Folkestone Invicta 2-1 Dulwich Hamlet - I've always said that we won't be the finished article until mid-November, possibly December - the ultimate aim is to be in the play-offs, says Folkestone Invicta boss Andy Drury

Folkestone Invicta 2 – 1 Dulwich Hamlet
Location	Cheriton Road, Folkestone, Kent CT19 5JU
Kickoff	19/11/2024 19:45

FOLKESTONE INVICTA  2-1  DULWICH HAMLET
Isthmian League Premier Division
Tuesday 19 November 2024
Stephen McCartney reports from Cheriton Road

FOLKESTONE INVICTA manager Andy Drury believes his side are close to being the finished article after dominating Dulwich Hamlet for large chunks of this one-sided Isthmian League Premier Division game.

A crowd of 762 braved the bitterly cold conditions at Cheriton Road to watch an impressive Folkestone Invicta side dominate for around 70 minutes and the 2-1 scoreline flattered Hakan Hayrettin’s men, who lacked desire and put in a lacklustre performance on the Kent coast, as they suffered their fifth league away defeat in seven.

Folkestone Invicta created and missed so many goalscoring chances – including a saved Daniel Smith penalty – before impressive attacking midfielder Amadou Kassarate finally broke the deadlock two minutes before half-time.

The 28-year-old doubled his side’s lead – with his fifth goal of the season – before Dulwich Hamlet scored with their only shot on target, through 32-year-old winger Luke Wanadio’s 13^th goal of the season.

Drury’s side were knocked out of The FA Trophy in the Second Round at the weekend losing 2-0 at home to Hanwell Town – but they brought back centre-half Ian Gayle and wingers Matthias Fanimo and Joe Turner for tonight and the home side looked hungry and determined to get the big-spending Kent club’s play-off aspirations back on track with this dominant performance.

“I thought from start-to-finish, every single player was fantastic and that’s the best team performance that I’ve seen at this level in the three years or whatever it is that I’ve been at this level,” said Drury, who was interviewed from inside his warm manager’s office.

“I thought first half we had so many chances, utterly fantastic. I haven’t seen a better performance from a team since I’ve been watching this level.

“Dulwich had no (chances), we must’ve had at least 10. It’s just one of those things, I thought the first goal was important.  We were just creating chance-after-chance and we didn’t give them a sniff.  As soon as they got the ball, we had two or three players on them. I thought we were fantastic for the whole game really.

“First half we dominated and second half we had to show a little bit of difference but we were still creating so many chances and it’s just fantastic – I can’t really say much else.”

When asked about their FA Trophy exit at the weekend, Drury said: “I got a little bit of criticism on Saturday but there needs to be a bit of realism about it.  You don’t just click your fingers and get a squad together.  We’ve had to re-jig a few things.

“Joe Turner’s come in, (Matthias) Fanimo’s come in. People are getting up to speed. You don’t win a League in three months, even Saturday we had five players out. If you take five players out of any squad at this level or the level below, or the level above, it’s going to be an uphill task.

“Luckily, we had Ian Gayle tonight, we had Joel Odeniran back tonight, we had Joe Turner back tonight. We had a fully fit Fanimo back tonight and it’s made a difference and you could see the boys wanted to prove people wrong because we got a lot of stick since Saturday, which people are entitled to their opinions but we’ve come out with all guns blazing.

“If the fans aren’t happy with that performance out there today then we might as well give up and go home – I thought we were fantastic!”

Dulwich Hamlet’s malaise set in after only 68 seconds when Kassarate played the ball out to Fanimo on the right channel and the ball was cut back to right-back Gavin Hoyte, who floated in a deep cross towards the back post where goalkeeper James Horlick allowed the ball to slip through his fingers and drop behind for the first of five corners for the home side.

This set the tone, as Folkestone Invicta produced a good move with the impressive Fanimo playing the ball out to left-back Frankie Del Morgan (who was later withdrawn through a hamstring injury) and he played the ball inside to Fanimo, who swept a first-time left-footed shot straight at the goalkeeper from 12-yards after three minutes and nine seconds.

Smith then laid the ball off for holding midfielder Dean Rance, who unleashed a first-time right-footed drive, which flashed past the left-hand post from 25-yards, as the home side created another chance (6:14).

Smith was guilty of a glaring miss with 10 minutes and 52 seconds on the clock.

Central midfielder Jack Jebb rolled the ball out to Fanimo on the left, who easily got past Dulwich Hamlet’s left-back Jerome Binnon-Williams to reach the by-line before putting it on a plate for Smith, who somehow sent his free-header over the crossbar from six-yards at the near-post.

“I think we could be here all night going through the chances,” added Drury.

“We do need to be a bit more ruthless and clinical in front of goal but we’ve got two goals tonight.”

Smith wasted a glorious chance to make amends as he had a poor penalty saved by Horlick with 12 minutes and 58 seconds on the clock.

Rance fed Turner down the left and he drove into the penalty area and was chased by two Dulwich players and one of them, winger Mark Marshall, was penalised by referee Daniel Blade for the foul.

Smith dinked his right-footed penalty straight down the middle but Horlick dived to his left and used his feet to make the save before the away side cleared their lines.

“Joe was fantastic. He drives at players and he commits.  He’s been fantastic in the few games he’s been here (since his move from league rivals Horsham).

“He’s a great character, a great lad and I’ve tried to sign him four times, I think and I’m happy to be working with him. I’m really pleased that he’s here. 

“I don’t think it was a great pen if I’m honest but it is what it is.”

Horlick made a comfortable save as Folkestone Invicta created another chance when Smith ran down the left-channel and played the ball inside to Turner, whose left-footed angled drive from 16-yards was comfortably gobbled up by Horlick at his near-post.

Folkestone Invicta kept knocking on the door and they produced a well-worked move in the 26^th minute – as their players put in a performance that you would expect with the highest budget in the Kent club’s history.

Fanimo skipped past two players (Wanadio and Anthony Jeffrey) before playing the ball into Smith, who swept the ball out to Hoyte.  The ball was then worked to Kassarate who put in a cross from the right for Fanimo, who sliced his hooked right-footed half-volley, which was heading wide of the far post, before Horlick comfortably gathered.

Gayle’s first-time pass fed Smith, whose cross deflected off Dulwich Hamlet centre-half Michael Chambers and was comfortably caught by the busy Horlick at head height.

Dominant Folkestone Invicta missed another glorious chance to take the lead in the 30^th minute.

Fanimo played the ball into Turner, who back-healed the ball to Kassarate, who put in a low cross from within the right-channel for the unmarked Turner to flick his first time shot across the keeper and agonisingly past the foot of the far post from inside the six-yard box at the near-post.

“Just missed from a yard out I think and just couldn’t quite get enough on it I think but like I say, another good move and it should’ve been another goal,” admitted Drury.

“I was yes (feeling frustrated not scoring from these chances) but then at the same time you’ve got to look at the character of the boys. They’re missing chances but they’re going to create more and more and more and still pushing and pushing.

“We were on the front foot all game, so yes, I was pulling my hair out, not taking it but I was pleased with the boys because they kept going and created more chances.”

Jebb swung in the home side’s third corner of the game and Gayle came up from the back to steer his free header straight into Horlick’s gloves, who had numerous players in front of him at the time.

Rance, who was pulling the strings, played the ball into a central Turner, who played the ball inside to Jebb, who worked the ball to Fanimo, who cut inside the woeful Binnon-Williams before flashing his left-footed shot across the keeper and past the far post from 20-yards.

Folkestone Invicta FINALLY took the lead with 42 minutes and 39 seconds on the clock, courtesy of a couple of mistakes from Dulwich Hamlet players.

Centre-half Sam German played a woeful back-pass, which was heading towards the corner flag and forced Horlick to run to his left before hitting a poor left-footed clearance down the line.

The ball was intercepted by the excellent Fanimo, who could have shot towards an open goal from 45-yards but he kept composed and ran down the line and cutting the ball inside for Kassarate, who stroked his right-footed shot into the far corner from 12-yards.

“A great finish! Amadou’s got quite a few goals. I don’t know how many goals he’s got now. He does really well, breaking into the box and getting goals for us this season,” added Drury, who was asked his thoughts going into the break.

“We ironed out a couple of tactical errors that we had to do. We were playing uphill with the wind, just realistically we can’t step off. We’ve got to stay on the front foot and we did that and we created more and more chances in the second half.”

Hayrettin hooked Marshall at the interval and brought on central midfielder Ryley Scott and Jeffrey was switched to the right wing and he offered some threat for the first few minutes of the second half, as he was lacklustre behind the isolated seven-goal targetman striker Danny Mills, who hardly got a touch for the 76 minutes that he was on the field.

Dulwich Hamlet right-back Sean Bonnett-Johnson travelled over the half-way line before a poor 10-yard backwards pass was intercepted by Smith, who drove through the heart of the pitch and after his initial effort was blocked, his second was drilled just past the right-hand post from 25-yards after four minutes and 35 seconds.

Rance then squandered a decent chance to open his goalscoring account for Folkestone Invicta (5:59).

The amazing Kassarate hooked pass released Smith down the left-channel and Rance made a third-man run into the penalty area and no one picked him up but he lacked composure inside the box and dragged his left-footed shot across the keeper before it was cleared towards safety.

“Rance was fantastic tonight! He’s gone one-on-one with the keeper, probably the wrong foot for him but yes again it was another great move. We pressed them, we pressed the life out of them all game and it was a fantastic move,” added Drury.

Folkestone Invicta doubled their lead with eight minutes and one second on the clock, following a set-piece inside the Dulwich Hamlet half.

Morgan threw the ball to Smith, whose sublime dinked pass put Kassarate through on goal and he placed his right-footed shot into the bottom left-hand corner.

“Fantastic ball, fantastic goal. That settled us down a little bit and we started to play a little bit of football afterwards, so yes, another good finish from Amadou,” added Drury, whose side are 12 points behind leaders Dover Athletic tonight but with a game in hand.

Dulwich Hamlet created an opening on the hour-mark when Scott fed Mills, who played a first time pass out to Jeffrey on the right and he drove into the box before crossing for Wanadio, who smacked his right-footed volley high over the crossbar from 16-yards.

Smith and an unplayable Kassarate linked up again before Fanimo cut onto his right-foot and forced Horlick to get down low to save to his right.

“Matty’s not trained for two to three weeks. He had a calf strain at Carshalton and he came off on Saturday but he hasn’t trained,” revealed Drury.

“He looked good tonight. He tired after 60-65 minutes but he gives us that threat.

“I said to the boys before the game on the board, you look at our front six, every single one of them was playing in the league above last year, so it goes to show the strength that I’ve actually brought into the club and the quality that is actually there.”

Jeffrey fed Wanadio, who cut inside Morgan and looked certain to score with a left-footed shot – especially as Folkestone Invicta goalkeeper Jonathan Henly had already dived to his left to attempt to make the save – but Gayle got in the way of the shot to make a vital block as the game entered the final 20 minutes.

Turner swung in a quality delivery with his right-footed corner coming from the left and Horlick did well to step to his right to beat the ball away.  Turner latched onto the loose ball and drove a right-footed angled drive towards goal, which was comfortably saved by Horlick in his midriff down on his knees.  Another example of Folkestone Invicta’s players showing more desire than their opponents.

Hayrettin brought on attackingg pair George Porter and Oli Lynch in the 76^th minute and Lynch had a chance to pull a goal back (33:07).

Wanadio worked the right-channel before cutting the ball back for Bonnett-Johnson to whip in a cross towards the near post which was met by central striker Lynch, who poked his shot across Henly and past the far post.

Dulwich Hamlet produced a well-worked move to score a flattering consolation goal, timed at 35 minutes and 36 seconds on the clock.

Porter played the ball out to Wanadio, who switched the ball from right-to-left over to Jeffrey, who cut inside and put in a cross, which was cleared out to Wanadio, who from 20-yards drilled an emphatic right-footed drive past the diving goalkeeper and into the top left-hand corner from a central position.

“To be fair to Luke, he scored a great goal for them but I didn’t think they’ve had any sort of clear-cut chance at all, all game that I can think off,” added Drury.

“Luke’s a top player at this level, one of the best in the league as a wideman or 10 and we had to be careful with him. He’s a threat. It was a great finish from Luke.”

Folkestone Invicta had a chance to score another goal when Jebb broke from midfield on the counter-attack before feeding Smith, who cut onto his left-foot and Horlick made yet another comfortable save down on his knees.

You even sensed that Dulwich Hamlet would snatch an unlikely point following Wanadio’s goal but Drury’s men held out to claim a vital win to get their play-off/promotion aspirations back on track.

But Drury added: “Look, there’s a different between having a bit of pressure and having any chances. We dealt well with a bit of pressure.  The work rate the boys put in over the course of the game, we were always going to tire.

“It was such a shame that we didn’t have more goals, just to see the game out.  The last three or four minutes we were taking the ball into the corner and seeing the game out and they didn’t really have much going forward to threaten us.

“Every single one of them gave me everything, ran themselves into the ground.”

Wingate & Finchley (30 points from 16 games), Cray Valley (30 points from 15 games), Billericay Town (28 points from 15 games) and Lewes (26 points from 14 games) are in the Isthmian League Premier Division play-off zone.

Carshalton Athletic are in sixth-place with 23 points from 15 games, Dulwich Hamlet are next with 23 points from 15 games, then it’s Canvey Island on 22 points from 16 games and Folkestone Invicta have climbed up four places to ninth with 21 points from 14 games.

Drury grabbed hold of his mobile phone, which was being charged up at the time, and looked at the League table online and said: “It’s an incredible tight league. We are ninth but we’ve got a game in hand, two games in hand on the teams above us.

“Everyone’s saying we’ve had a disappointing start to the season.  Like I say, a little bit of realism into where we are as a new squad but I hope people are happy with that performance because I am and we move to build on those two wins in a row in the League.”

Second-from-bottom side Bognor Regis Town (12 points from 15 games and two points adrift of safety) visit Cheriton Road on Saturday.

“Just build on tonight. If we play like that, nine times out of 10 we’re going to win games, so look, we’ll have a light session on Thursday and then we’ll look to go again on Saturday and put a team to the sword.”

Drury says he is “enjoying” managing the club and the pressure that comes with it.

“I’ve got together a fantastic group of players, staff, a group of players. I’ve got a fantastic chairman and a fantastic board. It’s a start of a journey and a process.

“We always knew the first few months would be kind of getting the squad wise where we needed it to be. We were after Joe Turner and Matthias Fanimo in the summer but they wanted to try their luck somewhere else.

“We’ve brought other players in who we kind of needed to bring in to boost the numbers up and we’ve been patient and we’ve waited for the right players to become available and they’ve become available and they’ve come in and we’ve bedded them in.

“I’ve always said that we won’t be the finished article until mid-November, possibly December.

“The ultimate aim is to be in the play-offs. We’ll take it one game at a time and we’ll build on this performance and we go again Saturday. We’ll look to get three points.

“It was a very cold night, full credit to (the fans for attending).  We got a little bit of stick after Saturday but the fans were fantastic tonight. I think that’s testament to the boys, what the boys are putting in.”

Folkestone Invicta: Jonathan Henly, Gavin Hoyte, Frankie Del Morgan (Jamie Mascoll 75), Dean Rance, Marvel Ekpiteta, Ian Gayle, Joe Turner (Joel Odeniran 90), Jack Jebb, Daniel Smith (Tom Derry 88), Amadou Kassarate, Matthias Fanimo (Sam Blackman 85).
Sub: Ezechukwu Ebuzoeme

Goals: Amadou Kassarate 43, 53

Dulwich Hamlet: James Horlick, Sean Bonnett-Johnson, Jerome Binnon-Williams, Hassan Ibrahiym (Kaya Hansson 86), Michael Chambers, Sam German, Mark Marshall (Ryley Scott 46), Ralfi Hand (George Porter 76), Danny Mills (Oli Lynch 76), Anthony Jeffrey, Luke Wanadio.
Sub: Lorenzo

Goal: Luke Wanadio 81

Booked: Sam German 24

Attendance: 762
Referee: Mr Daniel Blades
Assistants: Mr Michael Corderoy & Mr Luke Morley