Folkestone boss Neil Cugley was heartened by his team’s performance in their narrow 1-0 defeat by big-spending Dorking Wanderers at the Fullicks Stadium on Saturday.

“This is a very difficult period for us, but I’d like to believe that we’ve left our worst performance (the 4-1 defeat at Kingstonian) behind us now. With Finn O’Mara’s arrival it’s given us a lot more strength at the back, Finn, JV (Josh Vincent) and Mev (Micheal Everitt) are all strong players and together gave us a bit more backbone in the side.

“We could easily have won the game, let along not losing it, but their keeper had an excellent game and good luck to Dorking – they’re putting plenty of money in this season.

“Along with clubs like Kingstonian, Hornchurch, Bognor and Margate it was this a far more open league this season. But I think we can come through this stronger.”

Cugs says that he must thank one member of the board for funding the fee involved in big defender O’Mara’s move from Gillingham and another director for paying the players’ wages and he added: “Some people don’t realise how difficult it is for a club like ourselves. We’ve already had to let one player (Jack Evans) go and another could be on the way soon to make the books balance.”

It’s a situation Cugley has had to live with for majority of his long career at Invicta and for the time being there are no immediate plans to look for any further recruits, though if the right player came along at the right price Invicta would still be interested.

But having lost by just that solitary goal on Saturday to Dorking side who had not been beaten since the second weekend of this season, Folkestone now face further stiff opposition as they travel to Bognor – whose away win over leaders Tonbridge leaves them as the only unbeaten side in the Bostik Premier Division.

The 250-mile round trip to Bognor is Folkestone’s longest journey of the season, but it’s followed just four days later when they visit Lewes at their famous and popular Dripping Pan ground this weekend.

And handful of places may still be available on the Supporters Mini-bus to Lewes, please contact John Law (07957 688435) to find out if there is still room.

Utility player Phil Starkey missed Saturday’s game through work commitments and is not available for a while now. Starkey works for a school in north Kent and is paid on a match-by-match basis with suits both parties for the moment at least.