The pressure is all on Maidstone - there's no pressure on our lads, says Folkestone boss Neil Cugley

FOLKESTONE INVICTA made it sixteen points out of the last twenty-one with another heartening performance during their 1-1 draw at a windy Eastbourne Town last night.



”We were the better side again and we had a perfectly good goal disallowed,” manager Neil Cugley told www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk.

“But I wasn’t surprised. Their manager had been on at the referee most of the game and he didn’t need much of an excuse to rule it out when Richard Atkins forced the ball in from a corner around 15 minutes from time.
“We were the only side going to win the game by then – I don’t think they had a shot in the second half.”

Eastbourne took the lead on 23 minutes but Phil Stevenson levelled from the spot with his third penalty in as many games some five minutes later, and it stayed at 1-1 untill the final whistle.

Josh Burchell and Nat Blanks both picked up knocks, but are expected to be fit for Saturday’s big clash with league leaders Maidstone United at Cheriton Road when Invicta are hoping for their biggest home crowd of the season so far.

Cugley said: “Yes, we’re all up for that now and as far as I see it, the pressure’s all on them.  There’s no pressure on our lads and we’ll just go out and give it our best shot.”

The Stones sit at the summit in the Ryman League Division One South table, with 54 points from 26 games.  Jay Saunders’ side are six points clear of Dulwich Hamlet, who have three games in hand.

Folkestone Invicta, meanwhile, climbed up to seventh-place in the table, with 40 points from 25 games, two points behind fifth-placed Sittingbourne.

Saturday’s match marks a probable return to Cheriton Road for striker Stuart King following his mid-season move from Invicta to the title chasers.

Cugley reckons his reliable centre backs Liam Friend and Frank Chappell will be doing their best to keep King quiet, if he is involved after missing Stones’ 3-1 win at Corinthian Casuals on Tuesday.

Cugley said: “We all know what Kingy can do, but as we’ve seen to our benefit so often in the past, he can always produce something out of the ordinary.”

”We can just go out and enjoy ourselves. These are the kind of games we really look forward to.”

When asked about how many fans the club are expecting on Saturday, Cugley replied, ”I’ll be disappointed if we don’t get at least six hundred.”

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

Folkestone Invicta  v  Maidstone United
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 9^th February 2013
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU