Welling United 7-1 Folkestone Invicta - Wings add to Invicta's woes

WELLING UNITED 7-1 FOLKESTONE INVICTA
Kent Senior Cup Quarter-Final
Tuesday 10^th February 2009
Richard Murrill reports from Park View Road

FOLKESTONE INVICTA’S young side suffered an uncomfortable second half as they crashed out of the quarter-finals of the Kent Senior Cup last night.

Invicta had actually opened the scoring through Kieran Byrne and only trailed 2-1 at half time before conceding five goals in a 25-minute second half spell.

This was always going to be a daunting tie for Invicta against a club two divisions higher than them in the non-league pyramid.

And the absence of the cup-tied Jack Delo and Darren Smith and the injured Liam Friend saw the small Invicta squad stretched to the limit.

Smith had played in the Chatham side beaten 6-0 by Invicta in the previous round and his absence gave a first senior start to Simon Rainbow. Goalkeeper Charlie Mitten, who had kept a clean sheet for Invicta at Chatham, was ineligible for his new club Welling.

News that Invicta goalkeeper Delo had played in an earlier round of the competition for Ramsgate came late in the day and Paul Egan was given only his second Invicta start and his first appearance for the Folkestone side since coming on as a late substitute in the club’s 5-0 Kent Senior Cup semi final win at Bromley back in March 2004.

The ankle injury Friend sustained at Metropolitan Police on Saturday saw the versatile James Everitt adopt yet another new role, this time as sweeper.

Whilst Invicta did not actually play that badly, the harsh fact is that this equalled the club’s record ever defeat in senior football, their previous 7-1 defeat coming down the road at Crockenhill in February 1993.

And it was not the first time that Invicta have been on the receiving end of a heavy Kent Senior Cup defeat at the hands of Welling.

The Wings had beaten a stronger Invicta side 6-1 at Cheriton Road in February 2003 when they could afford the luxury of having current Sittingbourne manager Gary Abbott – then a renowned striker – play in goal.

James Dryden was the only survivor of Invicta’s line up that night, though Egan was an unused substitute.

The Invicta goalkeeper must have wondered what had hit him during the second half after he had made several good saves during the opening 45 minutes.

Welling dominated the opening ten minutes as the ball nearly fell to striker Richard Stevens inside the Invicta penalty area during the opening seconds.

James Baker shot against the post in the seventh minute and Lee Blackburn looked set to open the scoring a minute later but Egan saved at the expense of the game’s first corner.

Centre half Jack Parkinson shot over from the edge of the penalty area and a Sonny Cobbs free kick clipped the Inivcta crossbar in the 11^th minute when Frankie Chappell was booked for pulling back Baker.

Yet it was Invicta who opened the scoring in the 12^th minute when Byrne was put through down the right hand side, went round goalkeeper David Wilkinson and planted the ball into the net for a well-taken goal.

But Welling were level in the 19^th minute when Chappell cleared a cross from the right for a corner and Stevens eventually converted Blackburn’s set piece after Egan had made a double save.

Egan then touched Blackburn’s 21^st minute free kick from the left onto an upright and out for a corner.

Invicta had a good chance to regain their lead in the 23^rd minute when Byrne won the ball, broke and squared it to striking partner Dryden, but home goalkeeper Wilkinson came out to make a vital save. One sensed then that it was a chance that Invicta needed to go in.

The visitors had some more defending to do in the 33^rd minute when Loui Fazakerley got in behind Josh Burchell down the right hand side and played a dangerous ball across the Invicta goal which Baker couldn’t quite convert at the far post and Chappell got the final touch to play the ball out for a corner against his parent club.

At the other end, Byrne shot at Wilkinson when Dryden charged down the goalkeeper’s attempted clearance.

Egan saved with his feet to deny Baker at the expense of another corner in the 37^th minute when the ball went past James Everitt.

And Invicta centre half Liam Dickson made an excellent saving tackle two minutes later when Sanchez Ming’s ball over the visiting defence put Stevens away and he seemed set to score again.

But Welling went ahead in the 41^st minute when Burchell was penalised for a challenge on the right hand edge of the penalty area and Cobbs’ subsequent low free kick crept into the far corner of the net.

Invicta’s best chance of restoring parity came in the 57^th minute when Dryden shot across goal after Chappell had touched the ball on and it flew past Byrne at the far post.

From then on the game went downhill for Invicta as Welling took control.

The home side brought on substitute Charlie Sheringham and within a minute the son of Teddy had scored.

The striker was there in the 60^th minute to tap the ball into the net after Baker had squared it back across from the right hand side of the penalty area when Fazakerley’s shot came back off the post and rolled across the goal following a one-two with Sheringham.

Billy Swallow replaced Burchell and the Invicta substitute also nearly made an immediate impact but his 66^th minute shot was saved for a corner by Wilkinson after some great play from Byrne in a move started by Jimmy Jackson.

But Invicta were to be left exposed during the closing stages.

Sheringham struck again in the 70^th minute to make it 4-1 when he went round Egan and calmly put the ball into the net after being played through.

Blackburn was then close in the 77^th minute when Fazakerley played the ball in from the right.

And it was Blackburn who made it 5-1 in the 80^th minute when he drilled the ball in after substitute Ayden Richards rolled it across.

Richards himself made it 6-1 in the 82^nd minute with his first senior goal as he slotted the ball in having been put through the middle following an exchange of passes between Baker and Sheringham.

And Blackburn completed the rout in the 84^th minute when he blasted the ball home when Sam Hurrell played the ball to Sheringham down the left hand side and the substitute pulled it back.

This was the first heavy defeat suffered by Invicta’s young side since they were introduced after the club’s well-documented financial problems saw personnel changes during October.

Welling United: Wilkinson, Ming (McEnteggart 55), Cobbs, Johnson, Parkinson, Andrews, Fazakerley (Richards 77), Blackburn, Baker, Stevens (Sheringham 58), Hurrell.
Subs: Morgan, Cottrill

Goals: Stevens 19, Cobbs 41, Sheringham 60, 70, Blackburn 80, 84, Richards 82,

Booked: Ming 53

Folkestone Invicta: Egan, Vincent, Burchell (Swallow 63), Rainbow, Chappell, Dickson, M Everitt, Byrne, Dryden, J Everitt, Jackson (Neilson 77).
Sub: Dix

Goal: Byrne 12

Attendance: 104