The work-rate of David Smith has been praised by Folkestone manager Andy Drury.

Forward Smith got the only goal in Invicta’s 1-0 victory at Cray Wanderers on Sunday.

Only turning 25 in May, Smith now has six goals in Folkestone’s last eight Isthmian Premier games and appears to be finding his best form again.

Drury said: “What I’m most pleased about with Smithy is his work-rate.

“He has a tag that he doesn’t do this, doesn’t do that, so that (work-rate) is the most pleasing thing.

“He will always get you goals. On another day, Smithy could have had four goals on Sunday.

“His work-rate off the ball was really good.”

The 13-goal former Bromley, Ashford and Sittingbourne player has enjoyed much better fortunes in front of goal under Drury than he did when Roland Edge and Micheal Everitt were in charge, the joint-bosses sacked last November.

“He had an injury that he was carrying when I first took over,” said Drury.

“He was probably not quite fully fit.

“Smithy needed a run of games and he has got that.

“The harder he works, the more chances he actually gets. He just needs to keep working and he will get more goals.

“He has 13 goals for the season but he will probably look back and think he could have got more.

“Next season, he needs to aim to get around the 30-goal mark.”

Invicta’s victory over Cray was a second 1-0 win in three and a third clean sheet in their past five games.

Drury noted: “I think we have both picked up since the turn of the year.

“If you look at our form since then, we’re both mid-table-ish, maybe a bit higher. That was how the game was - two mid-table teams kind of cancelling each other out a bit.

“But we had a bit more in terms of work-rate and desire.”

The result saw them bounce back from a 3-2 defeat at Cheshunt last Tuesday despite Smith - with a penalty - and midfielder Seidou Sanogo scoring.

Drury stated: “We have won three out of four.

“But I was a bit disappointed in the defeat against Cheshunt. I just felt they wanted it more than us and it disappoints me when that happens.

“I said to the players before Sunday that it’s an eight-game season now. It’s down to them to prove that they want to be here next season.

“People might say we have not got anything to play for but, in my opinion, they have to show that.”

With only seven fixtures to play, Folkestone are three points behind the Wands and with just a slightly worse goal difference.

“That’s our next aim,” Drury said. “Obviously, we wanted to make sure we were safe.

“We were 16 points clear of Margate, who are in the bottom four, after the weekend. So, there’s no real danger of that (relegation) now.

“If we can close in on teams like Cray, Whitehawk, Potters Bar and maybe Hashtag, we can see how high we can go.”

Defender Jake Goodman has left the club and a dislocated shoulder at Hayes Lane is expected to end Horsham midfielder Tommy Kavanagh’s loan spell. He was replaced by a debutant in Cameron Brodie.

Drury, who has managed Brodie at Margate, said: “He hasn’t actually played for a while. We have got him on dual-registration with Snodland.

“He has been training with us for two or three weeks and we can have a look at him until the end of the season.”

Next for Invicta is an Easter double-header - Lewes at home on Friday ahead of Monday’s trip to Hastings (both 3pm).

Drury said: “They will both be good footballing sides.

“Again, we will have to match their work-rate and desire. Maybe we will need to be a bit more ruthless as well.”