Play-off despair
NEIL CUGLEY admitted half his team had a "terrible" game as Folkestone Invicta's play-off dream ended in a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Dulwich Hamlet.
Hosts Hamlet netted a goal in each half and looked to be cruising to the final before Stuart King netted to set up a grandstand finish five minutes from time.
But it was too little, too late and although chances came to net a dramatic equaliser, it wasn't to be.
Boss Cugley admitted his side weren't at the races and reflected on the 2-1 loss as a game of what might have been.
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He said: "I'm so disappointed we haven't caused them many problems.
"I said at half-time: "Don't go home disappointed that you haven't given everything. Don't get on the coach knowing that you've not contributed to the game" and I thought too many people didn't contribute.
"Smithy (Darren Smith), (Darren) Marsden and (Josh) Burchell were terrible and Kingy (Stuart King) didn't come alive until the end.
"James Everitt has had a great season but he was poor and you're left with half your side having a really having a poor game.
"You're not going to win when you've got so many people playing poorly on the night but they've not let me down all year – it's hard to fault them.
"Roland Edge was absolutely exceptional for us in midfield. He looked like the only one in there and at his age he shouldn't be the one standing out. You should be looking at the other lads to be standing out a bit more.
"If you lose, you lose but I just felt there's four or five who've had their quietest game of the season."
Cugley bemoaned the fact that his front two weren't in the game against a Dulwich side that in the first half did look vulnerable.
He said: "I thought in patches in the first half we were the better side but we were poor up front and didn't really cause them any problems to be honest.
"Do I have any regrets? Maybe I should have stuck Frankie Chappell up there a bit earlier because the front two didn't do much for us.
"As soon as he went up there we scored and we looked far more dangerous. I thought we were in with a chance but it was a bit too late."
"We've said before that we've achieved what we wanted to achieve to get in the play-offs but to not play well is disappointing."
The boss refused to point the finger of blame at goalkeeper Jack Delo for the opener after he was caught off-guard from a free-kick that allowed Ray Powell an easy close-range tap-in.
He said: "You have to give credit to their lad. Jack should've held it but Kevin James is a player who has played at a higher standard who's switched onto the situation.
"He's seen Jack was going to the far post so he's driven it in at the near post and Jack's in two minds what to do.
"He should've done better with it but to be fair Jack's had a good season."
But with nine of the squad already committed for next season, there's no reason for too much doom and gloom.
He added: "We'll bring in a couple in the summer to freshen it up. Hopefully we'll have a slightly bigger budget next year but with no chairman at the moment it's hard to tell."
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