Folkestone manager Andy Drury admits he needs to get to the bottom of the club’s injury problems with his staff.

Invicta’s four-match winning Isthmian Premier run ended as they were edged out 1-0 at Whitehawk through a late goal last weekend.

Drury was without captain Ian Gayle while midfielder Jack Jebb had to be taken off at half-time and young defender Joel Odeniran came off not long after.

Forwards Khale Da Costa and Matthias Fanimo were also unused substitutes as they continue their road to recovery.

With Amadou Kassarate unavailable and fellow midfielder Dean Rance playing despite struggling with illness since last midweek’s 1-0 victory at Horsham through an own goal, it’s little wonder Folkestone found it tough.

Drury said: “We always seem to have one or two out at any given time.

“We seem to have picked up some hamstring injuries of late. To be fair to the players, they’re all putting in good shifts when they are fit.

“We will have a look and see what’s going on - and what we can do about it.”

On how long he expects to be without his sidelined players, Drury, forced to play defenders Gavin Hoyte and Jamie Mascoll out of position at Whitehawk, said: “Gayley might be a week or two.

“Joel is probably a week or two and Fanimo might be all right. Jebby, we’re not too sure on. It’s just about trying to get everyone fit.

“When everyone is fit, I don’t think there’s a better team in the league. But we need to look at why we’re getting these injuries.”

Drury is keen to bolster his depleted squad this week.

“We’re looking in specific positions,” he said. “We wouldn’t bring just anyone into the squad.

“We know what areas we want to add in.”

And the boss is confident of getting new faces in despite the festive period - when clubs tend to be reluctant to let players leave with squads stretched - approaching.

“We’re in a decent position,” said Drury. “There’s a couple of clubs in the league above planning to let out a few players this week.

“It’s not like it’s a week before Christmas and they’re going to hold onto them until the new year.

“We have had some positive conversations with three or four players since Saturday.

“We’ll see if we can add any of them to the squad.”

Drury was reluctant to be overly-critical of his fit players but noted it was the second time in as many seasons Invicta had been beaten late on at The Enclosed Ground.

He stated: “If you go to a place like that and cannot win, just don’t get beaten. We have conceded in the last minutes for two seasons in a row there.

“We still had enough experience on the pitch on Saturday but I cannot fault the players.

“Over the last few weeks, they have put in some really good performances and we hit the post twice. On another day, we could have nicked it ourselves.

“It was just one game too far.”

Among Invicta’s unused substitutes at Whitehawk was youth-team player Lucas Dent - younger brother of Kennington striker Fin Dent - albeit it didn’t prove the right match to throw him into.

Drury explained: “I put him in the squad for Saturday and it was a good experience for him.

“But I don’t think it was the right game for him to get some minutes in, really, where it was not a great game. It was very physical.

“They just did that side of it ever so slightly better than us.”

Next up for sixth-placed Folkestone is Saturday’s home match against Cheshunt, now led by Mel Gwinnett after the departure of long-serving Craig Edwards in October, before a journey to Potters Bar on Tuesday.

“We’ve had a little look at them,” Drury said of Cheshunt.

“We’ve seen who they have played. But games like that are more about us.

“Before Saturday, we were going in the right direction and playing some good football. We just need to go back to doing that.

“We have four games before Christmas and, if we can win three or four, that’ll set us up nicely.”