Andy Drury’s Folkestone Invicta are away to Cheshunt in the Isthmian Premier Division on Saturday

lcawdell@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 05:00, 28 February 2024 | Updated: 09:52, 28 February 2024

Folkestone Invicta manager Andy Drury is confident of pulling clear of the Isthmian Premier danger zone.

Drury’s men played out a goalless draw with the team directly above them in the table, Potters Bar, last night (Tuesday) and visit Cheshunt, a side battling against the drop, on Saturday.

Folkestone manager Andy Drury is confident they won’t get dragged into trouble Picture: Randolph File

Folkestone are 10 points clear of the relegation places after the midweek match and Drury is only looking up.

He said: “You have to be confident and I believe in the squad we’ve put together.

“We can beat the bottom teams and the top teams and we have had some good results, beating the likes of Billericay and Enfield.

“On another day, we should have got a win against Carshalton and last Saturday against Whitehawk.

“It’s not ideal when we don’t win the games but the performances have been really good. There have just been some moments in games that we’ve been punished for that we need to cut out.

“I wouldn’t want to rule us out of the relegation battle but I think that we will be fine.

“Every performance that we have had since the turn of the year has been good, having put a new squad together. We have lost three games since the turn of the year, two of them we should have got at least a draw and Hornchurch you could argue we could have got a draw had we not had a man sent off.

“We just had a few problems with people being out and we are nearly up to full strength now.

“I am expecting us to go on a run if we keep putting in these performances, defend our box better and get the odd goal more than we have done.”

There was a precautionary pitch inspection on Tuesday ahead of the Potters Bar game -the surface passing a morning check - after Folkestone’s weekend match against Concord Rangers had been postponed following heavy rain.

The original fixture against Potters Bar was also postponed and the club issued a statement on Monday saying: “As a football club we are very disappointed to have seen both matches postponed.

“Not only do we wish to cause as little disruption to the players, officials and supporters of both clubs involved, but with postponements affecting our income and cash flow, we always wish to get fixtures on.”

Fans were urged to check on social media before matches when there’s bad weather to avoid unnecessary travel.

Drury said: “It is frustrating but at the same time, as much as we want to play the games, there is literally nothing you can do about.

“The game was fine on Saturday morning but it just started raining constantly all afternoon and the pitch was waterlogged quite severely by the time the game would have started.”

Isthmian League Premier Division table

Behind the scenes, meanwhile, there’s been a change of kitman as Michael King - formerly of Faversham - has replaced Andy Payne, who leaves after six years in the job.

It’s a role Drury knows is important and he said: “Kingy is probably one of the best kitmen around in the non-league scene, he has done brilliantly since he came in.

“I have known him for many years and when he became available, it coincided with our kitman wanting to pack it up. Andy had been really good for the club as well.

“It all fell into place really unintentionally. Kingy is down the ground setting up at 9.30am and he’s really good around the lads, they all appreciate it.

“It is about getting a group of staff and players all pulling in the same direction and if there are some things needed doing sometimes it doesn’t take me to tell them to do it. Kingy has it all covered, as have all the staff.

“As a club we are getting there and not far off where I want us to be. Hopefully we can get the results to see us through to the summer and then keep building.

“There is a lot of positivity around the place and people can see the performances are there, it is just the odd moment where we are getting punished, which is the story of our season.

“Clubs near the top seem to have the luck and we haven’t had it. We need to create our own luck and we’ll keep going out there.”