salisbury111204

Invicta move into top half

Folkestone Invicta made it 11 points out of their last possible 15 when headed goals from Mark Munday, Adam Flanagan and James Dryden took Neil Cugley’s side into the top half of the Ryman Premier League table with a third successive home win.

MUNDAY opened the scoring in the 38^th minute when he headed in his fourth goal in the last six matches after Andrew Burke had got down the left hand side and sent over an inviting cross.

And centre half FLANAGAN made it 2-0 two minutes later when he headed in at the far post when Paul Sykes hooked the ball back in after the attack had appeared to have broken down when Salisbury goalkeeper Kevin Sawyer had made a great save to keep out another Munday header.

Salisbury came out strongly at the start of the second half and set up a tense finish when Adam WALLACE made it 2-1 on the hour when he found the net from a narrow angle after Invicta goalkeeper Tony Kessell had saved an initial shot. It was the first goal Invicta had conceded in over 420 minutes of football.

But Invicta restored their two-goal advantage in the 80^th minute when top goalscorer DRYDEN found the net with a glancing header from Kevin Watson’s ball in. It was Dryden’s 13th goal of the season in all competitions and the delivery from the likes of right back Watson are what all strikers thrive on. Indeed, Invicta’s last six goals have all come from headers.

Dryden had been denied by goalkeeper Sawyer early on, whilst the visitors hit the Invicta crossbar following an indirect free kick.

Paul Lamb came on as a second half substitute for former Margate team mate Munday as he returned after a five-week absence with a rib injury, whilst the addition of substitutes Simon Glover and Joe Neilson added zest to the home attack for the closing stages of the game.

The result maintains a sequence of results over eight matches between the two clubs in three different divisions now whereby the away side is still without a victory.

FOLKESTONE INVICTA: Kessell, Watson, Norman, Flanagan, Guest, Lindsey, M. Everitt, Munday (Lamb 62), Dryden (Neilson 81), Sykes, Burke (Glover 70).  Unused subs: Coleman, Morrin.

SALISBURY CITY: Sawyer, Bartlett, Lisk, A. Cook, Thomas, Holmes (Howes 69), Turk, Davis, Wallace, Matthews (Phillips 64), Tubbs. Unused subs: Cooper, Bond, S. Cook.

Attendance: 361.