Neil Cugley believes he’s got the core of a team which can make Folkestone successful for many years.

Invicta are surging towards the Bostik Premier play-offs but the manager’s vision stretches beyond this season.

“You look at our forward line and it’s young,” Cugley said.

“Finn O’Mara’s only 19 and Callum Davies and Scott Heard are in their mid-twenties.

“I know we’ve got some older ones around it but you can build a club for a few years on these players.

“Hopefully that’s what they want to do because they’re good people.”

Folkestone were 14th just over two months ago but now they’re just two points off second place.

Cugley said: “We had a bad spell with people not playing very well.

“Individually they weren’t at the standard required so we made a few changes after a couple of poor defeats.

“There was a bit of negativity around the club at that time, which didn’t help, but we’re pushing on now.

“Now we can’t wait for the next game. We’re playing exciting, attacking football with loads of pace.

“At the start of the season we lost games at home and that’s always disappointing for me but now we’re playing well at home, scoring lots of goals and it’s a nice feeling.”

So have Invicta returned to the sort of highs they hit last season?

“In some ways, maybe a little bit better,” Cugley said.

“I think the league’s stronger because there’s more depth to it.

“Last year there were two or three sides (who could win the title) but there’s more now. It’s really competitive.

“It’s not by luck that you beat Hornchurch 5-0 and Merstham 6-2. Merstham are right up there and I’m sure Hornchurch, with the players they’ve got, will be moving up the table, so they were big wins.”

He added: “I know I keep saying it but we’ve still got a lot of players out, people like Sam Hasler, Ronnie Dolan and Kieron McCann.

“It shows we’re quite strong and all credit to the players because they’re the ones who put it right.”