Mitten losses race to face YMCA in Cup clash

Folkestone Invicta host Horsham YMCA in the first qualifying round of the FA Cup at the Buzzlines Stadium tomorrow, in what everyone connected with the Ryman Premier League club hopes will be the start of a memorable FA Cup run.

The FA Cup continues to provide immense excitement for all supporters of the beautiful game and for non-league clubs such as the Seasiders, a good run can provide a big boost to club coffers.

Invicta fans will have fond memories from the 2005-20 FA Cup run, which saw the Seasiders reach the first round proper, where hundreds of fans made the trip to watch Folkestone take on League Two side Chester City at The Deva Stadium.

It was Invicta who took the lead through the since departed Adam Flanagan, before Chester came back in the second half to clinch a 2-1 victory.

That run saw the Seasiders defeat Egham Town (3-1), St. Margaretbury (1-0), Staines Town (2-0) and Aylesbury United (2-0).

Manager Neil Cugley, now in his eleventh season at Folkestone Invicta, told www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk: “The FA Cup is always important, it’s an absolutely tremendous competition and it doesn’t matter when you’re in it, when you get knocked out it is very disappointing.

“It’s getting bigger and bigger financially and obviously it draws big crowds when bigger teams come to us so it’s a great competition to be involved in”.

Last season Invicta came from behind to defeat Ryman Division One South side Whyteleafe at Church Road, with an 89th minute penalty from Kevin Watson securing progression into the Second Qualifying Round – Adam Flanagan grabbing Invicta’s first goal.

That match marked the first senior start for local hot prospect Ben Sly, with fellow youngster Liam Friend making only his second first team appearance for the club.

The Second Qualifying Round saw Folkestone meet bogey Cup side Welling United. Invicta were by far the better side at Cheriton Road in a 1-1 draw.

The Wings had taken the lead after half an hour through centre back Chris Moore, who headed home a Jamie Day free kick. But Folkestone equalised through fans favourite Ellis Remy, who powered the ball in off the underside of the cross bar after a nod down from striking partner Paul Jones.

But for the third time in six seasons Invicta were cruelly knocked out of the competition in a replay defeat at Park View Road, despite taking the lead through a stunning free kick from the since departed left back Steve Norman.

The Wings hit back through ex-Herne Bay striker Danny Kedwell (2), who was signed by Conference side Grays Athletic for the start of this campaign, and Che Stadhart.

Former Invicta defender John Guest who was in the Welling side that night set up the Wings equaliser.

The Seasiders defeated Horsham YMCA 4-1 away in their final pre season game through a Kevin Watson hat trick and one from James Corbett.

Cugley though is under no illusions that August’s result will have little meaning in Saturday’s encounter.

“It will be a completely different game. It’ll mean a lot more to them than the pre-season friendly did and they’ll look at our home record and fancy their chances, coming to us with no pressure,” he said.

“We had them watched Saturday against Whitstable and I know their manager really well so I’ll have a chat to him about Horsham and as I said, this is our chance to improve our home form especially, and to get our fans behind us we need to play better football.”

Invicta therefore will be seeking to get their first home win of the season after early defeats to Wealdstone, Ramsgate and Boreham Wood.

However, Folkestone will be buoyed by wins last week away at Tonbridge Angels (2-1) and Heybridge Swifts (1-0) that saw the Seasiders move to 13th in the Ryman Premier League.

Horsham have only won one game so far this season in Ryman Division One, defeating Eastbourne Town 2-1 at the end of August.

In their two away matches so far this season they have lost 1-0 to Dulwich Hamlet and 2-0 to Kingstonian. Whitstable inflicted a 1-0 defeat on Saturday’s opponents who presently sit at 18th in the table.

The Sussex sides poor start to the season could be attributed to the departure of Tommy Sampson to Redhill in the close season which meant the club had to rebuild after an excellent 9th place finish last year.

Invicta’s opponents were boosted by the news that Dean Carden and Glen Woodburn both rejected moves to Redhill before the season start but Sampson did recruit left back Nick Levett from YMCA.

Also leaving the club in the summer was top-scorer Scott Kirkwood to Hastings and Dover's new goalkeeper Dean Ruddy.

The Invicta squad is currently suffering from a few knocks picked up in recent away victories and the manager will be without the services of influential midfielder Jimmy Corbett for Saturdays game however, as he revealed to the club website earlier in the week the Invicta boss is working to add an attacking midfielder in time for Saturday’s game. The match against Horsham was also pencilled in as goalkeeper Charlie Mitten’s comeback game.

Cugley stated: “Charlie definitely won’t play Saturday, Kieron will be in goal again. He has done everything I’ve asked and he has looked very solid and it would be very unfair to leave Kieron out. Charlie is almost fit but I want to give him as much time as possible to recover properly”.

Article courtesy of www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk

Folkestone Invicta v Horsham YMCA
FA Cup (Sponsored by E.ON) First Qualifying Round
Saturday 15^th September 2007
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Buzzlines Stadium, Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU