Neil Cugley says Invicta’s surge up the table has led him to mixed emotions about Folkestone’s standing in the Ryman League, Premier Division.

After their promotion last season, Cugley targeted a season of consolidation in the higher division but a sparkling run of form – four straight wins – has taken them within three points of the play-off places ahead of this week’s action.

Cugley’s side were set to seek a fifth-straight win at Leatherhead before Wednesday evening's game was postponed due to a frozen pitch.

Cugley said: “It has been going nicely and I guess you do have mixed feelings. You want the players to be positive and ambitious but at the same time things in this league can change so quickly. If you lose two or three on the trot and suddenly everything changes.

“We’re certainly not getting carried away. We have a run of games coming up, Three of our next four are against Dulwich Hamlet, Bognor Regis and Tonbridge – teams that are going to be right up there.

“You can’t normally compete with finances like they’ve got over a season but I guess that doesn’t always have to be the case.”

The visit of Dulwich on Saturday (3pm) sees Invicta renew rivalries with a side who came from behind to hammer them 6-1 in September.

Cugley said: “I don’t like to use the word revenge but we were disappointing up there and it was our worst defeat for a long time.

“It showed us the level required in this division and that we needed to up our standard.
“It came as a bit of a shock as we’d not started too badly. It was a reality check but we learned from that game.

“A lot has changed since then and it’s up to us to show them we have improved since that game. They are a good side but I hope we can show that we can be, too.”