We'll deal with everything that is thrown at us, says Cugley

NEIL CUGLEY’S side earned themselves a creditable point at the weekend against league leaders Kingstonian, making their hosts look very much an ordinary side at Kingsmeadow in front of a particularly impressive away following, writes Tom Marchant.

The Folkestone Invicta boss, speaking to www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk, said: “We deserved it and to play so well against some good players it was pleasing to see. Credit to us as we had a game plan and we stuck to it.

“We knew how they set up and we set out to stop them playing to their strengths which was why I was so pleased with our defensive performance, particularly with so many young lads in there.”

Cugley made one change from the previous weekend, bringing Josh Vincent into the midfield in place of Kieron Byrne.

“He had a very good game and we changed it slightly to make sure we were tighter in midfield and I think it worked,” said Cugley.

“To be fair to JV he’s played in two games; against Cray and Kingstonian away, two of the top sides in the League. Some young lads would go missing or not come out with much credit but he has come out with a lot of credit from both games.”

Striker James Dryden was Invicta’s saviour again, grabbing a goal just before half time following a cross from the left hand side by Josh Burchell.

“We knew second half they were going to chuck everything at us and we defended very well,” praised Cugley.

“Perhaps we could have kept a clean sheet but it wasn’t to be. The lad who scored got in behind us and he’s a decent player and he punished us. But then after they scored I thought we dug in well and deserved our reward.”

Folkestone welcome mid table outfit Merstham to the Buzzlines Stadium on Saturday, with Invicta without Micheal Everitt (one match suspension) and Liam Friend (three match suspension).

And Cugley said: “We’ve got a bit of cover though and obviously who we play will depend on how we set up against Merstham. We’ll miss Liam as he’s a defender who is playing well and we haven’t really got anyone else who can play in that position. Mev does the holding midfield job so well and he had a good game on Saturday and fortunately he is only out for one game.

“It is a bit annoying as when you get a result like last weekend you want to be able to play the same formation and say to them to go out and do the same again and carry on but we’re unable to do that.

“The reserves haven’t got a game Saturday so there should be a chance for one or two of them to get on the bench. We have to be a bit careful taking players from there all the time as it’s not fair on them and they’re doing well at the moment, beating Dover and then Ashford on Saturday who are top and you think of the players I’ve taken from there and it’s very good indeed.

“Mick Richmond is a good lad and deserves a lot of credit for what he does, especially when the first team manager is nicking his players!”

Billy Shadow continues to recover from a crunching tackle endured last month against Corinthian Casuals and although the young defender hasn’t sustained any breaks or ligament damage, the injury is taking time to heal and he was subsequently withdrawn from action early in the reserves match last weekend. Shadow will be assessed after light training this week.

Invicta are also being cautious with Jimmy Jackson, with the 32 year old experiencing a hip problem recently.

Speaking about Merstham, Cugley said: “We’ve had the run down on them and they’re a good side, they’ve got some good players and it’ll be another hard game. They’ll probably be reading our website so I won’t be saying too much about them.

“Our lads have got to show now they can do it week in week out as I said to them before the game on Saturday.

“Anything that is thrown at us we’ll get on and try and respond to it as it’s no good feeling sorry for ourselves or hiding away.

“We’ll keep putting the younger lads in and we’ve got great faith in them and we should also give credit to our older players as they’re nice lads and good with the younger ones.

“It was tremendous support from our fans on Saturday. We’re trying our best to keep them entertained and I think in our last four away games we have done well, played some good stuff but we want to do well in front of our home fans as well.”

Article courtesy of www. www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk

Folkestone Invicta v Merstham
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 22^nd November 2008
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Buzzlines Stadium, Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU