Kentish Football 
My lads will give everything to stay up, says Folkestone boss Neil Cugley
Monday 31st January 2011
FOLKESTONE INVICTA boss Neil Cugley says tomorrow’s trip to Hastings United is a very good chance of getting themselves out of the relegation zone, writes Stephen McCartney.
Invicta are one of five clubs all within one point at the bottom of the Ryman Premier League table and victory at The Pilot Field will take Cugley’s side above their opponents with seventeen games remaining.
Hastings have slumped to 19th place in the table with 18 points from 25 games, two places above the Kent side, who have the same number of points, but with one game in hand.
Folkestone’s chances of collecting three points look good, as Hastings have lost their last nine league games and their last league win was sixteen games ago - a 2-0 home win over Harrow Borough back on 2 October.
Looking at the league table, Cugley said: “I call them the famous five. I think anybody’s got a bit of money maybe they can get some money together and get out of that. Otherwise it will be four of those five (Aveley, Hastings United, Maidstone United, ourselves and Croydon Athletic, that go down)
“We haven’t got any money to change anything so we just have to run with what we’ve got.”
Speaking about Hastings, Cugley said: “I don’t know why they’re doing so poorly, they’ve got some good players there. I’m a bit shocked they’ve gone on that run. It’s a big game but they’ve lost to Aveley and Croydon Athletic so it’s up to us to show we can get something out of this game.
“We need to get some wins to stay up.
“I think the whole of the league is fairly close really. I wouldn’t say anyone we’ve played has been outstanding.
“It’s just a tough league. There’s not many big victories in it, just the odd goal here and there so we’ve got to make sure we don’t give any silly goals away and take your chances.”
Cugley has every faith in his players to get the club out of the mire.
“They’re good lads, I keep saying they are,” said Cugley. If they weren’t they wouldn’t have stayed. I can’t knock the effort and commitment and one thing about my lads is they will give everything to stay up.
“I’ve said before, there will definitely be no players coming in so we just have to get on with it.”
Cugley has re-jigged the points target he thinks his side need to reach to avoid a return to Division One South after just one season in the Premier.
“I think it’s going to be less than usual by the look of it, unless someone pulls away and gets a lot of wins,” he said.
“We went down with 50 (points) a few years ago. I was aiming for 50 off but the middle 40s may keep you up this year.”
When asked what his side must do, Cugley simply replied, “Winning some games really. If we played like we did against Harrow - we played well against Bury Town and we played well second half against Billericay - so I’m still not to despondent with what we’re doing.”
The versatile James Everitt was forced off at half-time of Saturday’s disappointing 4-2 defeat away to Billericay Town at the weekend, but Cugley hopes striker Paul Jones will come back fighting fit at Carshalton Athletic on Saturday to score the goals to beat the drop.
“I’m hoping Paul Jones might be in the squad on Saturday, which would be a massive bonus for us. He’s a good player, a great outlet. He was playing absolutely really well for us and we’ve missed him and we haven’t really recovered from that.”
Visit Folkestone Invicta’s website: www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk
Hastings United v Folkestone Invicta
Ryman Premier League
Tuesday 1st February 2011
Kick Off 7:45pm
At The Pilot Field, Elphinstone Road, Hastings, East Sussex TN34 2AX
Red Dragon I.T. Ltd