Apologies to the author for changing the words, but as with their first visit in the 1989/90 season, Gloucester City’s second trip to Folkestone for an F.A. Cup tie was again played in horrendous weather with torrential rain and high winds throughout.
It didn’t stop Invicta pulling off a giant-killing and beating our Vanarama National League (North) opponents with Ade Yussuf getting the decider.
With Josh Vincent still nursing an injury, Matt Newman, who was unavailable last week, came back into the side, whilst in goal Alexis Andre made his debut for the club as the usual custodian Tim Roberts had received a groin injury last week. Ironically, Andre had previously been at Bristol Rovers where the new Gloucester City Manager, Lee Mansell, had been Academy Manager!
For the opening minutes both sides sparred for domination and acclimatised themselves to the awful weather, although both had free kicks in threatening positions, but neither came to anything. New goalkeeper, Andre, had played two good through balls in the initial stages and the second seemed to have put Ade Yusuff though, but he was thwarted by a marginal offside flag.
In the tenth minute, Invicta almost took the lead, Matt Newman played a good ball down the line to Scott Heard who won the game’s first corner. Ronnie Dolan’s corner was spectacularly punched away by Gloucester City goalkeeper Jake Cole for a throw-in on the opposite side, from which Jordan Wright and Dolan combined to set up a chance for Yusuff, who saw his shot from around twenty-five yards whistle just wide of the far post. Invicta were upping the pressure at this stage and Cole was again in action, this time punching away a dangerous cross from Alfie Paxman, but the return was eventually deflected away for a goal kick.
In the 19th minute, Ryan Johnson played the ball forward and in an horrendous defensive mix-up, Tom Harrison and fellow centre half Jordan Thompson got in a tangle and the ball ran loose to Yusuff who bore down on goal, but Thompson hauled him down in the ‘D’ leaving the Referee with no option but to show him the red card, to become the third opposing player to be sent off in our F.A. Cup run this season. David Smith’s free kick was deflected away for a corner which was sent in low and scrambled away for a second from which Paxman sent in an excellent low cross and Yusuff was first to react as he turned the ball past Cole.
The excellent picture sequence above from Randolph File shows the goal, although you could be forgiven for thinking Smith had scored as Yusuff has disappeared under a pile of bodies!
At this stage, it was about what Invicta deserved as we had been the more positive of the two sides and although ‘The Tigers’ had had a lot of possession they were kept at a distance, and in fact it took them twenty-four minutes to get their first corner.
After the shock of going down to ten men and conceding a goal, to their credit, our opponents then fought back well, their skipper, Kevin Dawson, who was becoming more influential in the game, sent in a dangerous cross but the ball was a fraction high, and Lucas Tomlinson was unable to turn in goal wards at the far post. Dawson then played in another cross which was scrambled away for a corner from which the ball reached Fabien Robert on the edge of the area, but his shot was deflected away for a further corner from which Andre collected a soft header. Gloucester City were looking increasingly dangerous and Callum Davies twice charged down shots in the penalty area and then we had a bit of fortune as Jordan Young’s corner went right across the goalmouth, but luckily cleared the far post, before Lucas Tomlinson, recently signed on loan from Bristol Rovers, saw his cross-shot well collected by Andre and then with almost the last action of the half, Young sent his diving header wide following another good cross from Dawson.
So, we went into the break 1-0 ahead, although after the goal our opponents had looked dangerous and put us under more pressure despite being reduced to ten men, but with the conditions considered, it was an entertaining first half.
For the second half, Bernard Mensah replaced their leading scorer Danny King and then within four minutes of the restart, Yusuff picked up the game’s first booking as having received a stern lecture from the Referee in the first half, he then committed another foul, but it was a reflection of the huge effort he, and Smith, were putting in to the game in what at times was a thankless task with not only the strong Gloucester City defence to deal with but also the wind which meant getting a decent service to them was difficult.
Invicta had the first chance of the second half as following patient build-up play, Paxman crossed the ball in from the left, Heard helped it on to Wright, who’s cross was headed over by Yusuff from close range. Heard and Wright then combined again and this time it was Smith who was unable to turn his header towards goal.
Substitute Mensah then threatened the Invicta goal, but his shot from around twenty yards was easily saved by Andre at the near post. On the hour, our opponents made their second substitution as Corey Jordan replaced Jordan Young and he played in Ryan Galvin, but his shot went into the side-netting.
Paxman then nipped in to win the ball and after a good run down the left, his pass to Wright was cut-out and then the same happened to Yusuff as he tried to feed Smith, had either passes reached their
target, the recipient would have been through on goal. As we entered the closing stages, tensions started to rise, Dolan and Tomlinson got involved in an altercation after the combative Invicta midfielder had fouled his opposite number, this led to a number of other players getting involved, but after given both players a stern lecture, the Referee took no further action.
