I thought we'd be further down the table, admits shocked Neil Cugley

FOLKESTONE INVICTA manager Neil Cugley says he is shocked by his side’s position in the top four at Christmas, writes Stephen McCartney.


The Cheriton Road faithful endured a miserable campaign in their return to the Ryman Premier League as they finished at the foot of the table last season - but Cugley has adopted an attacking flair to his players this season and they go into the festive programme sitting in fourth-place in the Ryman League Division One South table with 42 points from 21 outings.

When asked about his thoughts at the halfway stage, Cugley said: “Yes, a bit of a shock really. I didn’t think we’d be quite high if I’m going to be honest!  I thought the teams around I thought we’d be further down maybe.”

Folkestone Invicta welcome local-rivals Hythe Town to Cheriton Road in a mouth-watering Boxing Day clash, 26 December (1pm), before they welcome Surrey outfit Corinthian-Casuals on New Years’ Eve (3pm).  Cugley then takes his side to struggling Whitstable Town on Monday, 2 January 2012 (3pm).

Cugley is looking forward to the massive clash against his home-town club, Hythe Town, who go into the festive period in a respectable eighth-place, twelve points adrift of their neighbours.

“Yes, it’s a good game and we should get a good crowd,” said Cugley.

“The pleasing thing is both of us winning against good sides last week and it’s made it a bit more exciting.

“There’s not much to choose between the two sides.  They’re one of the sides I sort of felt would be up there or there abouts anyway. 

“It’s going to be difficult.  It should be a good game, fairly open and I’m looking forward to it.”

Next up, Corinthian-Casuals and Cugley added, “To be fair they beat us up there, 4-2 I think it was.  They’re fairly lively up front and if you’re not at the game they hit you on the break really well so it will be quite hard.  It will be a quite entertaining game. 

“To be fair they’ve improved a lot over the last couple of years’ and they’ve struggled near the bottom but they’ve done well this year.”

Whitstable Town, meanwhile, go into Christmas in the bottom four with 17 points from 21 games and Cugley said: “Again, it’s a local derby.  I expect it will be fairly hard but if you want to get into the play-off’s you have to go to those places and get points.

“We’ve had nine (points) out of nine recently.  Out of those three games we have to look to pick up a good number of points if we’re going to do well at this level.”

When asked how many points he wants out of Hythe, Corinthian-Casuals and Whitstable, the Folkestone boss replied, “Six I suppose.  Six will be acceptable.  Sometimes a draw isn’t what you want really.”

And Cugley hopes his players keep themselves in shape over the festive period.

He said: “Players like to play rather than train at this time of the year so they’ll be happy getting the games in.

“We have (spoken to them) and you keep your fingers crossed and you never know.  It’s an easy time for them to be lead the other way.   You can only ask them to look after themselves.  You don’t own them and hopefully they’ll come in with the right attitude.  We emphasised that to them and they’re generally quite good lads and they’re young lads and I’m hoping they turn up to every game and raring to go.”

When asked what 2012 will bring Folkestone Invicta, Cugley, once again, isn’t putting any pressure on his team.

“I think continuation of what we’re trying to achieve – it doesn’t matter if we win or lose all three games (over Christmas), we’ll carry on playing football, get a young side together, do everything the right way and we’ll continue that.

“It’s starting to pay dividends now,  We’ve got a good, young side, prominently local side and I think that’s the way forward for our club.”

Cugley says Darren Marsden, a midfield playmaker, has settled in well since his move from Kent Hurlimann Football League leaders Herne Bay.

“We’ve signed Darren Marsden and got Stuart King back from fitness.  He’s made us more stronger and given us a bit more depth in the squad,” said Cugley.

“He’s settling in well.  He’s obviously a class player, wants the ball all the time and just makes you want to play football. We keep saying we want to be a footballing team and we want to play football.  He comes into that bracket.

“I this this is the way forward with young players, who we can keep fit and play football and that’s what we want.”

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

Folkestone Invicta  v  Hythe Town
Ryman League Division One South
Boxing Day, Monday 26^th December 2011
Kick Off 1:00pm
at Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU