Cugley left unimpressed by horror show

It’s hard to believe that two sides from the top four in Ryman One South could have produced such a poor and forgettable game as the clash between second in the table Leatherhead and fourth placed Folkestone Invicta proved on a sunny Spring afternoon in Surrey, writes Mick Cork.

Leathered took the points with the only moment of quality of the day, a fine strike by their top scorer Tom Bradbrook after the ex-Sittingbourne forward was gifted possession following an uncharacteristically sloppy piece of play from one of Invicta’s usually more reliable defenders, Frankie Chappell, after 16 minutes.

At 1-0 down Folkestone had plenty of time to get back in the game but they played right into their hosts’ hands with Johan Ter Horst struggling to make headway against giant centre-backs Jamie Coyle and especially big Jerry Mnamani. Matt Newman and Nat Blanks worked hard in midfield but Ter Horst and Paul Booth were forced to live off scraps while the hosts were no more impressive at the other end of the field.

Invicta boss Neil Cugley, pictured, threw on all three subs as Mike Yianni and Phil Stevenson replaced Micheal Everitt and Josh Vincent midway through the second half and James Everitt took over from the injured Dane Luchford a few moments later. Skipper Liam Friend battled hard to hold his side together though it was Leatherhead who looked more likely to add to their lead than Folkestone ever were to finding an equaliser.

Boss Cugley had hoped his side would turn up refreshed after a rare midweek off but it was a Leatherhead side who - by the admission of ex-Folkestone midfielder Darren Smith have barely trained at all since Christmas following flooding of the Fetcham Grove ground who held on to take the points.

And with two of their main play-off rivals closing up behind them in the table Folkestone know they have to play considerably better than this unless they want their final game of the season on Guernsey to become meaningless.

The manager had said in midweek that this result was not “the be-all and end-all of our season” but another poor performance like this could prove exactly that.

“I can’t recall a game when a side of mine has not had one shot on goal,” said Cugley after home goalkeeper Deren Inbrahim was never tested throughout this dire 90 minutes.

Folkestone travel to the same neck of the woods when they visit Walton Casuals on Tuesday night.