Folkestone Invicta are just four wins from promotion and manager Neil Cugley is having the time of his life.

The 59-year-old has experienced most things in football but even he is amazed to be 18 points clear at the top of the table going into March.

Cugley’s side, who have led Ryman League Division 1 South since August, extended their lead further last weekend and know now they could be crowned champions before Easter.

He said: "It’s hard to believe. I’ve been involved in non-league football for 42 years, since I was 17, and I’ve never known anything like it.

"It’s unbelievable. When we’ve lost a game – and we’ve only lost four all season – we then go and win loads after that. That’s where the players have been so good. They haven’t gone on anything like a bad run.

"We lost one to Ramsgate when the lad hit two worldies, we lost to Faversham which is the only one we’ve lost at home, we didn’t lose for ages after that and then we went to Dorking and lost on a difficult pitch. We lost to Hythe, which was disappointing but again on a difficult pitch and apart from that, we’ve just kept going."

Folkestone have nine games left to collect the 12 points they need to go up.

Cugley said: "We want to get it done and plan for next year. With every win and every point, it gets closer. We are getting so close now but it could be the worst hiccup ever. You’ve got to think like that as well so let’s make sure we do it.

"We just set out to win the next game or not lose the next game. That’s all we’ve done.

"We’ve tried not to talk about next year at all, just about winning the next game."

Read the full story in the Folkestone & Hythe Express.