The Sid Burvill Cup once again went to Folkestone Invicta, its founders, for the sixth time out of six with a 2-1 win being enough to see off the Angels. Tonbridge have provided the opposition on three of those six contests, and fared slightly better than the previous two occasions when they were beaten 5-2 and 3-1 in 2001 and 2002. Tonbridge were weakened by various players being unavailable through either work commitments or transport breakdowns, so a reshuffled side took to the field. Ian Parkes was experimented with at right-back with Jon Heath on the left, and a flat four-man midfield option was used with Craig Roser and Luke Piscina operating on the wings. Jay May partnered Leroy Huggins in attack.
Roser was immediately in the action having a free-kick easily saved by Invicta’s goalkeeper Tony Kessell, and minutes later Jay May followed that up by launching a shot at Kessell when through on goal, but again the shot lacked the power and direction to really test Kessell. Darren Smith then had an opportunity to give the Angels the lead when put through on the goal, as he reached out a foot to try and lob Kessell he was brought down by a slide tackle from a Folkestone defender many would consider far too ‘enthusiastic’ for a friendly, and as a result Smith had to leave the field with a badly swollen ankle. To add insult to injury the incident went unpunished by the referee.
Folkestone took the lead on 19 minutes. A long-ball from Kessell against the wind was misjudged by the Angels’ Jerome John and he was left stranded on the edge of the area as Paul Jones reached it first, controlled the ball well and calmly lobbed into the empty net for a 1-0 lead. In a period of continued pressure from the home side Simon Glover shot straight at John and then had a similar effort to the earlier goal denied after some good passing play around the box, Glover’s chip over John just floating wide of the post. It was 2-0 moments later, Ian Parkes was struggling with his new position and sliced Matt Bower’s low cross into his own net on 31 minutes. The goal sprung manager Tony Dolby into action and he switched the side to a 4-3-3 formation but unluckily for Parkes he was to remain at right-back, Piscina moving into attack with Roser switching to an attacking central midfield position.
Mike Cramp came on for Steve Aris at half-time giving the Angels a very youthful defensive back four, John Beales at 20 being the oldest and most experienced of the quartet. It was an improved showing in the second half and Tonbridge came very close to pulling a goal back when Ollie Miles got his head to a cross from the right-wing, the ball seemed to hang in the air a little and dropped almost on the goal-line, but Jay May was unable to nod the ball over the line being beaten to it by a defender. Dolby had clearly seen enough, not having been named as a substitute he brought himself on for May and played himself in attack. Folkestone nearly put the game out of any doubt when Steve Norman had a shot from distance pull wide of the target, before Dolby made it 2-1 on 62 minutes. Luke Piscina, outstanding since the switch to attack, hassled Norman for the ball in the corner with the left-back trying to shield the ball out of play. Piscina’s persistence paid off and he won the ball on the right, creating a chance out of nothing and having his shot blocked by Kessell. The rebound opportunity fell to Dolby’s feet and the player-manager made no mistake.
Stuart Myall thought he had made it 3-1 when he chipped the back-tracking John from the edge of the penalty area, but the ball hit the bar and went out of play. Dolby then had a free-kick saved by Kessell, and then had another shot deflected away from danger by a defender with time ticking away. In the last couple of minutes another piece of individual skill from Piscina was inches away from giving Tonbridge an equaliser, rounding three players on the left before seeing his shot agonisingly hit the side-netting.
Report by: Dan Couldridge
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