Folkestone Invicta 3-0 Chichester City - I'm glad it was a Cup game, a little bit of a chance for us to go and step up and have a bit of fun, says Folkestone Invicta assistant manager Roland Edge

Folkestone Invicta 3 – 0 Chichester City
Location	Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU
Kickoff	17/09/2022 15:00

FOLKESTONE INVICTA  3-0  CHICHESTER CITY
The Emirates FA Cup Second Qualifying Round
Saturday 17 September 2022
Stephen McCartney reports from Cheriton Road

FOLKESTONE INVICTA assistant manager Roland Edge says he wanted his side to go out and enjoy themselves during their comfortable 3-0 win over Chichester City in The FA Cup Second Qualifying Round.

Neil Cugley, who tasted his first ever defeat in charge of Folkestone Invicta when they went down to a 3-2 defeat away to now defunct side Swanley Furness in the Kent League on 20 September 1997 – 25 years ago – had little trouble against Miles Rutherford’s side.

Two goals inside the opening eight minutes through striker Ade Yusuff’s sixth goal of the season and right-back Josh Vincent put Cugley’s men in the driving seat.

Chichester City’s attacking midfielder Kaleem Haitham had a first-half penalty saved during a front foot spell from the visitors.

Wide striker Ira Jackson, 25, ended his 644 minutes goalscoring drought by opening his account in his second spell for the club, drilling in a third goal inside the final three minutes as Folkestone Invicta booked their place in The FA Cup Third Qualifying Round.

Folkestone Invicta reached the Fourth Qualifying Round (Replay) last season, losing 3-2 after extra time at home to National League side Eastleigh.

Folkestone Invicta went into this tie sitting in seventh-place in the Isthmian League Premier Division with 11 points from six league outings, going down to their first defeat in midweek when Cray Wanderers claimed a 4-2 win here.

Folkestone Invicta are four points adrift of leaders Aveley, who have banked 15 points from their first seven games, despite having a minus one goal difference.

Cugley’s men beat North Greenford United 3-1 in the last round, while Rutherford’s men arrived on the Kent coast in eleventh-place in the Isthmian League South East Division table with five points from four games.

They defeated Frimley Green (4-0), Knaphill (2-0) and Leatherhead (2-1) to reach this stage but have now suffered back-to-back defeats having lost 1-0 at home to Faversham Town in The FA Trophy First Qualifying Round in midweek.

“I would say that it was a well-deserved victory in the end,” said Edge.

“I think after the midweek game when we weren’t quite at it, it was nice to get another game in. 

“We had a lot of talk before the game about what we wanted and I thought we executed it. It was good. 

“We wanted to play football, not being funny, we’re a footballing side.  Today we asked for the boys, for everybody to want the ball and make the pitch big because we have got quality all over, so why not enjoy it, that’s the main thing.

“We said ‘go and have a game where you come off and you’ve enjoyed it’ because if you’ve enjoyed it you know you’ve done right and I think we did that today.”

It took the hosts only 178 seconds to open the scoring.

Ronnie Dolan was inside his own half and he played the ball up to Yusuff, who flicked the ball into Scott Heard, one of three central midfielders in a 4-3-3 formation.

Heard’s sublime through ball put Yusuff through on goal and the central striker drilled his right-footed shot past goalkeeper Kieran Magee from 20-yards.

“I thought we came out of the traps really fast and that was another thing that we talked about,” revealed Edge.

“It’s about time that we started at a good pace. Heardy put a great ball in behind, Ade used his power and pace and it was a real nice finish.”

Chichester City created an opening with four minutes and 50 seconds on the clock when a long ball released lone striker Josh Clack down the left channel.

Goalkeeper Bailey Vose came out to meet him inside the penalty area and failed to gather but he got back on his line to make an unconvincing save at the second attempt to deny Clack’s angled drive nestling inside the bottom near corner.

Edge added: “They actually were quite sharp, they were causing us problems. The 11 (Haitham) was coming in, the nine (Clack) was going out and he went through – I didn’t think they were going to score to be honest.”

Folkestone Invicta went up the other end and doubled their lead with seven minutes and 58 seconds on the clock.

Faced with a three-man Chichester City wall positioned on their 18-yard line, Jackson played a short pass to an unmarked Nathan Green.

The left-back took a touch before drilling a low left-footed angled drive, which was blocked by Magee’s legs at the near post.

The former Cray Valley man kept composed and put over a hanging cross with his left foot towards the back post for Vincent to steer the ball in across the keeper from a tight angle to find the bottom far corner from inside the six-yard box.

“It’s quite strange really. Our two full-backs have combined already a couple of times this year to get goals.  Greenie putting it in and JV heading it in as he does,” said Edge.

“It was nice because Greenie, he’s got quality and in the last few games we’ve had him right at the back because we haven’t really performed to the level we should. 

“Today, we all got on the ball and pushed him up the field and he gets man-of-the-match and an assist and thoroughly deserved it.”

Heard’s right-wing corner was cut back to Kadell Daniel, who beat his man on the edge of the Chichester penalty area and his shot was tipped away by Magee, high to his right.

Chichester City are a side that play it out from the back, albeit at a slow tempo and often didn’t press the Folkestone back four at the other end of the pitch.

However, after 25 minutes, Chichester City started to play on the front foot and missed a glorious chance to pull a goal back in the 28^th minute.

They linked up well inside the final third through Ollie Munt and Maitham before the ball was played in between the two centre halves to put in Clack, who was brought down by Vose, who was one of five Folkestone players to be booked.

Vose made amends, however, diving to his right and using his left hip to block Haitham’s right-footed penalty.

“We could’ve done better with Cray Wanderers’ fourth goal and today Bailey Vose saves a penalty at a crucial point,” said Edge.

“He didn’t have a choice when they broke through, there’s a big gap, he brought him down and they get a penalty and then he saves it and it was an important time. You’re 2-0 up and 2-1 makes it a different game so it was a great save and he kept us in it.”

On Chichester’s spell of possession, Edge replied: “They definitely did, at a real crucial point. That’s what I’m saying.  Bailey’s save was great because they did start to get on top, I’m not going to lie.

“I was quite impressed by them.  Their system worked, they were playing like a box in the middle but they all knew what they were doing.  They were all well-drilled. It’s alright playing that system but if you don’t all know what you’re doing it can easily go wrong and they caused us problems.

“They had a man over and they found him (Munt) regularly so I was quite happy to see that stage of the game through.”

Chichester City won the corner count 6-4 and created a half chance following their second corner on the half-hour mark.

Munt’s delivery was cleared by the first man and Haitham rolled the ball back to holding midfielder Adam Biss, whose shot from the corner of the box was charged down by a pressing Ronnie Dolan and was comfortably gathered by Vose at his near post.

The home side then strangled back possession for the final 10 minutes of the first half.

Great skill from Green saw him turn Chichester centre-half Ethan Robb down the left and he floated over a cross towards the back post where Daniel’s free header was tipped over the crossbar by visiting goalkeeper Magee.

Edge said: “Their keeper makes a good save, he got fingertips to it.  Again, it was real good quality to hung up to the back. Kads is where you want him. If you go three up front or a winger, you say when the other person gets down the outside you’ve got to get to the back stick and he does everything right and the header’s good but the keeper made a really, really good save.”

James Rogers intercepted a Chichester pass inside the Chichester half before playing the ball into Heard, who switched the play over to an unmarked Jackson on the left and his first time swept shot from 16-yards was comfortably saved by Magee at his near post.

Ronnie Dolan played a 20-yard pass along the deck to Jackson, left unmarked again by Chichester’s right-back Ryan Davidson, and the striker cut the ball onto his left-foot before his drilled low shot from 15-yards was parried away by an alert Magee.

“The keeper’s had a good game there today because we did work it well at times.  Ira struck it well on each occasion. I think Magee saved all of them by his feet but he made some good saves and kept them in it,” added Edge.

Vincent retrieved a ball close to the corner flag in Chichester’s defensive third before Heard whipped in a first time cross from the right and the ball was cleared out to Rogers, who sliced a left-footed drive towards goal from 25-yards, the ball plucked out of the air by the impressive Chichester goalkeeper going into the interval.

“I’ll be honest, we showed Chichester a bit of credit in the talk because they were causing us problems,” said Edge.

“We made the forwards aware of what they needed to do to help the midfield out and pretty much we said we had to play a bit more.  Keep playing, don’t give up because if you give up it becomes a scrappy game and we didn’t want that and I thought they went on and executed it well in the second half.”

Folkestone Invicta created their first opening inside the opening five minutes of the second half.

