It’s probably the first time we’ve had to face Hythe when we’ve not been the favourites, says Cugley

Thursday 20th December 2012

FOLKESTONE INVICTA kick-off their holiday programme with the visit of tenth-placed Chipstead to Cheriton Road on Saturday.

Four games in 11 days is not, perhaps, as hectic as at times in the past, but manager Neil Cugley admits that he’ll be keeping his fingers crossed that his players suffer no further serious injuries this weekend ahead of the Boxing Day derby at Hythe Town four days later.

Recent departures have left Invicta again down in numbers and though Cugley is “not disappointed” with the players he has left, he knows that knocks to even one or two more could leave him with serious problems for the rest of the holiday.

Cugley, whose side are in 12^th place in the table on 24 points from 17 games, told www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk: “The size of the squad is a bit of a headache and it’s up to the lads who’ve come in to show us that they can rise to the occasion.

“Young Johan Ter Horst, Ryan Philpott, Phil Stevenson and Luke Webb are now getting their chances and I’m looking forward to seeing how they respond to the challenge.

“Of course it’s disappointing to lose players like Stuart King and the rest, but the attitude of the squad we have now is spot on and one thing I can guarantee is that they’ll give everything they’ve got to try get us the results that we want.”

Invicta have generally enjoyed the better of games against Chipstead in recent seasons and won 3-1 in Surrey early this season – albeit thanks largely to a hat-trick from the departed King.

“They’ve done fairly well for the last couple of seasons, though they were slow getting going this time and changed the manager, since when they’ve really climbed up the table.

“And this really is a strange league we’re in this season – a lot of clubs have better records away from home than they do in front of their own fans.”

Reliable defender Liam Dickson looks certain to miss at least these first two games of the holiday after damaging knee ligaments in the recent 1-0 win over Tooting & Mitcham United.

“Dicko was on crutches at the weekend – he’s off them now, but he could be out for two or three weeks,” said the Folkestone boss.

Cugley’s other worry is the experienced Roland Edge whose Achilles tendon problem means he struggles to cope with two games a week.

But exciting midfielder Josh Burchell should be fit again after a recent bout of tonsillitis and is expected to return to add his attacking flair to the cause.

“We’ll have to see where we stand after Saturday, but I’m obviously hoping we come through without any further problems,” added Cugley.

Cugley’s thoughts about the strength on the road of teams in the Ryman League One Division South could not be better demonstrated than it is by Boxing Day rivals, Hythe Town, whose climb to third in the table owes a lot to their away record.

Seven of Scott Porter’s side’s ten wins this season have been away from Reachfields.

Cugley explained: “Some sides do find they’re under more pressure at home – but let’s be honest, it’s probably the first time we’ve had to face Hythe when we’ve not been the favourites, so we’ll have to see how we cope with that situation” he added.

Midfield powerhouse and skipper Dave Cook is again heading Hythe’s goalscorer – his 15 goals putting him just one behind King who scored that same number for Invicta before moving to Maidstone where he has so far scored once more.

Cugley said: “Cookie’s a good player – we’re well aware of that - and we’ll have to make sure that we’re picking him up - it would have been the same of course, if we’d still had Kingy.

“But we’ll give it everything we’ve got and let’s see what happens,”

The manager has been heartened by the form of midfield dynamo Darren Smith in recent games.

He said: “We’ve given Smudger more room since Darren Marsden went to Faversham and he’s started to remind us all what a good player he still is. It’ll be interesting to see how those two go when they come up against each other next month.”

Folkestone visit Faversham Town, another of the division’s form sides, on Saturday, January 5.
Before that – and after the Hythe game – Folkestone visit Eastbourne Town (December 29) and then face Whitstable Town at Cheriton Road on New Year’s Day.

Article courtesy of www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk

Folkestone Invicta v Chipstead
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 22^nd December 2012
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU