For the second successive year Folkestone Invicta were beaten at the Fullicks Stadium in the Ryman Division One South playoff final and they will prepare for another season in the fourth tier of non-league football.
After finishing second in the league Folkestone could look forward to playing all of their playoff matches at the Fullicks Stadium and, after beating Whyteleafe 2-1 after extra time on Tuesday, Neil Cugley’s side could look forward to a final where they would host Merstham, who beat Faversham Town on penalties earlier in the week. Cugley made no changes from his starting eleven who beat Whyteleafe, but Simon Austin replaced Roland Edge within the substitutes.
Merstham began the better side and, just moments after Fabio Saraiva ended his weaving run with his shot being saved, Simon Cooper was able to beat Folkestone’s offside trap, much to the hosts despair, before holding up the ball and playing a low cross into the path of Taurean Roberts for the winger to bundle in from inches out to give his side a sixth minute lead.
Just five minutes later Folkestone had their first opportunity of the game when Michael Everitt’s header was cleared off the goal line before Jordan Wright blocked a clearance from Marc Okoye but his shot was swiftly blocked, resulting in a corner which Liam Friend headed over.
The host’s tricky, technical play was troubling their opponents and they were awarded a series of free kicks. The first came after Richard Atkins was taken down by Okoye, but after Ronnie Dolan’s set piece found the head of Frankie Chappell who forced a great diving save from Brannon Daly.
Other free kicks resulted in Ian Draycott’s left footed effort being forced away before Richard Atkins was unable to convert the rebound and another cross from Dolan being headed wide with Atkins’ glancing header.
Folkestone’s attacks were not only from free kicks, and they showed this when Dolan put a pass into the path of Richard Atkins, but with the attacker under pressure from Antone Douglas, Atkins could only hit his shot against the bar, meaning the hosts’ search for a goal continued.
Folkestone’s pressure continued and with five minutes of the first half remaining a long ball into the path of Jordan Wright allowed the winger to poke the ball past Daly, but his effort rolled wide after Wright was hit by the goalkeeper.
It didn’t take much however, for Merstham to double their lead when, in the final minute of the first half Tutu Henriques was left unchallenged from a corner, allowing the defender to hit a simple header past Tim Roberts.
After scoring in the final minute of the first half, it only took six second half minutes for Merstham to score a third when, after putting in the cross to allow his side to score their second, his curling free kick avoided Tim Roberts before nestling in the net, effectively ending the game with most of the second half still to play.
Folkestone began to push even more players forward and they were nearly able to bring themselves within two goals but after some good work between Ian Draycott, Richard Atkins and Jon Pilbeam the latter was unable to get a shot away after Kalvin Morath- Gibbs did well to get across and stop the shot.
After Ian Draycott’s header landed in the hands of Brannon Daly, Merstham began to dictate the game again when Simon Cooper found Peter Adeniyi who curled a left footed shot just wide before Tommy Hutchings hit a free kick inches over.
Folkestone’s search for a way back into the game continued, but with time running out, Richard Atkins’ effort after a good turn curled wide of the target.
With just four minutes remaining, Merstham knew that they only needed to keep the ball as time ran out for them to go up, but they continued to look for a fourth goal, after a quick piece of passing between himself and Reece Hall, Simon Cooper hit his shot over before, just moment after, Hall had a chance of his own but he also watched his shot fly over under pressure from Frankie Chappell, but this didn’t matter to Merstham as after five minutes of additional time, they were able to celebrate winning promotion to the Ryman Premier.
Despite finishing second in the league, Invicta will now need to look forward to their fifth consecutive year in the Ryman League Division One South.
Folkestone Invicta: Roberts, Vincent, Blanks, Friend, Chappell, Newman, Wright, Dolan (Pilbeam), Draycott, Atkins, Everitt (Miller)
Subs not used: Wraight, Austin, Fender
Merstham: Daly, Cooper, Douglas, Morath- Gibbs, Okoye, Henriques, Roberts, Adeniyi, Hutchings (Kaffo), Saraiva (Folkes), Rhule (Hall)
Referee: Mr G Parsons
Assistants: Mr C North and Mr E Heward