Green was sent crashing to the ground by Haitham’s strong challenge and Rogers played a short free-kick to Green, who linked up well with Daniel in the middle third down the left before reaching the channel and putting over a cross towards the near post.

Jackson spun centre-half Lewis Hyde at the near post but swept his shot straight at Magee from 10-yards, the keeper making a comfortable save.

When asked about Vincent’s second half knock, Edge revealed: “He’s due one, isn’t he? He just runs up and down all day, play 700 games in a career (it’s actually 553 with 28 sub appearances for Folkestone), I think he’s got a little bit of a niggle. 

“The grounds have been hard so when you come from pre-season straight into the games, the games come thick and fast and sometimes your body needs a little bit of a rest.

“We were lucky to give Robbie Dolan a bit of time today.  Robbie’s done well, he’s mixed in. It’s hard when you’re kind of performing to quite a high standard to change things.  JV’s been good but it was nice to get Robbie out there today and he didn’t look out of place.”

Daniel was released down the left and his cross from the channel was headed away by substitute left-back Lukas Micevicius and Ronnie Dolan cracked a right-footed first time drive screaming past the right-post from 25-yards in the eleventh minute.

“I thought that the changes that we made of what we asked the boys to do, they did it really, really well,” revealed Edge.

“I thought a couple of times we squeezed and we pressed them so tight that they gave us the ball and it was such a shame that we didn’t punish them for it because when you ask someone to do it and they execute it well, you want to get reward for it – but we didn’t.”

This was a dominant period from the home side as they played on the front foot.

Daniel clipped a diagonal from left to right and the ball was expertly brought down and controlled by Jackson outside the box and his right-footed angled drive was destined to nestle into the bottom far corner, only for Magee to stuck out his right leg to make the save.

“Magee must have size 13 feet, I think. He blocked everything with his feet,” added Edge.

“Ira was getting into the spots you want.  Again, I’ve got to praise the keeper, he's made some good saves.”

Vincent’s throw was laid off by Daniel into Yusuff and his deflected shot from the edge of the box was never going to trouble the busier of the two goalkeepers.

Chichester City were guilty of not having a go the longer the game went on as the second half proved to be comfortable for the Kent side.

Chichester City did create an opening following the second phase of Munt’s free-kick, which was headed away and winger Ethan Prichard recycled the ball back into the box towards the far post towards an unmarked Haitham, who failed to keep his volley down.

Substitute striker Isaac Bello offered pace in attack but Chichester City failed to utilise that threat as a resilient Folkestone Invicta defence, well marshalled by Ian Gayle and Callum Davies ensured Bose would keep his second clean sheet in eight games this season.

Edge said: “We’ve been due one (a clean sheet).  I think sometimes you can be unlucky.  I think teams have been really clinical against us, especially against Cray and someone said they had four chances and they scored all four and sometimes you can be unlucky.

“Today, I just thought we were so assured.  Ian Gayle has been a rock since he’s come in.  Greenie’s been great. We know what we get from JV (Vincent) and Callum Davies and Matt Newman. We’ve still got Matt on the bench and he’s one of the best centre-halves in the league so to keep a clean-sheet today was really pleasing.”

The game livened up inside the final 12 minutes with Folkestone Invicta creating further chances to score.

Rogers started an counter-attacking move by releasing substitute striker Ibrahim Olutade – whose three goals this season have all come as substitute – down the left and he put it on a plate for Jackson, whose weak shot was comfortably saved by Magee.

Substitute attacker Ian Draycott’s 30-yard lob was then caught by Magee at head height just 20 seconds later as the away side gave the ball away after playing out from the back.

Jackson turned provider inside the final nine minutes when he played Olutade through on goal but Magee smothered the ball to his left in a one-v-one dual.

Edge said: “Ibs can finish and he telegraphed where he was going and when you telegraph where you’re going to go you’ve got to hit it so much better.  He knows really he telegraphed it, he didn’t catch it and made it easier for the keeper.  He might’ve been better pulling it inside and slotting it with his left foot.”

When asked why Olutade’s appearances this season have all come from the bench, Edge replied: “Every game he’s played, Ibs has come off the bench and he’s created chances and you can’t ask for anymore than that and some of them, he’s put them in. He’s learning, he’s still young. Sometimes the decisions he makes are wrong but every game he comes on, he causes defences problems and that’s all we can ask.”

