Whitstable Town 1-3 Folkestone Invicta - If we win our last five games we'll be champions - Cugley

Saturday 10th April 2010

WHITSTABLE TOWN 1-3 FOLKESTONE INVICTA
Ryman League Division One South
Saturday 10th April 2010
Paul Parkinson reports from Belmont Road

FOLKESTONE INVICTA maintained their title challenge with a hard-fought 3-1 victory in this Ryman League Division One South derby match.

The victory, in truth, could and perhaps should have been more comprehensive against a Whitstable side who had been showing signs of a revival under Mark Lane, but who have dropped back into the bottom two following this result.

Two goals from Brendon Cass, capitalising on defensive errors, and a Darren Smith penalty wrapped up the Folkestone victory, with Whitstable‘s only reply coming from Steven Lloyd‘s header.

Although, as Invicta boss, Neil Cugley said to www.kentishfootball.co.uk, “I was a little disappointed we let them back in with a soft goal. Obviously it would have been nice if we‘d gone three up earlier, brought a few subs on to save a few legs. I felt we could have played a bit more football second half, but yes, pleased to win.”

Despite an early Tom Parker effort, Folkestone dominated the early stages of the game, and in a way, Whitstable caused their own downfall through their own errors.

A frustrated Mark Lane, talking to www.kentishfootball.co.uk, said, “At half-time, we‘re 2-0 down and realistically we haven‘t played.”

“The first goal has come from the right-back, who has run from 10-15 yards inside his own half, he‘s not been stopped until the edge of the area and a deflected shot has found the goal.

“As I‘ve said to them at half-time, somebody‘s got to be shutting them down, busting a gut to get there. I couldn‘t see the penalty incident, but I asked the ref at half-time and he said it hit his (Dave Cory‘s) hand from two yards, and I suppose he was lucky to stay on.”

Josh Vincent, who seemed to be at the centre of the action all day, went on a rampaging run through two challenges from the Whitstable midfield on 12 minutes. Although a desperate block on the edge of the area stopped Vincent, the ball broke to Cass, whose deflected shot wrong-footed Kevin Fewell to open the scoring.

Seven minutes later, Folkestone doubled their lead through Smith‘s clinical penalty, after Cory blocked Liam Dickson‘s close range goalbound header on the line.

The block didn‘t seem to be intentional, so referee Mr Yerby only issued a yellow card, despite vociferous protests from the visitors.

To add to their woes, Whitstable also lost Clint Gooding to injury midway through the half and apart from an Ian Pulman effort and a superb Frankie Chappell block to deny Steven Lloyd, Jack Delo was relatively untroubled.

Indeed it could have been worse for the Oystermen as Fewell‘s handling had to be true to deny Smith, then Gareth Cornhill acrobatically cleared a Vincent header off the line, with the keeper well beaten.

A change of formation at the half, with the introduction of Stuart Vahid, eventually paid dividends for Whitstable, as Lloyd headed home his second of the season on 57 minutes.

As Lane conceded about the change “We played a formation against Sittingbourne that worked really well, and I‘ve had Folkestone watched and they play a similar style.

I thought we‘d stick to the same, but it didn‘t work and we switched to 4-3-3 in the second half and to be fair, at 2-1, we‘d scored the goal and looked as though we might sneak an equaliser.”

But apart from half-chances, and a late Vahid volley that cleared Delo and the bar, it was Folkestone who carried more of a threat.

Cass had already missed two glorious chances to increase the lead before scoring his second to seal the match with 10 minutes left.

The first, chesting wide from Vincent‘s cross, then having turned Sam Denly, Cass tried to beat Fewell in a 1-on-1, but the keeper reacted well to gather the ball.

Folkestone‘s third was a typical poacher‘s effort from Cass, reacting quickly to tap home after Fewell had spilled Smith‘s drive from the edge of the box.

Lane, a former goalkeeper himself, refused to put any blame on Fewell, who he said had had a marvellous season and said “that‘s the way football goes sometimes.”

Fewell had to be alert to deny a Jimmy Jackson effort, after Gary Sayer had bravely blocked another Smith effort, before Cugley used the opportunity to rest a few legs for the title run-in.

He said: “Whitstable worked hard, and we knew it would be hard work. The only thing I‘ve said to the players afterwards is that we lacked a bit of composure.

“We‘ve set our target of getting nine points from this week and that‘s the next game we‘ve got to get three points from. As long as we keep winning, then it (the game against Championship rivals Croydon Athletic) will mean something.

“Hopefully that will be a big, big day, it‘s free to get in, and it will be a special day for the club with a lot there. If we win our last 5 games, we‘ll be Champions, it‘s a tall order but at least it‘s in our own hands.”

“When asked about comments he’d made previously, worried about his players looking a little jaded having used pretty much the same 14 all season, Cugley added, “when we played Ashford, we were poor and I was a bit worried then. But since we‘ve got Brendon, it‘s given us an extra body, and the 2 lads from Gillingham, it helps because today we were a bit short of numbers.

“Brendon‘s something we‘ve not had and he‘s done well since he‘s come to the club.

”

After apologising for the nature of some of the comments emitting from the home changing room after the game, a subdued Lane said, “We‘ve come off the back of a great win on Tuesday and yet again we‘ve fallen flat, not done anything correct in the first half.

“You know what you‘re going to get with Folkestone; they are a strong side who don‘t let many goals in, but don‘t generally score too many.

“They had another couple of chances, including a 1-on-1 that Kevin‘s saved, so all in all, we might have sneaked a draw, but I think it was a fair result.”

“We‘ve got Worthing at home on Tuesday, who‘ve got playoff ambitions, and go to Ashford for a 6-pointer on Thursday.

“We‘re all in the same boat, everybody‘s playing 3 games a week and it‘s a challenge on the squad. Joking aside, I‘m wondering whether it will be a plague of locusts or a famine that sees the Ashford match called off again!”

Whitstable Town: Kevin Fewell, Gareth Cornhill, Gary Sayer, Scott Heard (Stuart Vahid 46), Steven Lloyd, Sam Denly, Clint Gooding (Dan Wisker 26), Tom Parker, Dave Cory, Ian Pulman, Alex Hossick (Ben Smith 81).

Subs: Stephen Baines, David Stubbs.

Goal: Steven Lloyd 57

Booked: Dave Cory 19, Tom Parker 38, Gareth Cornhill 60

Folkestone Invicta: Jack Delo, Josh Vincent, Josh Burchell (Roy Guiver 86), Liam Friend, Frankie Chappell, Micheal Everitt, Darren Smith, Liam Dickson, James Everitt (Sam Henson 90), Brendon Cass, Jimmy Jackson (Josh Sargeant 89).

Sub: James Dryden.

Goals: Brendon Cass 12, 80, Darren Smith 20 (pen)

Booked: Darren Smith 67

Attendance: 265

Referee: Mr Martin Yerby (Ashford)

Assistants: Mr Ian Fessenden (Gillingham) and Mr Martin Peck (West Malling)