Herne Bay 1-3 Folkestone Invicta - We know we can be another another level, says Neil Cugley

HERNE BAY  1-3  FOLKESTONE INVICTA
The FA Cup with Budweiser Preliminary Round
Saturday 25^th August 2012
Stephen McCartney reports from Winch’s Field

FOLKESTONE INVICTA manager Neil Cugley says he hopes to be in a position to bring in a couple of players with the prize money his side scooped today following their comfortable FA Cup victory over Herne Bay.

Folkestone Invicta picked up a much-needed £1,750 in prize money with this 3-1 win over fellow Ryman League Division One South opposition and will travel to the winner of tomorrow’s Preliminary Round tie between Badshot Lea and Egham Town.

Folkestone Invicta called Herne Bay keeper Dan Eason into making three saves by the time Stuart King and Darren Marsden (penalty) scored against their former club to give the visitors a 2-0 advantage going into the break.

Herne Bay faced a mountain to climb when right-back Joe Nelder scored an own goal five minutes into the second half to end the game as a contest.

But last season’s Kent League champions and FA Vase semi-finalists pulled a goal back when former Tunbridge Wells target-man Andy Irvine scored his first goal for Herne Bay in the final seventeen minutes.

Cugley, 55, admitted he was pleased with his side’s first half performance and disappointed with the second half – just like their midweek win at Bourne Park.

He said: “I’m a bit angry really because I felt second half we let them back in the game like we did against Sittingbourne on Wednesday.  It’s something we’ve got to work on.  We’ve got to carry on passing the ball a bit better.

“I felt second half we sort of lumped it a bit more and we don’t play that way. We’ve got to keep going and play better football. 

“To be fair to Herne Bay they threw everything at us, as did Sittingbourne the other night, but we have to use the ball better and we used it brilliantly first half.”

Herne Bay manager Simon Halsey, 47, blamed poor defensive play for his club’s early FA Cup exit.

He said: “No one likes losing. I can take losing. It’s the manner in which we lost.  Silly individual mistakes that led to the first two goals, sorry all three goals really.  It had an element of mistakes about them from us, which we ended the last two games and that’s the consistency levels that we have to get to, to make ourselves not a championship winning side or anything like that, but just consistent at this level of football and we’ve learnt that today.

“As much as I wanted to stay in the FA Cup, I suppose if we were going to take a kick up the backside it’s today and not Monday (with three points at stake).  I know the club won’t agree with that because they obviously want the revenue coming in, which I fully understand, but for me as a manager perhaps that kick up the backside we needed to show that I’m not talking dribble about consistently.”

Folkestone Invicta went into this FA Cup tie with back-to-back wins over Worthing (2-1) and Sittingbourne (1-0), while Herne Bay bounced back from their unlucky 1-0 home defeat to relegated Tooting & Mitcham United with a morale-boosting 1-0 win away to arch-rivals Hythe Town in midweek.

But Halsey admitted his side’s tempo was short and this allowed Folkestone Invicta to spray the ball around the back four at ease during the first half and dominate the middle of the park throughout.

Cugley said his side exploited the space on the large pitch at Winch’s Field.

He said: “I think it’s such a big pitch, it’s very hard to stop us playing.  You can’t really go round closing people down quickly because we did first half.  We just kept the ball to be honest.”

Herne Bay created the first chance inside the opening five minutes when the impressive winger Rhys Lawson played the ball into Irvine, who played the ball square to fellow striker George Landais, who went on a 20-yard run straight through the middle but scuffed his low shot across former Herne Bay keeper Jack Delo and past the post from 25-yards.

King called Herne Bay keeper Eason into making a fine save in the eleventh minute when he palmed over King’s left-footed shot on the turn from sixteen-yards after Liam Dickson played a low ball in from the left.

Halsey said: “I think we started off brightly, kept the ball well for the first 20 minutes. We didn’t’ really penetrate them anywhere and Kingy didn’t have his first attempt until I’m not sure when.  Dan pulled off a great save but it was well into the game and we were not dominant in shots on goal or anything but possession wise we weren’t a quick enough tempo and we’re a team once we move the ball we need to move it quickly into the right areas.”

A fine run from Herne Bay winger Michael Turner saw him dink the ball through to release Irvine but the lone striker lacked the killer touch and dinked his right-footed shot across goal and Folkestone were able to clear.

Marsden was relishing playing on his former turf and he pulled the strings for Folkestone Invicta and he won possession from Josh Seargeant before passing the ball to King, who played a square pass to Josh Burchell, whose left-footed drive from 25-yards forced Eason into making a low save to his left.

Sloppy defending from Herne Bay’s central defender Steve Hanson gifted the ball to James Everitt who played the ball to King, who chipped the ball across the face of the penalty area to pick out Burchell, who stroked a left-footed shot from fifteen-yards towards goal, which saw Eason once again make a smart low save to his left.

But Folkestone deservedly opened the scoring in the 28^th minute, through King’s second goal of the season.

Midfielder Roland Edge clipped the ball down the inside right channel to release King, who beat the offside trap and caressed a left-footed chipped half-volley towards goal from 20-yards, which looped over Eason’s head and dropped into the top far corner – just evading Burchell who had ghosted in towards the post to apply any necessary touch.

