Folkestone Invicta boss Neil Cugley has questioned whether his players want to stay up after they threw away a winning position against relegation rivals Hendon on Saturday.

Cugley described Invicta’s second-half display in the 2-1 home defeat as rubbish and admits, that with just three games remaining, his side now face a real battle to preserve their place in the Ryman League, Premier Division.

The defeat left Invicta 19th, just one point above the drop zone and Cugley said: “I’m not normally one to criticise the players but it almost seemed as if they don’t want us to stay up.

“We played OK in the first half but they just went into their shells in the second half and let everyone down.

“I was embarrassed. We (the manager, assistant Roland Edge and coach Jason Lillis) just could not believe what happened.

“We had a long talk afterwards and told the players what we thought of it.”

Ahead of the game, Cugley had hoped his players would rise to the occasion but in the end he thinks too many of them shirked from the challenge.

He added: “Looking back it was probably the biggest game some of them have played in and they did not cope very well.

“These are the sort of games where you’ve got to stand up and be counted but in the second half too many of the players went missing.

“Edgey, Jason and I were so disappointed. I’m starting to question if the players have got the passion we need to play at this level.”

Cugley was hoping for a big response from his players in training this week and he will need one.

Invicta travel to fifth-placed Enfield on Saturday and host seventh-placed Tonbridge on Easter Monday before finishing the season at already-relegated Grays on April 22.

The manager reckons they might need to win two of those three games to stay up.

He added: “A couple of weeks ago I said I didn’t really want to go to Grays needing a result to stay up but I’d take that now.”

Utility man Phil Starkey is due to have a shoulder operation this week and faces six months out, while Josh Vincent misses the Enfield game but returns for Monday.