There’s still plenty for Folkestone to play for this season despite their play-off prospects being all but over, according to joint-head coach Roland Edge.

Invicta lost 3-1 at relegation-threatened Isthmian Premier outfit Bowers last weekend despite a first-half effort by frontman Ibrahim Olutade.

With matches rapidly running out, they’re still just about mathematically in the race for a top-five finish, although a three-match losing streak has realistically ended their chances.

But Edge insists he and joint-boss Micheal Everitt won’t allow their 11th-placed troops to relax ahead of this Saturday’s home fixture against Kingstonian, who are also battling relegation.

They then have another home match against Carshalton and a trip to Kent rivals Margate over Easter.

The 44-year-old former professional said: “I don’t want to be a team at the end of the season who thinks ‘We’re mid-table so it doesn’t matter’.

“Bowers were fighting for their lives and Kingstonian will be ready. Then, we have got the bragging rights at Margate and stuff like that.

“I wish Saturday’s game was on Tuesday, to be honest. I wish it was coming sooner!

“But our objective now is to finish brightly and we want as many points as we can get.”

Invicta had been beaten twice 2-1 by late goals before they visited Bowers, where they came up against former Faversham boss James Collins, and Edge thinks those results have impacted his players.

He reflected: “It was a really tough game mentally more than anything else.

“We had conceded two late goals against Lewes and Aveley. They were crucial to keeping our play-off push alive.

"I think the lads kind of felt it a little bit, even though there’s still a mathematical chance.

“James has recruited recently and got some good players in. They did him proud on Saturday.

“Despite the fact we lost 3-1, at 1-1, they cleared two or three balls off the line.”

Long-serving defender Josh Vincent was sent off for a 73rd-minute second bookable offence and Edge had few complaints.

“I thought it was the correct decision,” said Edge, who also saw the hosts’ Valckx Fernandes dismissed at the death.

“Were there other decisions in there the referee could have been a bit harsher with? There definitely were.

“But with JV, he had every right to send him off.”

Edge felt Folkestone had been left with an uphill battle after Ronnie Dolan hobbled off with a hamstring injury, with fellow midfielder Scott Heard banned.

“They were so compact and I felt, once we lost Ronnie, they made it very hard for us to break them down,” he said.

Heard will return from suspension for the Kingstonian match, although Vincent will now be banned and Dolan is a doubt while utility player Matt Newman (groin) will probably be sidelined, too.

Edge said: “It might mean some youngsters get a little bit more time.

“But so they should.

"They have earned the right.”

Kingstonian will be out to do the double over Invicta after they beat them 2-0 in October.