We can't carry on like this, admits worried Cugley

Folkestone Invicta’s disastrous start to the season continued this time at the hands of Leyton at the Buzzlines Stadium.

Manager Neil Cugley, in spite of the possibility of new signings, started with the same line-up that held league leaders Bromley in their last home game but the side could not build on this respectable result as they went down 3-1 on Saturday.

Neil Cugley, speaking to www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk on Sunday expressed his disappointment at the result and his thoughts on the game.

“I was very disappointed with how we played Saturday, we played well last Monday and I was hoping we could kick on from that but we played very poorly,” he said.

“It’s hard to pinpoint where things are going wrong but it’s time for changes because we can’t carry on like this.

“I said to the players after the game that I feel let down and I keep making excuses for them but they’re not giving me enough and some of them are just not good enough.

“Every side we’ve played this season has been that little bit sharper than us and this is only a reflection on the players.”

Leyton strolled into a three goal lead with goals from Leli Bajada in the first half who scored his fifth goal of the season and then, two more in the second half from Honeyball and Alderton sealed the victory for Leyton who were never really troubled in their own penalty area.

The Folkestone manager was particularly annoyed with the goals his side conceded, explaining: “Again, Saturday we just didn’t have enough in all areas, Leyton were a good side, they’ve strengthened in the right areas, are stronger than last year and were quite a handful really.

“The disappointing goal was the second from a corner when we’ve already arranged who’s picking up who from the corner and we gave a free header away and that sealed the game really because we were never going to have enough to come back from 2-0 down.

“We can’t do that in this league because there are some good strikers about. As I say, I don’t think we deserved to win Saturday.

“With the other two goals, I think with the first Micheal Everitt has got caught, he got turned too easily and I think that typified our lack of pace and to be fair the third was a great goal, the lads hit it from thirty odd yards and you can’t really do a lot about those.”

Invicta have now scored the least amount of goals in the league and have yet to take the lead in a single league game this season. Chances are at a premium and this was again illustrated in Saturday’s game.

One positive that can be taken by Invicta fans was Ellis Remy’s first goal for the club and his ability to trouble defenders with his height,

Cugley acknowledged this fact adding: “Obviously Ellis got his goal and he was genuinely one of the few players on our team that did do well on Saturday. He puts the defenders under pressure and gives us something to play off and he does that well. We will review whether he stays by the end of the month and it depends on if he asks for too much money but also he may not want to stay.”

The Folkestone boss has so far had a frustrating time of late in attempting to attract players to the club in an effort to inject some pace and quality throughout the team and to stop the slump of worrying results.

He wanted to clarify through the website how his efforts have not yet come to fruition:

He said: “I’ve been trying to make changes and bring players in but the players I’ve wanted, I haven’t been able to get hold of.

“I thought I had got Simon Osborn signed or near enough sorted out during last week but he joined Bromley end of last week and scored on his debut and the other player I was hoping to get was Lloyd Blackman but he also joined Bromley and scored on his debut so that’s the way things are going for us at the moment.

“The most disappointing thing about managing Folkestone sometimes is trying to get the players we want and we miss out on so many because of geographically or financially.

“We’ve tried different systems, different formations, trained hard, trained easier to try give a bit of variety but now’s the time to get new players in but that’s easier said than done.

“Now we’ve got third reason why players won’t come and that’s because we bottom of the league and no-one wants to be playing for a relegation team”.

The Folkestone boss again reiterated what the run of results meant to him but showed no signs of defeat which is a refreshing attitude through these difficult times:

“I am getting worried, course I am - we haven’t won yet this season and every defeat that comes along is depressing and it ruins my weekend and you just want the next game to come along to put things right.

“Even though things aren’t going well, I know we won’t get relegated even now, there’s still a considerable amount of games left to turn this round and I haven’t even thought about that side of it”.

Folkestone will be aiming to forget their torrid experiences in the league with two away games in different cups against Ryman Division One South opposition.

Cugley, like many fans, sees this as an opportunity to make a fresh start and get the first win on the board:

“I am looking at these two cup games to get our season up and running but away from home they’re going to be tough,

“Dartford are up the top of their league and Whyteleafe picked up a good result this weekend so both of them will want to put one over us, especially as they’re a league below us.”

First up is Dartford away in the Westview Cup. Dartford have made a bright start to life in Ryman One after being transferred from Southern Division One (East) and currently lie third in spot with ten points after a weekend home defeat to bottom club Hastings United.

Invicta go into the game with Cugley promising to play a more or less full strength side.

He revealed: “I do want to win this one and I won’t take the game lightly. I will start with Liam Friend, he had a good pre-season and I want to start giving him some experience because he’s very much in the mould of John Guest who became such a good player and if he does well he has a chance to start on Saturday. I haven’t got anymore injuries from Saturday.”

Visit Folkestone Invicta's website: www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk