Bay Fall At Folkestone

Folkestone Invicta (0) 2
Pilbeam 67
Booth 70

Herne Bay (0) 0

Ryman Isthmian League Division One (South)
at Cheriton Road

Saturday 25th October 2014

by Ray Kelly

(photo credit: Steve Barton - Danny Williams heads over the Folkestone bar)

Herne Bay’s poor away form continued going down 2-0 at Cheriton Road to Folkestone Invicta. Bay did not manage a single shot on goal in the first half but in saying that, both sides lacked any sort of quality. From the kick off Invicta forced Herne Bay deep into their own half with the lively Jordan Wright being the Folkestone ‘King Pin’ with good runs and crosses flowing in from the right, only good defending from Gary Sayer and Jack Delo kept Invicta out.

In the first 15 minutes Delo had to be on his toes, making three good saves from Ian Draycott and Jordan Wright (twice) preventing any score. As the half progressed the quality of football slid downwards, by both sides, and the game was constantly stopped for needless petty fouls. On 40 minutes Jack Delo got down well to save at the feet of Paul Booth and a minute later he turned away a good effort from Draycott.

The second half started with Folkestone taking control of the match with Herne Bay forced to play deep in their own half for long periods of time. On 56 minutes Conner Partridge cleared off his goal line from a Paul Booth shot and two minutes later Delo held on well to a shot from Jordan Wright. In the 63rd minute Ben Brown came off for Sam Hasler and Folkestone replaced Roland Edge for Jon Pilbeam.

Invicta continued to press and should have taken the lead on 65 minutes when Draycott fired over when put through by Wright. Two minutes later Invicta took the lead when Jack Delo could only parry a Wright shot and Jon Pilbeam followed up to slot in. On 66 minutes Herne Bay’s only real chance in the whole game was wasted when a cross from Dan Walder was headed over by Danny Williams from 6 yards. Four minutes later Folkestone went 2-0 up when Pilbeam turned provider when his cross was headed in by Paul Booth.

With 15 minutes left on the clock Manager Sam Denly made a double substitution bringing on Kane Butler and Joe Nelder for Stuart King and Dan Parkinson. These changes made little difference and when the final whistle sounded we all knew that we had watched a totally uninspiring game.