Regular personnel brings Invicta success

A hat trick from Ellis Remy and one from strike partner Paul Jones made it three straight victories in the Ryman Premier League for Folkestone Invicta on Saturday afternoon at the Buzzlines Stadium, writes Andy Bown & Tom Marchant - www.folkestoneinvicta.co.uk  

Boss Neil Cugley again named an unchanged starting line up for a fifth consecutive match and Matt Carruthers returned to the squad after nursing a groin injury picked up against Whyteleafe in September.

Promising 16-year-old Josh Burchell also took his place on the bench alongside Walid Matata, Ben Sly and goalkeeper Luke Stonebridge.

Invicta got off to a flying start with two goals in ten minutes. Ashford based forward Jones put the ball away after three minutes when played through down the left channel.

Forward partner Remy then made it 2-0 to the Seasiders after eight minutes after being played in by Jones himself.

“Things are looking pretty strong up front at the moment,” beamed Cugley. “Ellis is getting goals regularly and he and Jonesy are working exceptionally well together.

“Then we’ve got Walid (Matata) and Matt (Carruthers) on the bench who are very good forwards too and they are itching to get back into the fold – but they will have to prove that they are worth their place in the team”.

Walton & Hersham made the score 2-1 after twenty minutes when centre back Will Jenkins put his side ahead with a header from a corner.

Invicta hit back almost immediately through Remy again when a forceful run into the penalty area by Jones saw his shot blocked off the line by a defender, and Remy was on hand to score the rebound from the centre of the box to make it 3-1.

Remy completed his hat trick in first half stoppage time with a scissor kick finish when the ball was played in from the right by Paul Jones in a moved initiated by Micheal Everitt, capping off a fine passage of play by Invicta.

Cugley said: “We got off to a good start with Jonesy latching on to a through pass and slotting the ball home. The goals from Ellis were all calmly put away and he rounded his hat trick off well with an excellent finish.”

The Folkestone boss praised striker Remy. “It’s great to see him get a hat-trick as he’s worked so, so hard on the training pitch to not only get fit, but to fit in with the lads and it’s starting to pay off for him now. But I still want more goals from him!

“He and Jonesy deserved their joint man of the match for their goals. Even though they (Walton & Hersham) weren’t great at the back, we’ve still got to capitalise on it.

“I’m especially pleased with Paul Jones because he’s given the team so much in these past few games and he fully deserved his goal.”

After dominating proceedings in the first half Invicta let Walton & Hersham back into the game in the second, to round off a game that was full of goals.

Walton substitute Scott Edgar scored a brace in three minutes. After nodding in a cross from the right after 74 minutes, Edgar tapped the ball into the net after a shot from Eben Allen trickled past Tony Kessell.

Cugley said: “We had to give their side some credit because we said to the lads at half time their strikers were looking lively and had put us under a bit of pressure and we just had to be weary of that threat in the second half.

“The second goal we conceded was disappointing because we let the man go at the back post and he had a free header and this was when we’d missed two or three guilt edged opportunities.

“After that I knew it was going to be difficult as they had absolutely nothing to lose so they chucked as many people forward as they wanted and it did cause us problems.”

The Surrey sid had pulled off one of the more surprising scorelines so far in the Ryman Premier League when they thrashed fourth placed Horsham 5-1.

“Walton’s attacking play was good and you could see why they scored goals against Horsham. Fortunately for us they were poor at the back and it allowed us to play and get the ball into their box.”

Invicta’s defence typically held strong under pressure from the visitors, expertly marshalled by captain Adam Flanagan with fellow centre backs Kola Okikiolu and Liam Friend improving by the game as they improve their match fitness and League experience respectively.

The Folkestone manager also praised the contributions of wing backs Kevin Watson and Steve Norman for the ability of the pair to get forward and play a significant contribution to the attacking threat of the side.

He said: “Well it’s pleasing to see more fluent play from the team as a whole and we are creating more goals, which is always nice for the fans to see, especially at home.

“With Norms and Watto pushing further up the pitch and joining in with the attacks it has helped our play and I think Kevin Watson in particular has improved immensely in the right wing back role.

“Watson really should have scored in the second half and it showed how far forward he was getting.”

Saturday’s victory which saw Folkestone climb to 15 in the Ryman Premier table and was the ideal response to the defeat at Welling earlier in the week.

Cugley explained: “Obviously the players needed a lift and everyone was a bit disappointed after Welling but it was nice to get back to winning ways and get a third win in a row in the League.

“If Walton won then they would have gone above us and we would have been in the bottom four but instead we have a little bit of a gap now.

“It was a lovely day to play football though; the pitch was good, there wasn’t too much wind and to be fair to the players they came back from Tuesday with the right attitude.

“We gave them Thursday off and told them to come back with a smile on their faces and to be prepared to get another win and that’s exactly what they’ve done.”

With Ashford Town drawing 1-1 in an F.A Trophy match against Waltham Forest on Saturday, Invicta’s scheduled Kent Senior Cup game tonight has had to be postponed as Ashford welcome Waltham Forest to the Homelands on Tuesday night in their FA Trophy replay.

Cugley said he was disappointed the match wasn’t going ahead as he was hoping to give games to Matt Carruthers and Walid Matata on their return from injury, as well as playing Ben Sly and Luke Stonebridge to enhance their match fitness.

But the squad will now train twice this week as per usual with the next League game at home to bottom placed Hendon on Monday 16 October.

Cugley also clarified the Club’s position at present with regard to arrivals and departures at the Buzzlines Stadium stating, “The budget is still fairly tight and I said if we went out of the FA Cup I would have to review the squad.

“It’s still to be discussed with the Chairman and the Directors. The situation with Luke Howell at the moment is that we have got talk things through but he hasn’t played as yet at Gillingham so we’ll have to wait on that one, but we’re certainly still interested in bringing him in on loan.”

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