Neil Cugley says Saturday’s win over Lowestoft gives Folkestone the perfect launchpad going into games against three of the Ryman League, Premier Division’s top teams.

The 4-1 success at the Fullicks came after back-to-back losses and set Invicta up nicely for Saturday’s visit of title-chasing Havant & Waterlooville followed by trips to Leiston, on Tuesday night and then Kingstonian a week Saturday.

Cugley said: “It was a massive win for us, an important three points.

“We have two or three tough games coming up and if we hadn’t got that result, then we could well have been dragged down there.

“To get the win like that has given us all a big lift going into this run of games and a bit more of a cushion over the bottom sides.”

The three points took Folkestone 10 clear of the relegation zone and just 10 behind the play-off places and up to 14th place.

Cugley added: “If we play like we did on Saturday, we will give them a good game.”

Cugley recalled midfielder Sam Hasler after a five-match ban and double Golden Boot winner Ian Draycott up front alongside leading scorer Joe Taylor and the boss was repaid by an impressive display to bounce back from going behind against the run of play.

Cugley said: “We played well for the whole game. It was the best we have played for ages and we were near-enough full strength again.

“We went back to the formation we had been using earlier in the season and it worked well. Hasler was excellent and Draycott played well. It showed how much we have missed them.

“We made a mistake at the far post and they got the goal but we didn’t panic. We just said to carry on playing and we did that and got the rewards in the second half.”

The only low point for Cugley was an injury to Ronnie Dolan, who was carried off on a stretcher.

However the Invicta boss said: “He’s had an X-ray on his ankle and it’s not broken, it’s just a ligament and hopefully he’ll just be out a couple of weeks.”

Newly-returned Draycott will join Dolan on the absentee list as he has a family funeral on Saturday, while Callum Davies serves the final two games of his three-match suspension.