Matata nets on East Thurrock debut

Former Dover Athletic striker Walid Matata scored on his East Thurrock United debut yesterday after being released from his Folkestone Invicta contract at the end of last week.

The Tottenham based striker, who netted two goals for Invicta this season, scored East Thurrock United’s last goal in their 4-1 home win over Staines Town.

And East Thurrock are the visitors to the Buzzlines Stadium on Monday night as Folkestone Invicta look to bounce back from their 2-1 defeat at Ashford Town (Middlesex).

Folkestone boss Neil Cugley, who celebrates his 50^th birthday tomorrow, explained to www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk why he’s released the highly-rated player.

“Walid was one of the higher earners at the club and it makes it a bit easier to use the money to bring in more locally based, cheaper players,” he said.

“We’ve obviously got to get our squad numbers up as we were getting so short of players that it was embarrassing.

“With Walid going I can use that money to finance a few of the younger ones we’ve brought in, and there might be another one, it won’t be for Saturday but hopefully we’ll get one more in which will bring our squad up to some sort of a reasonable number.

“ To be fair if he was more of a local player, I think he would have been a very good asset as you could’ve got him training twice a week and you would see a big improvement in his play.

“With him living in Tottenham it is a long old travel down, which wasn’t always ideal for him and us.

“Sometimes he was late for training because of traffic or he was late home and at the end of the day I think it will suit everybody this way.

“We wish him all the best as we’ve had no problem with him and we hope he does well wherever he goes and we hope he kicks on.”

The bottom line remains the financial situation at the club at the present time.

Cugley said: “If anyone else comes in to help finance the club, perphaps then we could bring some more players in.

“But we’ve got three important games coming up against teams around us, which we need to concentrate on.

“I know it’s not ideal having people on trial at this time of year but it’s what we’ve got to do to see what their about and if we can get another one in, that’s five or six we’ve brought in recently.

“If two or three of them can become decent, regular players for Folkestone then it would’ve been a worthwhile exercise.”

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

Folkestone Invicta v East Thurrock United
Ryman Premier League
Monday 20^th November 2006
Kick Off 7:45pm
At Buzzlines Stadium, Cheriton Road, Folkestone