It's important we try and keep our run going, says Folkestone Invicta boss Neil Cugley

Due to the quirks of the fixture list and an away FA Cup tie, Folkestone have not been at home since beating Worthing 2-1 on the opening day of the season, but they have followed that with a 1-0 victory at Sittingbourne and a 3-1 win at Chipstead on Bank Holiday Monday.

Folkestone Invicta also came away with a comfortable 3-1 win away to Herne Bay in the FA Cup Preliminary Round.

“It’s been a tremendous start and now it’s important that we try to keep that form going” said Cugley, looking forward to this Saturday’s clash with an Eastbourne Town side who have often proved a bit of a stumbling block in recent seasons.

While Folkestone just have the edge over their Sussex rivals, both games last season were drawn – 1-1 at Cheriton Road, where Invicta needed a late face-saver from James Everitt to earn a point, and 0-0 on a gale-blown day at The Saffrons, thanks primarily to an outstanding display from the home goalkeeper.

Cugley who gets on well with ‘Bourne boss Danny Bloor and respects the job he is doing in a town which has three non-league sides, including Conference outfit, Eastbourne Borough.

Cugley, who was speaking to www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk said: “I fully expect Eastbourne to be a good side who won’t make anything easy for us. They had a strange result on Monday (losing 3-2 at home to Herne Bay), but I’ve always felt that they will be one of the best sides in this division so this is likely to be a tough test for us.

“They’ve signed some good players like Austin and Crabbe from Eastbourne Borough, so we know we’ll need to be at our best to keep this winning run going.”

Four games in 10 days represented a hectic start for Folkestone’s numerically small squad, but Cugley added: “It was always going to be hard with two games in three days last weekend, but thankfully everybody got through it okay. We’ll have a reasonably light training session tomorrow night and then we’ll be raring to go again on Saturday.”

Cugs says his one regret so far is that his side have never been in control of games enough for him to give his eager and talented substitutes much of a run-out.

“It’s been disappointing that we’ve not yet been well on top in games so that we could give the younger lads a run out, but they’ll get their chance as soon as we can get into that kind of a situation.”

Following the Eastbourne game, Invicta entertain Gillingham in the opening round of the Kent Senior Cup at Cheriton Road next Wednesday, bringing one of the most enthusiastic of the younger managers in the game, new Gills boss Martin Allen, to Folkestone for the first time.

“The Gills and Charlton both came back into the Kent Senior last season” said Cugley. “They do seem to get drawn away all the time, but that can only be good for clubs like us around the county.

“They’ve got a big squad there and maybe this will be a chance for some of their fringe players to try to impress the new manager. It’s a good draw for us, and they’ll probably bring quite a few fans down for the game so we’re all looking forward to it.

“This competition is not one of our priorities of course, but along with this tie, we’ve also been lucky to draw one of more attractive sides in the Ryman League, Kingstonian, at home in the League Cup, so that’s another game to look forward to.”