Horsham 1-0 Folkestone Invicta

Folkestone Invicta were left without a point from their opening two Ryman Premier League matches of the season after going down to an early penalty at Horsham on Tuesday night.

Saturday’s nightmare start to the season at home to Wealdstone had at least followed a trend which has seen Invicta lose their opening day fixture seven times in the past eight years.

But this latest setback ended a remarkable run in which Invicta had previously never lost their second fixture of the season in ten seasons under manager Neil Cugley.

To be fair, on another day Invicta might well have gone away from the Atspeed Stadium with a point, but for the third successive season the Folkestone club find themselves at the wrong end of the table during August.

The all-important goal came in the ninth minute when Lewis TAYLOR beat David Hogan from the penalty spot after centre half Liam Friend was adjudged to have pulled back Horsham captain Kevin Hemsley when a free kick from the left was flicked on following a foul by Samuel Kola Okikiolu.

The team news had not been kind to Invicta as they lost playmaker James Corbett to an ear infection, with Micheal Everitt coming back into the starting line up. At the back, new signing David Piper was the fall guy for Saturday’s defeat with Frankie Chappell coming in his for his debut at the heart of the defence and Kevin Watson moving across to right back.

Invicta’s determination to put Saturday’s result behind them suffered an early blow when Horsham were awarded what turned out to be their decisive penalty.

Goalscorer Taylor was instrumental in most of the home side’s best work and the midfielder shot just wide of the post from outside the penalty area in the 11th minute when Gary Charman played the ball across to him after striker Lee Farrell had blocked Friend’s attempted clearance.

Carl Rook, Horsham’s top goalscorer last season, then headed a free kick from the left hand side wide after 14 minutes. Rook had been passed fit after being taken off at half time with a back injury in the Hornets’ opening day 2-0 win away to Maidstone but had to be replaced again before the half hour mark.

Invicta had a couple of long range Ryan Briggs shots to show for their early efforts and James Everitt fired wide from outside the penalty area after 17 minutes when Briggs played over Invicta’s first corner of the game from the left.

Taylor shot just wide of the far post when he took a ball over the Invicta defence down very well in the 34th minute and substitute John Westcott’s shot deflected onto the Invicta post after 43 minutes when Lee Carney capitalised on Friend’s failure to clear and played the ball across to the right hand side of the penalty area.

Carney whipped in a dangerous cross from the left hand side which just evaded everybody in the middle after 50 minutes and a deep cross from Westcott on the right landed on top of the crossbar and onto the roof of the net a minute later.

But Invicta chased an equaliser and striker Damian Abel showed great skill and tenacity to curl a shot just over the crossbar from the edge of the box in the 67th minute following a purposeful run when Charman gave the ball away.

At the other end, a Taylor shot flew narrowly wide of the post when the ball fell to him just outside the penalty area three minutes later.

Invicta replaced the injured Okikiolu with Piper in the 75th minute, with Watson moving up into midfield as the visitors showed a real sense of urgency to save the day.

And the Folkestone side had penalty claims of their own waved away in the 78th minute when substitute Ben Sly was clipped as he latched onto a James Everitt flick in a move also involving Watson.

Substitute Rob Knott put in a dangerous stoppage time cross when James Everitt played the ball out to him on the right flank, but the visitors’ only reward was a corner and not the equaliser which would have gone a long way to ease the early season pressure which has descended on them again.  

There were bookings for Horsham’s Jacob Mingle (late challenge on Briggs after 27 minutes), Charman (dissent after 31 minutes), Nigel Brake (handball after 64 minutes) and Carney (foul after 90 minutes) and for Invicta’s Watson (check on Brake after 58 minutes) and Abel (dissent after 79 minutes).

HORSHAM: Mansfield, Graves, Brake, Howard, Hemsley, Taylor, Mingle, Charman, Farrell, Rook (Westcott 27 mins), Carney.  Unused subs: French, Myall, Salaam, Frankland.

FOLKESTONE INVICTA: Hogan, Chappell, Edge, Watson, Friend, Okikiolu (Piper 74 mins), J. Everitt, Briggs (Knott 85 mins), Abel, Bremner (Sly 68 mins), M. Everitt.  Unused subs: Dickson, Stonebridge.