 November to contest the Kent Reliance Senior Cup Quarter-Final at Crabble.

“That’s always a nice fixture,” said Edge.

“Sometimes that Cup, when it comes along really early and we’re playing two games a week and you get a few knocks and niggles and stuff like that, you really don’t need that but when you come to the Dover rounds and stuff like that it’s nice. It’s a good day out because they’ve got a lovely pitch, they play good football and it’s a good test for the boys.”

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

Folkestone Invicta  v  Tooting & Mitcham United
Bostik Premier
Saturday 11^th November 2017
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU