Burton's future hangs in the balance

A 7-1 victory over Kent League side Herne Bay in a friendly at the Buzzlines Stadium on Monday night gave Folkestone Invicta boss Neil Cugley the chance to field players who have not played many games recently and it gave the whole team a chance to erase from the memory Saturday’s miserable 2-0 defeat away at Slough Town, writes Andy Bown & Tom Marchant - www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk


Goals from Walid Matata, Steve Norman, James Everitt (2) and substitute Joe Neilson (3) sealed victory for Invicta on a calm spring evening at Cheriton Road. 

“We played pretty well, however no disrespect but there is a big difference between Kent League and our League,” said Cugley. 

“It was a good game to have as obviously the players were a bit down after Saturday and sometimes you just need a game to get it out the system and so it’s pleasing for us in that sense”. 

He added: “It basically gave people a run out who needed games and some needed them more than others really. 

”But any sort of injury we weren’t going to risk and it all worked out well really and I thought it was nice that Joe got on and got a hat trick and Simon Rainbow got introduced and young Ashley Burton got a game as well”.
 
The starting line up on Monday night was: Kieran Mann, Ashley Burton, Kevin Watson, Adam Flanagan, Steve Norman, Paul Lamb, James Fraser, James Everitt, Micheal Everitt, Rob Knott, Walid Matata. 

Will Dunlop and Joe Neilson came on for Flannagan and Matata after about an hour of play. 

Burton is a full back who has come down from Gillingham for a trial at the Club.  Neil explained: “He’s only on trial and nothing has been decided yet as we’re having a look at him. 

”What he’s got to do is prove he’s better than what we’ve got at the moment and so we’ll see how things develop”. 

The friendly against Herne Bay means there will be no midweek training due to the game against Heybridge Swifts being played on Friday (14th April) followed quickly by the visit of Margate to Cheriton Road on Monday (17th April).
 
Invicta’s match against Heybridge is likely to be difficult.  Since mid December the Essex based side have won fourteen out of eighteen games, which has seen them rise to third place in the Ryman Premier League and looking to push for promotion at the end season. 

Last Saturday they won 1-0 at home to Leyton and the previous week they thrashed Hampton and Richmond Borough 5-0. 

In their last four games at home the Swifts have won three and lost one to Fisher Athletic 2-1 who incidentally are positioned one place above them in the League. 

The Folkestone boss remarked: “It’ll be a tough game and they’ve spent money to get people like Dean Holdsworth in and the lad Richard Jolly who they’ve brought from Wealdstone – he is a really good player. 

”Obviously they’ve got Simon Glover too who we sold to them last year.  They had a good side last year and they’ve improved it so it’ll be a really good test for us”. 

Looking forward to the game, Cugley said: “I think it’ll be a lot better game than on Saturday (against Slough) as they’ll want to win and so they’ll come at us and that means they will have to leave spaces at the back and we’ll have to try and exploit that”.
 
Prolific striker Jolly was a major coup for Heybridge signing from rivals Wealdstone.  He has netted nine goals in eleven games and has great pace and awareness for a young forward.  His record at Wealdstone was terrific where he scored 96 goals in 151 games reaching top scorer in two consecutive seasons with 34 goals. 

Forward Holdsworth has had a long professional career, arguably having his most successful spells at Wimbledon and Bolton.  In non-league football he has played at Weymouth and Havant and Waterlooville and is sure to be a big asset for Heybridge in their promotion push with his wealth of experience and knowledge of the game. 

However, many Folkestone players will also be fully aware of the attacking abilities of former team-mate Glover who is likely to feature in the starting eleven on Friday having been a starter in recent games for Heybridge. 

Glover signed for the Swifts last October on a two year deal.  He scored 16 goals for Invicta in 54 starting appearances.
 
Cugley hopes that Friday’s match at Scraley Road will be the platform for his side to finish the season on a high note. 

Before Slough Invicta had won their last three games and Cugley added: “We want to finish the season well and we’ve had a good year really, but it’s always nice to have a good finish to it. 

”We’re determined and especially after Saturday and not performing very well, to really try and get something out of these last four games so it’s a good build up to next year.” 

He added: “If you finish the season poorly it puts you on a bit of a downer for the start of the following season.  We’ve got a nice little run in and we hope to finish the season in good heart.”
 
Company Secretary Phil Orris has informed that the next Shareholder’s Meeting is due to be held on Monday 24th April 2006 in Stripes Club, Cheriton Road, Folkestone for a prompt 19:30 start. 

Any matters for discussion should be submitted in writing by Saturday 22nd April (date of the Wealdstone match at home), by email to philiporris@hotmail.com  or by letter to the Club offices or Club shop.  All current and prospective shareholders are warmly welcomed.

Heybridge Swifts v Folkestone Invicta
Ryman Premier League
Good Friday, 14th April 2006
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Scraley Road, Heybridge, Maldon, Essex CM9 8JA