Cugley holds crisis meeting to improve Invicta's fortunes

Folkestone Invicta manager Neil Cugley held a crisis meeting with his players and staff on Monday night to discuss recent results and poor performances.

Invicta slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Kent rivals Maidstone United last Saturday - and Cugley felt it was time to act to turn the tide.

“We were obviously very disappointed with Saturday’s performance and thought we’d put on an extra training session,” he told www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk.

“Richard Shittu came down as well and then afterwards the coaches had a meeting.

“We discussed how we felt we could kick the club on and in particular players we are possibly looking to bring in and the different systems we could play.

“After Saturday's disappointment, and really to be honest the last few games have not been good enough, I thought it would be better not to lose my temper but sit down after training and look at how we can improve things for the better”.

A month has now passed since Invicta applied to the F.A for international clearance on Shittu, who has recently been playing League football in Poland.

With no objection received from the F.A, Richard will go straight into the reserve squad this Saturday whilst the first team travel to high flyers Chelmsford City.

Two goals from versatile Welshman Andy Martin secured all three points for the Stones at Bourne Park last weekend.

“Generally I didn't think it was a very good game,” admitted Cugley. “The pitch wasn't very good, it was very bumpy and that didn't help the entertainment value and apart from the first quarter of an hour, we never looked like we were going to score and to be honest neither did they.

“I don't think Maidstone were in any way better than us and they pay a lot more in wages than we do but there wasn't a lot of difference.

“We both had a few players out. We had Kola, Mark Saunders and Brems out and they're the spine of our team and are in important areas for us. I would say they are possibly the three most consistent players for us so far this season”.

The Invicta boss hopes to have a near full strength side to travel to Chelmsford with and assuming no fresh injuries were picked up during their Kent Senior Cup defeat at Chatham Town last night, Cugley should have a full squad to choose from, aside from Leigh Bremner, who continues to recover from injury.

“We've got a tough game coming up at Chelmsford but after that we have two weeks off and it will give us a chance to get some training in and work out on where we're going wrong and it'll definitely give us time to get over injuries,” explained Cugley.

“I hope by the time we come to play against Hendon on 1^st December it'll be a better side than we have now and the new faces we hope to bring in will have bedded into the side”.

Fans would have noticed the recall of creative midfielder Martin Chandler and solid defender Roy Guiver from Herne Bay at Chatham and both players will surely be pushing for a place in the squad on Saturday. Ellis Remy scored a second half brace coming on for Chandler at half time during the 3-2 Kent Senior Cup first round loss.

Cugley’s attempts to bring in fresh faces continues though after the announcement last Friday of the capture of centre back Tom Bryant from Gillingham, on a one month loan.

Bryant signed professional forms with Gillingham in May this year and was part of a cohort that included Frankie Chappell, who has been outstanding in defence for the Seasiders so far this season, with favourable comparisons made by Cugley to former captain Adam Flanagan.

“It is a must that we bring in new faces but the defence and the goalkeeper are very good and they don't necessarily need changing,” said Cugley.

“It is the final third that has been poor and I would say that was even true of our 11 game unbeaten run when we were still unhappy about the fact we weren't scoring enough goals.

“We've tried different systems, some of which have worked, some haven't. Our system away from home does its job but isn't very pretty to play but at home we can't play that and have had to change the system which hasn't worked.

“We are nearing to bringing in a few more faces and believe me there has been a hell of a lot of phone calls last week - I'm talking 50 to 60 phone calls.

“They're still ongoing but we are starting to get a reaction from the ground work we put in last week and I'm getting closer to the players I would ideally want in the side”.

Travelling fans who watched Invicta play Maidstone last Saturday might also have noticed former Folkestone player Scott Lindsey at Bourne Park.

Lindsey spent several seasons at the Buzzlines Stadium and was player-coach. He is remembered as an inspirational captain on the field and a leader off the park.

Cugley said: “Scott's a good lad and we still keep in touch and it was good to see him. He is exactly the sort of person you would like to have around the club and at one stage we did ask him to come back and help out but he's got other jobs at the moment and he is a family man and has just had another child.

“So he hasn't got the time to put back into football at the moment”.

Article courtesy of www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk

Chelmsford City v Folkestone Invicta
Ryman Premier League
Saturday 17^th November 2007
Kick Off 3:00pm
At Chelmsford Sport and Athletics Centre, Salerno Way, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 2EH