In an exciting and eventful Emirates F.A. Cup First Qualifying Round tie, Invicta won by the narrowest of margins in a game that was always in the balance.
As usual, the pitch was in excellent condition at Gay Dawn Farm as Invicta made one change from the starting line-up that had beaten Merstham on Monday, with Scott Heard coming in for Ian Draycott whilst our opponents made to two changes to the side that had lost 1-0 at Cray Valley PM with Ryan Sawyer and Jamie Miller replacing Louie Clark and Josh Stirman.
Within five minutes of the start, both goalkeepers had been involved in controversial incidents. Firstly, Ryan Johnson floated the ball into the six-yard box and as David Smith went in bravely, beating the advancing Corinthian goalkeeper Aiden Prall to the ball and nodding wide, he was punched in the face, but a goal kick was awarded. Then, Tim Roberts came rushing out for the ball and misjudged where he was and caught it outside the penalty area to earn himself an early yellow card. On another occasion this may have warranted a red, but it didn’t look to be a goalscoring opportunity as there were a number of players from both sides in the penalty area, so on balance the booking was probably correct.
From the free kick, Oscar Housego hit the ball into the wall only for another free kick to be awarded in a similar position on the edge of the area and again it was cleared before the ball hit the Referee and a drop ball allowed the pressure to be released. However, the away supporters didn’t have to wait long for the first goal as following a sweeping move down the left, the ball reached Jordan Wright on the opposite side of the pitch and his cross-shot was swept home by the alert Ade Yusuff in the 8th minute. This was just what Invicta had needed as we’d made a nervy start although to their credit, despite going a goal down early, Corinthian continued to press, and they earned two corners in quick succession with the second seeing James Billings nod wide at the far post. Yusuff went close on a couple of occasions and then Paxman won a corner which was well collected by Prall under pressure.
Yussuf was then involved at the other end, as following a corner that was only half-cleared, Housego was tripped in the box by the striker and the Corinthian No. 10 got up and sent Roberts the wrong way from the spot to level matters, which on the balance of play was probably about right. Invicta fought back and Yusuff, Paxman and Scott Heard combined to create a chance for Ronnie Dolan, but his shot was half charged down, and the ball bounced through to Prall. As the game continued to ebb and flow, the home side then had the next chance as Luke Tanner played in Housego, but his shot from around thirty yards cleared the bar.
We created the next chance as Jordan Wright played a good ball to Smith whose shot was deflected and from the rebound Heard let fly from twenty-five yards and Prall made an excellent save tipping the ball round the post for a corner. And we then got closer to scoring, Paxman sent in a good cross which was headed clear by Billings as Smith closed in. From Dolan’s corner, Josh Vincent saw is header cleared off the line by Jake Mahoney. That was only a brief respite, as in the 40th minute, Smith was fouled on the edge of the area and Dolan cleverly curled the resultant free kick around the wall and low into the corner despite the attempts of Prall to keep it out. So, Invicta went into the break with a 2-1 lead, which on the balance of play appeared to be a bit fortunate, as Corinthian had applied a lot of pressure, although they were kept at a distance most of the time, but at times the long ball was causing issues.
The second half started in the same vein and in the 51st minute the score regained parity as Mahoney beat the offside trap and coolly planted the ball past Roberts. Immediately, Invicta almost took the lead for the third time when Wright was unlucky to see his header cannon off the post to safety. As the intensity increased, Billings then picked a booking for dissent. Paxman and Dolan combined to set up Yusuff and his shot was well saved low down by Prall, before the Invicta goal then had a narrow escape, as substitute Josh Stirman, who had just replaced Jack Holland, played a through ball to James Trueman, who lobbed the onrushing Roberts, but Wright had tracked back and cleared it just short of the goal-line. Josh James became the second Corinthian player in the Referee’s notebook, but things then get worse for the home side as Sawyer received a straight red for a reckless challenge from behind on Yusuff.
Invicta then started to take advantage of the numerical advantage as Yusuff and Paxman combined with the latter forcing another excellent save from Prall and from the rebound, Johnson saw his shot deflected away for a corner, from which Vincent saw his header scrambled off the line. In the 71st minute, we took the lead for the third time and Vincent was again involved, sending in a pin-point cross to the far post where Paxman headed powerfully home. In the celebration, Smith got booked for kicking the ball away and so was immediately substituted, being replaced by Ian Draycott and then a minute later Tyler Sterling came on the Heard.
Draycott then went close as he nodded Paxman’s cross wide and then Wright saw his shot charged down, following clever work by Sterling. There was no doubt the sending off had switched the balance of the game and Invicta were now more in control, although our opponents refused to lie down and Housego had a good chance to equalise for the third time, but he shot over when in the clear on the edge of the area and then Billings headed a corner over when well placed. There was just time for a further booking for each side, Stirman got his card for a foul on Yusuff and then Sterling got his for delaying the taking of a free kick, even though a Corinthian player was no further than three yards away from the ball.
And that was it, Invicta fight to live another day and a possible ‘banana skin’ had been avoided, but both sides deserve credit for serving up a game that lived up to the traditions of the F.A. Cup. Our opponents in the Second Qualifying Round will be known at around 1pm tomorrow (Monday), full details will appear on the website.
After the game, Neil was far from impressed with the performance: “We didn’t play as well as I thought we can do, which was particularly disappointing as we knew how they were going to play and whilst we should credit them for sticking to their game plan, we should have coped a lot better, and I felt that two or three of our players were a bit off the mark today.”
On the possible sending off of Roberts, he added: “On another day Tim may have been sent off and in fact we had started warming up Connor [substitute goalkeeper Connor Collins], but in the end he just got a yellow, which was maybe right as it didn’t seem to be a goalscoring opportunity, there were plenty of players in the area, it seemed to be more of a misjudgement.”
Finally, he finished by saying: “It was a good result and a great game, although perhaps not so good for the Managers! “And I’m delighted to be in the next round, as most people know, I always hope for a run in the F.A. Cup.”
Finally, many thanks to Corinthian for their hospitality and we wish them well for the rest of the season.
Goalscorers: Oscar Housego (pen, 28 mins) & Jack Mahoney (51 mins).
Folkestone Invicta: Tim Roberts, Josh Vincent, Jordan Wright, Matt Newman, Callum Davies (Capt), Ryan Johnson, Scott Heard (Tyler Sterling, 72 mins), Ronnie Dolan, David Smith (Ian Draycott, 71 mins), Ade Yusuff & Alfie Paxman, (Unused substitutes: Finn O’Mara, Micheal Everitt & Connor Collins).
Goalscorers: Ade Yusuff (8 mins), Ronnie Dolan (43 mins) and Alfie Paxman (71 mins).
Referee: Thomas Ramsey
Assistant Referees: Callum Edgecombe & Joseph Kasper.
Attendance: 205