Invicta face dog-fight in their last two games

AFC Wimbledon left the Buzzlines Stadium on Saturday afternoon with a 1-0 victory over Folkestone Invicta in what could be a pivotal match for both sides in the Ryman Premier League season, writes Andy Bown & Tom Marchant.

Securing all three points was vital for the Dons as they sought to keep their place off aspirations alive and with Margate defeating Chelmsford 3-1 the victory was all the more important for the visitors.

However, for the Seasiders – who mathematically are not yet guaranteed Premier League survival – failure to secure a point (or possibly three) may yet prove decisive in the final games of the season.

"I’m disappointed because they’re a massive club with a massive wage bill and I thought we matched them for a lot of the game so that is something we can take from the match and its showed how far we’ve come on in the last couple of months as a football side," Invicta boss Neil Cugley told www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk.

"I was expecting them to be on top for a lot of the game. But like against Bromley and Chelmsford recently where we’ve done well, our defence was strong for majority of the match.

"We were disappointing in the final third and to be honest we didn’t look like scoring and it’s an area we’d love to improve in the summer, but it’s all about what money is available.

"We have got players like Jimmy Corbett though who we all think is superb but we haven’t even seen anywhere near his best yet and he just needs a good pre season with us in order to get him really fit for the start of the next season".

The Seasiders started the match with the line up that finished the thrilling 3-3 display away at Tonbridge on Easter Monday, with commanding captain Adam Flanagan and striker Paul Jones both sidelined with groin injuries.

Therefore, a relatively small Invicta squad was reduced further and the Folkestone bench offered little options to change the starting eleven throughout the game.

"It is certainly something I’d like to improve to have more depth to our squad," said Cugley. "I think if players like Rob Knott and Martin Chandler can get themselves fully fit for next season and they would be an excellent pair of lads to have available every week.

"It was disappointing as we didn’t have anything to change the game with and you look at the AFC squad and they had the likes of Jermaine Darlington who they could bring off the bench who had League experience.

"Rob needs to have a good pre season and he needs to lose some weight. He has recovered well from his injury and is fine now.

"I just hope he has got the appetite to get back to his best for next season because if he hasn’t got that and he doesn’t want to lose the weight then it will be very tough for him to get back to his best."

The best chance of the match for Folkestone came when the referee awarded a penalty to the hosts after James Corbett had gone down in the area after he was positioning himself for a shot after the ball hung in the air.

Invicta’s penalty taker Kevin Watson who has not missed a penalty all season watched his spot kick parried away by the Wimbledon goalkeeper.

"I honestly couldn’t see if it was a pen or not because it was so far away and there were so many bodies in the box," said Cugley.

"But it was disappointing to miss it because I think had we scored the penalty we would’ve gone on to win it because they had so much pressure on them to win from their fans and a goal from us would’ve made it even more difficult for them."

He added: "I’ve started to watch the pens again because Kevin’s taking them! He has scored every one this season and I have watched all those and I hoped if I watched it we would score.

"It was a big penalty miss because we’re still not safe and it could’ve been the difference between three points and safety.

"Kevin does put his hand up and take them though and he has scored every one this season so you can’t be too harsh on him. I just hope it doesn’t prove too crucial at the end of the season."

Three minutes later the Dons got the match winner as the prolific Richard Jolly, who had been signed recently from Heybridge Swifts, scored after an unmarked Steve Ferguson and got down the left and played a ball into the centre for Jolly to slot into the back of the net, much to the visible frustration of Cugley.

He said: "It was a poor goal to concede because the ball got played into Ellis when we were attacking and he lost control of the ball.

"Their player attacked down our right hand side when Ratty was caught up the field going forward and they scored.

"It was a poor lay off originally from Ellis to be honest and he’s got to do better than that and he can’t lose possession so easily in important areas and he wasn’t under a lot of pressure at the time so that’s why I was so frustrated."

Ben Sly was again deployed in an unaccustomed role at left wing back with Paul Lamb left on the bench, and he put in an impressive performance which earned the Folkestone based youngster the man of the match award.

"Ben would be disappointed not to score just after half time as he had a very good chance, getting forward well," said Cugley. "Even though he missed it was pleasing he got forward and that he was trying to get forward at every chance he could.

"Some of these local lads like Ben have got a good future ahead of themselves if they can stay fit and keep learning and they’re going to be an important part of the Club for the future.

"I don’t think we’re ever going to be a big spending club so you’ve got to give these players a chance and stand by them."

Fellow youngster Liam Friend and North London based centre back Samuel Kola Okikiolu again turned in superb performances at the heart of the Invicta defence.

"I thought Liam Friend was outstanding again yesterday and it’s exciting to realise how mature his performances are at only 19 years of age and I think he could turn into the next John Guest and be even better," said Cugley.

"We obviously want to keep quality defenders like Kola for next year and the defence is the area that we haven’t got any problems in."

Seasiders player-coach Mark Saunders was dismissed on 75 minutes after allegedly elbowing Wimbledon player Luke Garrard, who was also subsequently booked for his role in confrontational scenes involving both sets of players surrounding the sending off.

Cugley explained: "When I spoke to Mark afterwards he felt it was very harsh as the lad was running behind him, they came together and by the time the ref looked round his arm was up and that’s what he sent him off for.

"I didn’t see it and it was an off the ball incident, but Martin Chandler who was standing right next to me saw it and he said it was very harsh."