Manager Neil Cugley was delighted for his Folkestone Invicta players as they booked their place in the play-off final.

For the third time in the last six years, Folkestone Invicta can look forward to extending their season with a play-off final following a tense 2-1 victory over Whyteleafe.

Leading scorer, Ian Draycott, scored his 35th league goal of the season to give Invicta the lead three minutes before the interval. Whyteleafe drew level ten minutes after the break as Roscoe Dsane capitalised on a rare Frankie Chappell mistake to beat Tim Roberts.

With the game level after 90 minutes, the first period of extra time was eventful for Whyteleafe skipper, Jason Thompson, who diverted Jordan Wright’s shot into his own net on 93.

Less than 90 seconds later, Thompson blazed a spot kick high over Tim Roberts’ goal; and with it went the visitor’s hopes.

Folkestone’s manager, Neil Cugley, said “I’m delighted for the players and that we’ve got another home game on Saturday. We’re buzzing and we are hoping to get a big gate.”

“It means so much to us because we know the disappointment of losing a semi-final at home. But now we’re home again, and win, lose, draw, penalties, or whatever, we’ll all be together. It is such a big game, crowd-wise, financially, and it will be a big earner for the club.”

A crowd of 788 witnessed this semi-final, and Cugley admitted he “was shocked as I thought we’d get around 500, but we could look forward to over 1,000 on Saturday, and if they can get behind us we should see a better game of football.”

“I think the goal has come out of nothing, against the run of play, as they’d had the better chances up to then. But then I thought we were in complete control when they scored, so it was a bit strange how the game went.”

“I didn’t think that we played very well for large parts of the first half and maybe the players were getting a bit apprehensive or nervous as this game, I think, is bigger than the final. At least with the final you can go out and enjoy it. Semi-finals seem to have a lot more pressure.”

Having experienced the heartbreak that semi-final defeat can bring, Cugley had a word of sympathy for Jason Thompson.

He explained “he didn’t deserve that. He’s a good lad and has had a great season, so you do feel sorry for him. I don’t know how many times Jordan Wright has done that this year, coming in late and getting a strike on target; he must have been involved in four or five own goals. It was great technique for the strike, and for him to be getting in the box.”

Having just learned that Merstham had defeated Faversham 5-4 on penalties in the other semi-final, Cugley was able to reflect on his playoff final opponents.

He said “Merstham are a good side and play proper football. I think they can only play it one way, so it should make for an entertaining game of football.”

“We know our players can handle the pressure of playing in front of a big crowd. Obviously it would have been nice to play Faversham as I like the people there, but that’s the nature of playoffs.”

“We’ve more than achieved this season. Back at the beginning we said we wanted to get out of debt, which we’ve done, and we wanted to get into the playoffs, which we’ve done.”

“I love the playoffs as we’ve been here before and got promoted. Now we’re in the final of the playoffs and hopefully we can win it.”