Invicta unveil Fun Day details

Folkestone Invicta were reminded of the harsh realities of the Ryman Premier League
this weekend, coming home defeated 3-1 by Walton & Hersham –  seven days after the Seasiders had recorded a superb 1-0 win over high-flying Chelmsford City, writes Andy Bown & Tom Marchant.
“It was a hugely disappointing result and this is nothing against Walton & Hersham but I fully expected us to go there and give them a good match and test them and it just never happened,” Invicta boss Neil Cugley told www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk.   

“We’re very inconsistent at the moment because we can look good against Chelmsford and then we give arguably our worst performance of the year against Walton and it’s very frustrating.

 “Sometimes it could be said that it’s our own fault and perhaps we’re expecting too much from our younger lads and so you are going to have up and down performances. 

“We are working on that with them so they can do it week in week out, but it’s easier said than done at this level of football”.

Liam Friend scored his first senior goal for the club after just five minutes of play against second from bottom Walton, giving the visitors a dream start much to the delight of the dedicated travelling contingent. 

Cugley explained: “It was a really clever free kick by Kevin Watson and it found Liam in front of goal and he had his first shot blocked and I thought he’s got to score here, and he eventually bundled it in! 

“It was his birthday on Friday and so it was a nice time for him to get his first goal for us.

“I really thought the first goal would be the springboard for better things but after that we never really got into the game at all at. 

“In the first half hour they were definitely the better side as they were quicker to it than us and they created a few half opportunities. 

“I was just hoping we’d get through to half time but it never happened. 

“They weren’t a particularly good side to be honest and I can see them going down but we weren’t any better than them and it was a worrying performance for us”. 

The hosts equalised during the closing stages of the first half when a corner from the right hand side was turned in by striker Sam Baldock. 

To compound the misery for Invicta, Lawrence Yiga scored from a second penalty for the home side to put Walton 2-1 ahead going into the half time interval, after the referee ruled James Everitt guilty of handball. 

Walton & Hersham had missed an earlier penalty (wide) after Richard Martin was judged to have fouled Rob George inside the penalty area.

“The first penalty was a joke; their player was running away from goal and it was outside the area and the referee acted on impulse and then the second one that referees give nowadays,” bemoaned the long-serving manager. 

“It was really harsh on James as the pitch was bobbly and the ball bobbled up and hit his hand. 

“At half time we talked about what we wanted to do in the second half, and that was to get at them early. 

“Then they scored the third goal and it killed the game to be honest and it was disappointing because there was no way we were going to come back from that because we just haven’t got the goals in us”. 

Walton’s third goal was also scored by Yiga, within two minutes of the restart after a ball through the centre caused confusion in the Invicta backline.

The Folkestone boss pointed out: “The other worrying aspect at the moment is the fact we’re so goal shy and you’ll find we didn’t have one corner in the whole game either and that was so frustrating, especially when on Wednesday we were practicing corners and free kicks and working on new things. 

“We didn’t even get that far up the pitch to actually create a corner or a free kick and it just highlighted how poor we were. 

“The only positive thing we can take out of the game whether you are a player, manager or fan is that we have another game to look forward to because there were absolutely none otherwise on Saturday”.

Folkestone have a full squad of players to travel to Bromley with on Saturday, except for Roy Guiver who is expected to be out for the rest of the season with a knee problem. 
Cugley said it is possible however Guiver may make the final game of the season and his progress will be constantly monitored. 

Cugley said: “Bromley are a big club, they’re riding high and they’ve had some huge investment in them last summer and again like Chelmsford they’ve invested it in the right players. 

“They’ve got half a dozen quality strikers that you would envy having at our club but at the end of the day they’re having a good season but they didn’t score against us at home and we’ve got to take that defensive performance and the one against Chelmsford into Saturday.

“They’re all hard games and we’ve got a run of tough games coming up and we need the fans to get behind us at every game from now until the end of season. 

“Some of the results are so unpredictable in this league and through the season there have been sides around us beating the top sides and it happened with Chelmsford and I really think we revel in playing the bigger sides and I just hope we can pull off some shocks in the last remaining games.”

Folkestone Invicta commercial manager Mr Mike Pay unveiled the latest activities he has organised for the Invicta Family Fun Day, which will take place on Good Friday, 6^th April at the Buzzlines Stadium in Cheriton Road when the Seasiders tackle Heybridge Swifts in another Ryman Premier League clash.

The Fun Day promises to be an excellent day for all the family and the club welcomes everyone from Folkestone and the wider region to come down to Cheriton Road and take part in the event.
 
Mr Pay has recently booked two activities:
 
Shoot4Goal
 
The Speed Cage
 
Both events will be positioned in the area to the right, in front of Stripes, inside the Buzzlines Stadium.
 
Vouchers can be purchased for just £1, which gives access to these two events for the WHOLE day, which represents excellent value and superb entertainment.
 
In addition Mr Pay has confirmed there will be a face painter at the ground who will be painting faces free of charge – children and eager adults!
 
There will be ‘goody bags’ as well and the details of what these will include has yet to be finalised.
 
Meanwhile, football director, Mr Gordon Wallis will be organising some football activity on the field in between the Ryman Premier League match, involving players from some of the youth teams.
 
First team manager Neil Cugley has said he is happy for some of the players who are not in his squad on the day to get involved with some of the children.

You can read further details on the Fun Day by visiting www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk.