NEWMAN - LITERALLY! - FOR SQUAD AT WORTHING

Folkestone Invicta visit one of their happier hunting grounds of recent years when they travel to West Sussex to take on Worthing tomorrow.

A particularly memorable affair came towards the end of the club’s promotion season in 2009/2010 when a stoppage-time penalty from James Everitt clinched a 2-1 win for Invicta following a foul on centre-back Frankie Chappell.

Darren Smith had given Folkestone a first-half lead, but a hotly-disputed free-kick from Jamie Brotherton in the final 10 minutes of normal time put the Rebels back on terms before the dramatic climax and ‘Ratty’s’ coolly taken equaliser – fitting finale to arguably the younger of the Everitt brother’s best ever performance for the club.

The free-kick that brought Worthing’s equaliser produced a second yellow card and subsequent dismissal for the unfortunate Liam Dickson – a victim of mistaken identity following the foul which was actually committed by Micheal Everitt!

And last season, Folkestone snatched a 1-0 victory with a breakaway goal from player-coach Roland Edge – of all people. A coolly taken lob from the edge of the box after the defender had found himself all alone bursting free from the halfway line.

There was excellent news for Invicta this week when manager Neil Cugley clinched the signing of Chatham Town’s current player of the year, 24-year-old Matt Newman.

The six-footer can play anywhere across midfield or at the back – though, for the moment, the manager was keeping it quiet in which role he is likely to play, if he makes the starting eleven at Worthing tomorrow.

As ever, money is incredibly tight at Cheriton Road, and Newman has signed initially on a short-term deal to see how the move works out for both parties.

Cugs said: “He was recommended to me some time ago by (former player) Lee Gledhill, and Kevin Watson spoke to me about him again recently.

“His versatility should be a major benefit to us over the closing stages of this season. He lives up Chatham way, but a bonus is that he works in Folkestone most of the time.”

Neil is also pursuing a second new signing, but that is unlikely to come to fruition before tomorrow’s trip.

Phil Stevenson starts a three-match ban following his red card in the 2-0 win over Leatherhead a fortnight ago.

Cugley is hoping that ultra-reliable defender Dickson will have recovered sufficiently from the sickness bug that saw him withdrawn early in Wednesday’s goalless draw against Sittingbourne.

“I’ve not heard of any of problems, so fingers crossed we should have a couple of options.”

The manager was far from downhearted following Wednesday’s stalemate with old rival Jimmy Ward’s Sittingbourne side.

“The effort was brilliant – as it always is” he said. “We lacked that little bit of composure we needed to get in behind them in the final 20 minutes or so, but that’s what you sometimes get with younger players.

“Now we’re really looking forward to the Worthing game. They are very similar to us in a lot of ways.

“It’s a proper stadium and a proper football club.

“We’ve had them watched - they play good football and so do we so it should prove an entertaining game.”

Worthing made a poor start to the season, but are currently 11^th in the table – yet another of the clubs in Ryman One South with more wins away than at home where they have lost nine times and won only five with two games drawn.

They have 43 points from 32 games overall compared to Folkestone’s 48 from 30 matches.

Underlining a tendency to play open, attacking football, perhaps, the Rebels have an astonishing goal difference of zero with 60 scored and 60 conceded!!

On Tuesday, they drew 2-2 at Three Bridges with goals from the aforementioned Brotherton and a Scott Kirkwood penalty.