Leatherhead were my favourites before the season started, says Folkestone Invicta boss Neil Cugley

FOLKESTONE INVICTA boss Neil Cugley is relishing his side’s chance to pitch themselves against the best when new Ryman League Division One South leaders Leatherhead visit Cheriton Road on Saturday.

The Tanners hit stop spot after Tuesday’s outstanding 4-2 victory away to former leaders Walton Casuals and stayed there when fellow title challengers Hastings went down 2-0 to Guernsey in front of a crowd of almost 1,000 in the Channel Islands on Wednesday night.

“Leatherhead were my favourites before the season started - along with those two, Hastings and Guernsey - and it’s no surprise to me that they’re right up there at the top of the table,” Cugley told www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk.

“They’ve got some good players and they’re always going to be there or thereabouts, but we did once beat them in a penalty shoot-out, so how good can they be!!” he joked.

“But seriously, they’ve got a good catchment area and have picked up some good players from this side of London by training up in north Kent now. They’ve also got some money - I’d say they’re in the kind of position where we’d like to be next season if our finances keep moving in the right direction.”

One player Cugley is looking forward to meeting up with is midfielder Darren Smith - Invicta’s reigning supporters player of the year, and now the Leatherhead captain - who left Cheriton Road late last summer after four and half good years with Invicta.

Cugley said: “Smudger was great for us - he had some terrific games while he was here, especially when we went through some bad times, often waiting to be paid and at times not getting paid at all.

“I can’t pretend I wasn’t disappointed to see him go so close to the start of the season, but football can be like that and we’re over it now. I’m looking forward to catching up with him again.”

The somewhat unexpected departure of Smith and reliable defender Liam Dickson, plus the loss of keeper Jack Delo were all factors in arguably Folkestone’s worst start to a season under their long-serving manager, but, as he says, their form has picked up considerably in recent weeks.

Since slumping into the bottom four after a 3-0 Monday night loss at Hastings, Cugley’s side have taken 16 points out of the last 21 - their latest success being last weekend’s excellent 5-1 away win at Horsham.

But, underlining the challenge facing the Kent side, in that same game span Leatherhead are unbeaten, only dropping points in a goalless draw at Burgess Hill. Their impressive win at Walton Casuals in what had been billed as a crunch top-of-the-table clash was the Tanners fourth successive victory in the league after suffering their only loss so far this season in a 1-0 defeat at Hythe.

Leaving aside Folkestone’s memorable play-off semi-final win on the way to promotion at the end of the 2009/10 season, Invicta do have a decent home record against the Surrey outfit - last February winning 2-0 with goals from  Smith and the currently globe-trotting Richard Atkins - that win coming despite having Phil Stevenson sent off with an hour of the game still to go.

Stevenson was also credited with Invicta’s goal in a 1-1 draw at Fetcham Grove in March.

 Leatherhead do appear to be a more durable outfit under former Sittingbourne manager Richard Brady - whose half dozen or so Kent recruits to the Tanners’ cause include current Ryman One South leading goalscorer Tom Bradbrook who followed the manager from Sittingbourne.

Bradbrook - a thorn in the side of the Folkestone defence too many times in the past - scored twice in the midweek win over Walton Casuals at The Waterside.

 “We had them watched there and it looks a very good result - especially as I understand that several of their players got stuck in traffic and they weren’t able to field the side they would have wanted from the start” said the Invicta manager.

Cugley’s only injury doubt seems to be midfielder Michael Yianni who has had a scan on his knee but could be back for the trip to Burgess Hill next Wednesday.

Jake Beecfroft and Roland Edge are back in contention, though whether Cugley will make too many changes from the side that won so well last weekend has to be open to question.

As well as their recent much-improved league run, thirteenth-placed Folkestone have produced some impressive cup-tie performances in the last couple of months, something which Cugley says dates from around the time that Micheal Everitt returned to the club he has served so well for so long following a fairly successful season at Whtstable Town.

Cugley said: “Mev was just the kind of player we’d been missing. It was a real stroke of luck when he said he wanted to come back here and see how fit he could get after a knee op.

“He’s the kind of player who can really do a job for you and if you don’t count those cup games we lost after penalty shoot-outs (at Margate and Hungerford), we’ve hardly lost in 14 or 15 games since he’s been back with us.”

Article courtesy of Folkestone Invicta’s website: www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk

Folkestone Invicta  v Leatherhead

Ryman League Division One South

Saturday 30^th November 2013

Kick Off 3:00pm

at Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU