RYMAN ONE SOUTH PLAY-OFF FINAL: Give me one big final effort - says Cugley

Jubilant supporters watched their first penalty shoot-out success over Leatherhead in the semi-final last Tuesday as Darren Smith, Liam Friend, James Dryden, Brendon Cass and James Everitt all held their nerve to seal a 5-3 win on penalties.

Leatherhead had raced into a 2-0 lead through a 31 minute brace through skipper Chris Boulter, before Smith and Frankie Chappell began the revival during the second half.

Heroic goalkeeper, Jack Delo, who was suffering with a foot injury, saved Joe Coke’s spot-kick – as the Kent side now look forward to playing Godalming Town with so much at stake.

Reflecting on that glorious night, Cugley told www.kentishfootball.co.uk:   “I think Leatherhead are a good side and they came at us from the word go and caused us a lot of problems.

“We had to dig in deep and second half, to be fair, we were excellent and I thought we were going to win it in normal time.

“Extra time took its toll on both teams and there wasn’t much left and I’m delighted for us to win on penalties as we’ve lost so many penalty shoot-outs in the past so that was very pleasing.”

Cugley was contemplating “where I was going to go shopping on Saturday?” when Leatherhead held a two-goal advantage – but this Folkestone Invicta side have courage and kept their promotion aspirations on track with a comeback that sent the Cheriton Road faithful home buzzing.

One last big effort and the club will be playing the likes of Cray Wanderers, Maidstone United and Tonbridge Angels in the Ryman Premier League next season.

Folkestone would have clinched the Ryman League Division One South title by three points if it wasn’t for losing ten points through going into administration in February.

Winning tomorrow will be just rewards for the young side’s efforts during the course of the season, which has seen them win 14, drawn 4 and lost 3 both at Cheriton Road – and on their travels - this season.

“I’m not just saying it because we’re in it,” added Cugley, “the play-off’s are good.  In some ways we would have been promoted if we didn’t lose ten points, but play-off’s are good as it keeps the season alive.

“It gave us great entertainment on Tuesday and there will be no sour grapes from me if we don’t win the play-off’s – I hope we do!”

Cugley calls on the Cheriton Road faithful to give their heroes passionate support tomorrow, against a Godalming Town side that finished in fourth-place in the table with 80 points – two fewer than Folkestone.

“In some ways it’s nice to be at home Saturday,” explained Cugley.  “We can be prepared, we know where everything is and it’ll be sorted out and it’s up to us to put on a good show.

“All credit to the players they have over-achieved and you have to give them a lot of credit for that.

“When we have hit a blip it’s not lasted for long.  We haven’t lost two in a row and we have haven’t been on a poor run.  It hasn’t happened.  They’ve come bouncing back and that’s why we’re up there really.  We haven’t lost many but we’ve responded straight away.”

Speaking about their mirrored home and away form, the long-serving manager replied, “To be fair to us we don’t really change our system home or away and we’re difficult to beat. 

“We don’t score enough goals – we know that – and that’s something we’ve got to change at the club – but I suppose we set out every game exactly the same so there shouldn’t be any difference home and away.”

Cugley gave his troops last night off but they will arrive at Cheriton Road early tomorrow to get back into that winning mentality.

“We have picked up various injuries over the last few weeks and people have responded and we’ve managed to bandaged them up and push them out and we felt it was better to have a night off on Thursday,” explained Cugley.

“We’ll come in early on Saturday and have an enjoyable couple of hours before the game and relax them.  We’ve done it before and we’ve been successful.  They need to be rested and we can do fitness tests nice and early on Saturday.”

And at three o’clock the heroes in amber and black will give it their all to get Folkestone Invicta back to the Ryman Premier League.

“I want them to come out of it with some pride and honour,” said Cugley.  “They’ve given it everything and given me and the club everything this season and we want to carry on for these two games.

“Godalming have got some very lively players up front, quite a lot of pace.

“They’re a good side, a very good footballing side, hopefully it should be a good game.

“We gave got a few players that are struggling a little bit but to be fair to Godalming they’ve had a lot of games as well so it won’t be an excuse at the end of the game if we’ve got tired legs, so will they.”

www.kentishfootball.co.uk will be covering this game with full report and reaction of events over the weekend.

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

Folkestone Invicta  v  Godalming Town
Ryman League Division One South Play-Off Final
Saturday 1^st May 2010
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU