The players of both Folkestone Invicta and Bishop’s Stortford deserve huge credit for producing a decent competitive game in difficult conditions as a swirling wind combined with heavy squally rain and slippery underfoot conditions made it virtually impossible for either team to play how they can.
With Ryan Johnson not recovered from the injury he received on Saturday, Jordan Wright came into the starting line-up, playing on the right side of defence with Josh Vincent moving into the centre, whilst on the bench, Aaron Simpson made a surprise but welcome return to the squad and new signing Lenny Atherton made his first appearance on the bench. Our opponents made four changes to the side that drew 1-1 against Carshalton Athletic on Saturday.
Unsurprisingly both teams took a while to acclimatise to the conditions, although ‘The Bishops’ made the faster start, sending in a number of crosses, but Tim Roberts and the Invicta defence dealt well with all that was thrown at them. However, we almost took the lead after six minutes, Scott Heard played a good ball to Ade Yusuff who won a corner, which Micheal Everitt met at the far post only for it to be blocked on the line by James Thomas before it was cleared.
After a hectic first ten minutes or so the game settled down and after Vincent had intercepted the ball as a dangerous break threatened, and Ben Marlow saw his shot deflected for a corner, it was Invicta’s turn to have an escape, as from the resultant corner, Ryan Henshaw flicked the ball on and leading scorer Jake Cass smashed his shot from a tight angle from inside the six-yard box, onto the foot of the post and his second attempt from the rebound was saved and deflected away for a corner. Then, having received the ball from goalkeeper Jack Giddens, Darren Foxley fed Jack Thomas, but he shot high and wide from around thirty yards.
Just past the half-hour, we had a good chance as Yusuff flicked on a clearance and Heard was suddenly behind our opponent’s defence and in on goal, he rounded the approaching Giddens, but was unfortunately driven wide and was unable to turn the ball into the net from a difficult angle and it was cleared by a defender. Ronnie Dolan then played an excellent crossfield pass to Wright on the opposite wing, and he whipped in a dangerous cross which was cleared by skipper Henshaw. Following a good combination between Yusuff and Dolan, Heard received the ball on the edge of the area, but this time he lost out to the conditions as he slipped when shooting and Giddens saved, diving to his right. Then right on half-time, there was a clever move around our opponent’s penalty box involving a number of players, but when the cross came in, it was spectacularly punched clear by Giddens and that was it for the first half as the players returned to the comparative warmth of the dressing room.
Stortford won an early corner after the break, but it was cleared by Alfie Paxman, David Smith held the ball up well and fed Heard, but his shot was blocked. Around the fifty-fifth minute, Invicta had claims for a penalty as after a corner had been cleared, Dolan swung the ball back in and it appeared to bounce up and strike Henshaw’s arm as he deflected it away for a corner, but there was no joy which on balance was probably about right taking the conditions into account. Ironically, from the corner it was our opponents who almost scored as following a pass out of defence from Foxley, they were two on one as Johnville Renee and Ryan Charles set up a chance for the latter, but he blasted over when a return pass may have been the better option.
On the hour, our opponents made the game’s first substitution when Cass was replaced by another experienced striker in Frankie Merrifield, and he was immediately involved as having latched on to a throw-in his shot was deflected for a corner. Charles then had another chance as having received the ball just inside the penalty area following a clever pass from Merrifield, he lined up shot only for Vincent to make an excellent sliding tackle to prevent the danger.
In the sixty-sixth minute, Jack Thomas picked up the games only yellow card, another testament to the way both teams approached the game and the Referee’s managing of the game, and two minutes later Ian Draycott came on for Everitt, before our opponents made a second substitution six minutes later when Chris Harris came on for Foxley. Marlow then saw his long-range shot deflected into the arms of Roberts diving to his right before Anthony Church shot from the edge of the area which was again collected by Roberts with a minimum of fuss.
After Kieron McCann had blasted over from just outside the penalty area, with two minutes to go, it looked like Invicta had hit the winner, as following an excellent combination between Smith and Yusuff, the latter curled a shot just over the goal frame from around thirty yards, which caused Giddens concern as it cleared the bar.
There was three minutes added time, but with no further scares at either end, the game ended goalless, and we took a point each which was about right and thankfully the conditions didn’t cause an individual error which could have won the game for either side.
I spoke to a rather damp Neil after the game: “Considering the conditions, I thought it was a good game and both sets of players deserve huge credit as they gave everything tonight, again, our opponents showed what a strong league this is as they are a good side and it was a shame about the weather as in decent conditions, I think it would have been a really good game.”
I then asked him about the return of Aaron Simpson, he mentioned: “I’ve kept in touch with Aaron and when I spoke to him he said he was fit and ready to go, so obviously it was a no-brainer to put him back into the squad and hopefully has put his illness behind him and he’ll now be a part of the squad for the rest of the season as he is a good player to have around.”
Finally he added: “I’d just like to thank everyone who turned up tonight in such awful weather, although the attendance was below our average, it was encouraging to attract almost 350 on an evening like that.”
The game was sponsored by the Invicta Meldrews and after the game, Glyn Moore presented the award to goalkeeper Tim Roberts, who’s handling was impeccable in very difficult conditions. The Invicta Meldrews are long-time supporters and sponsors of the club, and we thank them for their continued support.
Folkestone Invicta: Tim Roberts, Josh Vincent, Kieron McCann, Micheal Everitt (Ian Draycott, 68 mins), Callum Davies (Capt), Jordan Wright, Scott Heard, Ronnie Dolan, David Smith, Ade Yusuff & Alfie Paxman, (Unused substitutes: Lenny Atherton, Aaron Simpson, Luca Borrello & Connor Collins).
Hornchurch: Jack Giddens, Anthony Church, Sam Robbins, Ryan Henshaw (Capt), Ben Marlow, Jake Cass (Frankie Merrifield, 60 mins), Johnville Renee, Jack Thomas, Darren Foxley (Chris Harris, 74 mins), Ryan Charles & James Thomas, (Unused substitutes: Tobias Bird, Charlie Allum & Billy Cracknell).
Referee: Howard Collins
Assistant Referees: Richard Joss & Piotr Zachwieja.
Attendance: Thanks to everyone who came to the BuildKent Stadium on such a dreadful evening, the attendance was 339, hopefully you enjoyed the game, whichever team you were supporting.
Next Fixture: On Saturday (11th December), we are at home again when Haringey Borough visit the BuildKent Stadium for a Pitching In Isthmian League Premier Division, kick-off 3:00pm.