Cugley said: “It was a good move. He’s good at that. He pulls off the lad at the far stick and done that. He took it well.”

It was destiny that both King and Marsden would score on their return to Herne Bay and Cugley said: “They’re good players aren’t they? That’s why Herne Bay didn’t want them to go in the first place did they and you can’t blame them for that.

“Generally they played well and caused problems. They’re good players aren’t they, no doubt about that!”

Halsey added: “One-nil down and we had to keep going.  We kept possession quite well. I thought we penetrated a little bit more going forward but again our decision making was wrong. 

“We decided we was going to suck them into the middle and try and get Rhys and Michael Turner on the ball and out decision making was wrong.  We sucked them in as we asked and then we didn’t get it wide to our wide players. We tried to play through the tight areas in the middle of the park and Michael Turner and Rhys had acres on their own.  Our decision making was wrong again today.”

Lawson, who was lively throughout down the left flank, picked up a pass from Landais and cut inside but his low shot was poor and allowed Delo to gather at his near post.

However, poor defending from Herne Bay gifted Folkestone Invicta an accepted chance to double their lead in the 38^th minute.

Left-back Dickson clipped the ball into the penalty area and a mix-up between Hanson and Eason allowed James Everitt to nip in between them and with the ball destined to bounce out for a goal-kick the big Hanson bundled over Folkestone’s longest serving player close to the left by-line.

Marsden stepped up and stroked his right-footed penalty just left of centre as Eason dived the other way to give Folkestone a massive advantage.

Halsey was clearly unhappy with two of his players involved.

He said: “Anyway, first off the ball’s been put forward in between our full-back and our centre half bounced once on the edge of our box.  Dan Eason’s come out to pick it up. Whether he called for it I don’t know. Hanson’s not cleared it. He’s tried to control it. He’s missed it thus Everitt’s got on the end of it and that’s a weak penalty.  It’s a weak, weak penalty, but if we deal with the first situation it doesn’t come to the penalty.

“Again, it’s a mistake from us and it’s the consistency that I’ll be going on about.”

Cugley added: “It’s just keenness isn’t it with centre halves. He’s just dived in and Ratty’s done well to get the penalty and Marzo at the moment has scored every penalty that he’s taken so that’s pleasing.”

That advantage almost increased for Cugley’s side when Burchell whipped in a cross from the right and Darren Smith’s cushioned header dropped to King who dragged his right-footed hooked shot across Eason and wide of the far post.

Both managers were asked what was said during the half-time interval.

Cugley said: “Believe it or not I said keep playing and keep the ball down and we didn’t’ do that so well in the second half.”

Halsey said: “Did you hear me? I said a few constructive words, but just asked them to up the tempo a little bit. We changed formation to a 4-3-3, left Andy Irvine through the middle and Rhys and Michael Turner alongside him.

“We done alright second half We had plenty of the ball.  Our crosses didn’t miss the first man out and Andy scored a good goal to be fair to him.

“Rhys had a lot more of the ball but by then they’re 3-1 up and they’re sitting bodies in front of us and it’s hard for Rhys to break them down.”

Herne Bay upped their slow tempo straight from the re-start and with only 15 seconds on the clock Irvine’s left-footed chip on the angle sailed over Delo’s crossbar after Sargeant’s pass.

But the game was over as a contest in the 50^th minute when Folkestone were given a helping hand for their third goal.

Everitt turned and swept a right-footed pass some 30-yards from goal in an attempt to release King on goal, who dragged the ball across the face of the penalty area and Nelder, who cut across the penalty area, inexplicably slid the ball into his own net from 12-yards.

Halsey stormed: “The ball has got put in between our centre half and full-back.  Steve Hanson should never be shrugged off the ball by Stuart King! Fact!  He’s a big lad, a strong lad. As everyone’s been saying around the club in the last few games, a colossus.  That was not a colossus that got knocked off the ball and unfortunately Joe Nelder’s tried to clear it and it’s one of them.

“As much as they beat us that is not sour grapes.  This is me as a manager seeing how we conceded goals, which we haven’t looked like doing in our last two games, which is the most disappointing thing for me.”

Cugley added: “The third goal, I suppose the game died a death. They had nothing to lose and to be fair they threw everything at us.”

Herne Bay rallied and Seargeant played the ball inside to Tom Parker – who was a late replacement after Calum McGeehan who was named on the official team-sheet but by kick-off time he was forced out through a calf injury – and Parker scuffed a left-footed shot harmlessly wide from 30-yards.

Marsden cracked a right-footed free-kick over the six-man wall in the 56^th minute but the ball curled just wide of the near post, before Folkestone were unlucky not to score a fourth six minutes later.

Right-back Lee Gledhill, who constantly barked at his team-mates throughout the entire game, chipped a pass to the by-line for Marsden, who cut the ball back to Burchell who was given time and space to unleash a left-footed curler which sailed over Eason and bounced agonisingly against the top of the crossbar.

The Folkestone Invicta manager also paid tribute to his more experienced players, starting with Gledhill, for instructing the younger players in the team.

