Invicta hoping return of Smith gives Folkestone the Edge
Joint-head coach Roland Edge emphasized the importance of David Smith enjoying his football again to help him find his goal-scoring form at Folkestone. After a year at National League Bromley, from where he had loan spells with other clubs in the league, Smith has returned to Cheriton Road
Edge, who is in charge alongside joint-boss Micheal Everitt, said, “We know what Dave can do. We know his strengths, it’s about the team playing to his strengths. For myself and Mev, it’s about getting Dave happy. I think he thought, last summer, ‘My career is taking off’ but it didn’t quite pan out that way. He went on loan to a couple of clubs in our league. If you could ask him, I think he would have been happiest back with us. But, because he had left, that was never an option. He’s back now, though, and getting Dave happy again is a main aim.”
The team’s pre-season recently continued with a 2-1 friendly loss to higher-division Dover, but Edge remained positive, saying, “There were loads of positives. We have got a lot of new faces for the first time in a long time. They’re getting to know what we want and it’s not going to happen overnight. Dover had a lot of trialists and a lot of good players. I don’t think it would be too out of order to say we could have gone in with a lead at half-time. We just lacked a little bit in the second half but, overall, it was good.”
Regarding a spectacular goal from midfielder Ade Cole, Edge commented, “It was quite an audacious effort! I don’t mind that. When you have set-pieces, you want people like that around them. He could see he [the Dover goalkeeper] was off his line but, to be honest, it was still a heck of a hit. In many ways, it unsettled the half. But, overall, Ade has settled in really well and I like him.”
Edge also discussed in an interview with Kent Online Sport recent off-the-field changes at the club, with a consortium of businesses taking over the day-to-day running of operations, while Neil Cugley, the legendary ex-boss, assumed a director of football position. Edge said, “It’s good. Cugs did just about everything – the washing up to the grass. The club has been spoiled by how hard he works. But these people have come in and seen, on the pitch, it’s all right. They can see something could happen at the club. It’s not about doing it all in a month. It’s about getting the infrastructure right.”
Looking ahead to their upcoming fixtures, Edge mentioned, “You have got to play everyone twice so it doesn’t really matter too much, does it? Wingate & Finchley is a lovely place to go. It’ll be red hot so there’s no real excuses. But we’re just focusing on ourselves at the moment.”
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