Folkestone Invicta’s persistence paid off as they scored their third goal with 41 minutes and 19 seconds on the clock as Jackson got on the scoresheet.

Heard was some 35-yards from his own goal and he drove forward on the counter-attack before rolling the ball over to Jackson on the right. Once inside the box, Jackson drilled a right-footed angled drive across the keeper to find the far corner from 12-yards.

Edge said: “I don’t think two Magee’s would’ve saved it to be honest.  Ira’s finishing is top notch most of the time and when he hit that, Good luck to you, you’re not saving it!

“I’m happy for Ira because I think he needed a goal. That will be the start of him kicking on.

“Scott Heard was unlucky not to be man-of-the-match. I thought Nathan Green was man-of-the-match but Heardy links so much of our creativity together. He sets up Ade for a goal and he sets up Ira.”

Ten of today’s starting 11 are ever presents this season and Edge believes the strength-in-depth will ensure his side are challenging for promotion come the end of the season.

Cugley’s men appeared to have run out of steam towards the end of last season and had to settle for a top six finish with 72 points from 42 games, four points adrift of the play-offs.

“For the first time ever since I’ve been here, they might be the ever presents in the normal Folkestone but I think we’ve got a real good bench this year.  It’s a nice strong bench and I think after last year after being so close we realised we needed more options and a stronger bench.  Some people think it’s a stronger 11, no, you need a stronger bench sometimes to get there,” explained Edge.

“I can’t speak for Cugs, even though we had loads of chats. We both were really deflated by the end of the season because we’ve gone so well all year long, we didn’t have a bench to make things happen.

“This year we sat down, Micheal Everitt, Cugs and myself and we said ‘we need this, we need that’, and then fair play to Cugs, I don’t know how he’s managed it, he’s only managed to get six or seven players in and he’s got real quality and that’s why we want to push this year really.

“The Cups were great last year, as well as our attempt of getting out of the league.  I think Cups are great for morale.  I think today we kind of needed it. I’m glad it was a Cup game rather than a league game.  A little bit of a chance for us to go and step up and have a bit of fun rather than playing for three points.

“I thought we looked better today and it might serve us well, getting a little bit of money into the club, a nice victory, a clean sheet and then we’ve got to take that into Tuesday night.”

Folkestone Invicta return to Isthmian League Premier Division action with a trip to bottom-four side Corinthian-Casuals, who have collected five points from six outings.

The Tolworth based outfit suffered a 5-0 defeat last time out at Hornchurch last Tuesday night.

“A tough game. I don’t think it’s ever easy there.  I think they’re well-drilled, they can cause a lot of problems.  You’ve got to turn up and you’ve got to be switched on because if you don’t start well there and you go one down, it’s a very, very hard place to get back into it,” warned Edge.

“We’ll go there with a game plan and hopefully put it right and work as well as we can and then we’ll find out where we are in the league.

“We’ve got to be there or there abouts.  The last two or three years we’ve been there or there abouts but they were real over-achieving seasons for us.  I think this year realistically that should be achievable so play-offs or promotion would be the aim this year with the squad we’ve got.”

Folkestone Invicta: Bailey Vose, Josh Vincent (Robbie Dolan 88), Nathan Green, James Rogers, Callum Davies, Ian Gayle, Ira Jackson, Ronnie Dolan, Ade Yusuff (Ibrahim Olutade 75), Scott Heard, Kadell Daniel (Ian Draycott 67).
Subs: Matthew Newman, Cameron Davey, Micheal Everitt

Goals: Ade Yusuff 3, Josh Vincent 8, Ira Jackson 87

Booked: Ronnie Dolan 19, Bailey Vose 27, Ade Yusuff 40, Scott Heard 65, Ira Jackson 90

Chichester City: Kieran Magee, Ryan Davidson, Eric-Georges Dellaud (Lukas Micevicius 55), Adam Biss, Lewis Hyde (Ben Mendoza 75), Ethan Robb, Ollie Munt, Emmett Dunn, Josh Clack, Kaleem Haitham, Ethan Prichard (Isaac Bello 67).
Subs: Oliver Carroll, Rai Dos Santos, Rob Hutchings, Joe Moore

Booked: Darin Killpatrick 34 (coach)

Attendance: 522
Referee: Mr Kane Dempster
Assistants: Mr Samuel Hall & Mr Ashley Rodi