He said: “He never changes, does he?  He wants the best. We think our young lads can get better.  We’re not criticising them because we want them to get better.  Gleds, Edgy (Roland Edge) and Smithy (Darren Smith) are very brilliant lads to have around and they all say their bit and that’s to help those lads.  They want them to kick on. It’s always nice to be nice but sometimes there standard will stay there and they have to up their standard.”

Herne Bay substitute, right winger Dean Grant should have done better just inside the Folkestone penalty area but his shot looped wide of the far post.

Grant did much better when he cut the ball back to Seargeant, whose left-footed angled drive brought a comfortable save from Delo, before Herne Bay scored a consolation goal with seventeen minutes left.

Lawson’s right-footed drive from 22-yards deflected past the near post and Seargeant delivered an excellent corner from the left with his left-foot which sailed over Delo’s head and curled towards the far post and Landais did well to loop a header back from the by-line and Irvine smashed a left-footed volley into the top far corner as it dropped down on the six-yard line.

Halsey said: “Great strike from Andy, great strike and later he’s got a ball just on the edge of the centre circle and noticed Jack was of the line and tried to lob him.  Ok the lob didn’t go over him but he’s had the vision and it’s his first 90 minutes for us.

“We’ve got to work to do with him but he’s got on the scoresheet so that’s the reason that I went and got him – to score goals.  As much as we lost, he’s scored the one.”

Cugley added: “It’s gone right over at the back and the lad has done ever so well to head it back from right on the line and it’s a great finish really. A good goal. Best goal of the game!”

Herne Bay increased their urgency after the goal but it came too late to make a real impact on the game.

Nelder whipped in a cross from the right in the 80^th minute which sailed over everybody inside the box and Lawson retrieved the ball and his cross picked out Grant at the far post, who hooked wide of the near post with his right-foot.

Irvine saw Delo had strayed off his line and his speculative left-footed chip from 35-yards was caught by the Folkestone keeper on the edge of his penalty area.

Folkestone substitute Ryan Philpott shrugged off James Campbell before playing King in behind the Herne Bay defence but his left-footed stroked shot was caught by Eason at his near post at the death.

Halsey admitted his side’s slow tempo assisted his side’s costly mistakes that ultimately sent the promoted club out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle.

He said: “As I said to them at half-time, we kept the possession it was more like a training session. No one was penetrating, going forwards and it got to a mental thing. I firmly believe that is why the mistakes were made because we weren’t mentality right. Our reaction and everything was slow about us and to me our decision making becomes slow and thus we made mistakes and we have to learn from that.”

Herne Bay improved in the second half and Halsey added: “We went for it. We had everything to throw at it. We’ve put some balls in the box that ricochet and bounced.  It’s no good doing that in the 80^th minute when you’re 3-1 down – you’ve got to do that from the first minute to the 90^th.

“We’ll learn from it that’s the main thing and we’ll be ready to go again on Monday (away to Eastbourne Town).”

Cugley warned his side can play much better.

“It is pleasing but not the standard I think we want or I want but it’s a good start.  It keeps us in the Cup, which is important financially as well.

“Just disappointed because we played ever so well at Sittingbourne first half and poor second half and again today, really good first half, poor second half so we’ve just got to work on that really.

“It’s just getting the confidence to keep playing when teams are putting you under pressure. That’s why you’ve got to take a bit more responsibility really because they’re going to throw things at you.”

Cugley revealed he will send someone to Godalming tomorrow to watch his next opponents in the competition as the cash-strapped club look to grab as much prize money as they can.

He said: “I suppose I’ll get someone to go and watch them.

“We know we haven’t got going.  We know we can be at another level yet so it’s a good start.”

And with only eleven first team players at his disposal – the bench is made up with untried youngsters – Cugley would like to see prize money ploughed back into team personnel.

He said: “We’re young but we just get on with it. If we have a Cup run I might bring in a player or two. You don’t know but if not we’ll go with we’ve got. It’s all I can do really.”

Herne Bay: Dan Eason, Joe Nelder, Tom Bryant, Steve Hanson, James Campbell, Tom Parker (Nathan Eastwood 66), Michael Turner (Dean Grant 61), Josh Seargeant, George Landais, Andy Irvine, Rhys Lawson.
Subs: Steven Lloyd, Brad King, Marvin Okundaliaye

Goal: Andy Irvine 73

Booked: Tom Parker 56

Folkestone Invicta: Jack Delo, Lee Gledhill, Liam Dickson, Liam Friend, Frankie Chappell, Roland Edge (Ryan Philpott 87), Darren Smith, Darren Marsden, James Everitt, Stuart King, Josh Burchell.
Subs: Cade Mortimer, Joe Lester, Roddy Hayward

Goals: Stuart King 28, Darren Marsden 38 (pen), Joe Nelder 50 (own goal)

Booked: Liam Friend 81, Lee Gledhill 83, Ryan Philpott 90

Attendance: 314
Referee: Mr Oliver Jackson (Sittingbourne)
Assistants: Mr Jason Down (Sittingbourne) & Mr Mark Tucker (Sheerness)