With twenty minutes to go, Ryan Johnson had a half-chance as Dolan’s free kick was nodded on by Newman, and although it was cleared it only went as far to Johnson on the edge of the area, but his shot was screwed just wide of the post.
Heard then picked up the game’s second yellow card for a late challenge and then a minute later, Harrison went into the book for the same reason when challenging Paxman, and at the same time our opponents made their third substitution as they went for broke, replacing midfielder Max Sheaf with forward Benni Smales-Braithwaite.
Johnson was then involved at the other end as Fabian Robert played the ball forward and he sliced his clearance towards his own goal, but Andre was alert to the danger, and he calmly collected the wickedly spinning ball. It would have been unjust on the Invicta defender had anything more come from it as he had an excellent game at the back with Davies and Newman. Then Invicta had a real let-off in time added on, Davies fouled Harrison on the edge of the area, a tackle that earned him a yellow card, and from the resultant free kick, Smales-Braithwaite saw the ball cannon off the crossbar and go to safety, although for the performance during the afternoon, we deserved that bit of luck.
So, Invicta live to fight another day, but on absolute dreadful day weather-wise both sides deserve credit for serving up a decent game in the circumstances and good luck to Gloucester City for the rest of the season. Our opponents in the Fourth Qualifying Round will be known at around 3:15pm tomorrow (Monday) afternoon, when the draw will be broadcast live on TalkSport2, full details will appear on the website.
After the game I spoke to Neil as he changed into his third set of clothes for the afternoon!, I started by asking about our new arrival: “After last week’s game, Tim [Roberts] told us he had strained his groin and that he didn’t think he would be fit for Saturday, so we looked round for an experienced goalkeeper and Alexis [Andre] had trained with us a couple of times so we registered him, coincidentally he had been at Bristol Rovers so he knew their Manager! “It was a difficult decision not to play Connor [Collins] as he has done well when called to come on and in training and he looks to have a good future, but we felt we needed someone with a bit more experience for this one as it would have been a big game to throw him into.”
We then moved onto the game: “I thought we were excellent today, everyone gave their all and in really difficult conditions we played some good stuff at times. “To their credit, even when they went down to ten men, Gloucester had three up for a lot of the game and so we had to keep our shape against a side that are virtually full-time. “Everyone did what was asked of them, and all did well in their respective duels against their opposite number.
He then paid tribute to his managerial team, adding: “I’d also like to mention what fantastic work Edgy [Roland Edge] and Mev [Micheal Everitt] are putting in behind the scenes, they both word exceptionally hard to ensure that we are prepare for the forthcoming game. “When a club is going well it is the Manager that gets the plaudits (although that does work the other way when things aren’t going as well as they should!) , but those two deserve as much credit for our form this season.”
I finished by asking the inevitable question and who he wanted in the next round: “Hopefully we’ll get another home draw, not only for the players but also our supporters, we had over 650 today which considering the weather was an excellent attendance and we again received non-stop encouragement for the whole of the game!’
The game was sponsored by Bradley Southern and his wife Rhiannon who recently got married, the club would like to send its congratulations to the happy couple. After the game, Bradley, assisted by Match Mascot Riley Reece Chapman and Albie Solly presented the ‘Man of the Match’ award to Club Skipper Callum Davies, few could argue with that award as he turned in an excellent performance at the back repelling the Gloucester City attacks. Thanks for your continued support, Mr. & Mrs Southern!
Folkestone Invicta: Alexis Andre, Ian Draycott, Jordan Wright, Matt Newman, Callum Davies (Capt), Ryan Johnson, Scott Heard, Ronnie Dolan, David Smith, Ade Yusuff & Alfie Paxman,
(Unused substitutes: Ollie Freeman, Tyler Sterling, Finn O’Mara, Micheal Everitt, Luca Borello & Connor Collins).
Goalscorer: Ade Yusuff (22 mins).
Gloucester City: Jake Cole, Daniel Leadbitter, Ryan Galvin, Tom Harrison, Jordan Thompson, Fabien Robert, Max Sheaf (Benni Smales-Braithwaite, 76 mins), Kevin Dawson (Capt), Lucas Tomlinson, Jordan Young (Corey Jordan, 59 mins) & Danny King (Bernard Mensah, 46 mins)
(Unused substitutes: Liam Armstrong, Cameron McGlip, Tommy O’Sullivan & Leon Chambers-Parrilon).
Referee: Tom Danaher
Assistant Referees: James Hurst & Charlie Roberts.
Attendance: 669, many thanks again to everyone who came to the BuildKent Stadium to support their respective team in such atrocious weather, hopefully you enjoyed the game.
Next Fixture: Next Saturday (9th October), we return to League action when we welcome Brightlingsea Regent to the BuildKent Stadium for a Pitching In Isthmian League Premier Division game, kick-off 3:00pm.
A full round-up of Saturday’s games, both F.A. Cup and Isthmian League Premier Division, will appear in the separate Round-up article for this weekend and going forward.