Neil Cugley says there are no excuses for Folkestone’s poor away form and their run of seven games in nine on the road is the time to get it right.

After last night’s (Tuesday) trip to Ryman League, Premier Division promotion chasers Leiston in Suffolk was postponed, Invicta have claimed just six points from their opening 12 away games – the worst return in the division.

By contrast, Folkestone’s home form is among the top-five in the league, despite Saturday’s 3-1 home defeat to title-chasing Havant & Waterlooville.

Cugley said: “There is no excuse for us to be not good away from home. We are lucky to have a nice ground and a nice pitch to play on but near enough every team in this league has decent facilities and there’s no reason why it should be any different for us – it’s not like they are playing in front of thousands.

“We have near enough a full-strength squad now and it’s up to us to show we can perform away from home – it shouldn’t affect us.”

Cugley claimed Invicta’s record had ‘hardly been mentioned’ in the dressing room, although he added: “We did tell them after the game on Saturday that now’s the time to show we can do it away from home because we’re going to need to, with seven of the next nine games away.”

Invicta have also played a lot of the title-chasers already, with just three games left against top-five sides this season, including the rearranged trip to Leiston.

Cugley added: “We have played a lot of the top sides and it means we have a lot of games to come against teams on a par with us. Those are the kind of games we need to win to control our destiny.”

Saturday’s hosts Kingstonian are one of those sides, sat four places and five points above
Folkestone.

Cugley said: “We beat them at home and although people say they are a good side and should be higher in the table, they are not.

“Hopefully, we can go there and show what we did (in their last home game) against Lowestoft and keep putting points on the board. We don’t want to get dragged down there (in the table)."

Callum Davies (suspension) and Ian Draycott (unavailable) are back after missing the Havant game while Ronnie Dolan (ankle) could be back in time for the Worthing game at the Fullicks Stadium on February 11.