“I’ll admit that I was disappointed to go out of the league cup” said Invicta boss Neil Cugley as he reflected on Tuesday night’s 2-1 home defeat against a Met Police side that included a fair sprinkling of lively youngsters.
“I had a bit of a go afterwards – but not for long. These players have done us proud this season to take us into the top six.
That defeat leaves Invicta in just one cup now this season – the Kent Reliance Senior Cup in which they face National League leaders and last year’s winner of the county competition.
That tie will now take place at Crabble on Monday, December 4th – the second successive season in which these two old rivals have faced each other in the Kent Senior with Whites having home advantage both times – last November fielding a fairly strong side with a good number of first choice players and beating Folkestone 3-0 to reach the final where they beat Welling United.
“I’ve no idea what sort of side Chris (Kinnear) will put out this time, but, realistically we’ll have to play really well to get anything out of that game, and it’s where we finish in the league that we will judge our season on.”
With five wins and two draws Invicta have already earned more points on the road (17) than in the whole of last season and have only failed to win once in seven home league matches.
Overall, they have lost just three league games out of the 16 matches they have played.
They have nine more league games between now and the end of the year – six at home and just three away.
The next match is at home next Tuesday (November 28) to Enfield Town, who they drew with away on the opening day of the season. That’s followed by the trip to North London to face Wingate & Finchley on December 2nd.
“They’re two good, solid Premier Division sides that we’ve got to be looking to get points from” said manager Cugley.
“Let’s just see how many wins we can get between now and Christmas or the end of the year – that will give us a far better idea of what we might achieve this season.”
Cugs says the return of midfielder Ronnie Dolan following ankle surgery is ‘like having a new player.’
“He had a good hour on Tuesday and barring any reaction will be back in the squad on a regular basis from now on” said Neil.
Utility player Phil Starkey, who has also been out for a long time after surgery is expected to train for the first time this season tonight (Thursday).
“Starks had a lot of problems with his shoulder, but says he’s ready to get back and involved with us” said the manager.
“We’ll see how things go in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully he will also be back in the squad sometime in December.”
Neil says that his wage budget might allow him to bring one more new face into the club, though insists that if he does, that player will have to be better than the players he already has.
“Supporters do like to see new players now and again, but I’m not going to sign anyone just for the sake of it” he said.