Folkestone Invicta v Dartford Sat 14 Mar 2026

[Kermo18]

Saved Henly

Poor ol’ Jonny has come in for some stick but at this rate he could be on course for the trophy!

Only him and George in the run in for me.

[Park Life]

[ozymandias]

Thought that that was a great performance from the lads. deserved to win it. First half was exceptional. Against it in the second but even towards the end, we could have won it.
Front line were good first half and with a bit of luck could have had a couple. There first was a good goal but we deserved to go in a goal up.
Callum was causing problems throughout and No5 was fouling him no end with not much from the ref.
Dan Smith created problems for them and gave his all. But no denying, this was a cracking performance by the Dart's. No question, Folkestone were good on the break but their defence?? And their keeper especially (how many ball's did he mishandle throughout?
A good job achieved and unlucky not to come away with three points.
My MOTM Callum Jones. Better late than never Callum.

[Grassbank]

Good point today away at the league leaders. Football is a crazy game. In the previous six league matches we have either scored just one goal, or we have failed to score. We then travel to play the team with the best home record in the league that had conceded just eleven goals in seventeen games and we score against them twice. They had not conceded two in a league match anywhere since playing Chatham on 3 January.

That suggests to me that we still have a chance of making the play-offs, if only we find some consistency and start to score more goals.

Looking forward to the Lewes match next weekend and the race night in the bar afterwards.

[rambo]

I wasn’t there so cannot comment on the game but I can say it was a good point earned. However draws are now useless for us. We are five points off the playoff and a much worse goal difference so effectively this means six points off the playoffs
It’s not over until the fat lady sings but I simply cannot see us make the playoffs and I still think of the stupid games we have lost this season

[Park Life]

It's been a while since we put in a performance like that so all credit to the players.
They started the first half well and were on top for the first 5-10 minutes but once we settled we played some really good football and caused them problems for the remainder of the half. Went in at HT in front and that was thoroughly deserved.
Second half they had the majority of possession but we defended well and didn't let them have too many clear cut chances, we did pose a few problems for them going forward and also didn't have the rub of the green with a few decisions in the second half.
Overall it was a probably a fair result and it's been a while since I've left a game so pleased with how we played.

MOTM - Everybody had a decent game but top picks for me were:-
Henly solid again and a penalty save (he's arguable been our best player for the last couple of months), Okoye, Smith & Carter all very good first half, Whitefield assured at the back and probably Olarewaju's best performance for us for some time.
But for me goals change games and with his best performance for some time and a brace, Callum gets my vote.


There's been some talk about how we do well against the top sides and our record so far against the top five is W-3 D-4 L-2 with just Chatham at home out of the top five left to play

After such a good performance today's results have not been helpful so we've got an even bigger task ahead now........

[Jonty]

This was our best performance of the season, we were by far the better footballing side on the day. I just think that we look to have better balance in the midfield since Pinder’s return and I hope Ady continues to start with him for the remaining games. I thought Folke$tone were hanging on at the end and their manager made a substitution just before the final whistle, which showed his concern.

Despite the good performance, we find ourselves 5 points adrift of the playoffs and I can’t see those teams above us dropping too many points. I wonder what points tally will be required to scrape into the playoffs.

[Park Life]

[Park Life]

[Lars Resort]

Smith Box and Jones were electric first half. Box wanted the ball all game and he was so difficult to knock off.
The whole team put in a fair shift.
Is it too late? We will see, still 7 games and if we play like that in all of them none are going to live with us.

[Lars Resort]

Olly Box my MOTM.

[ozymandias]

Thought they were a good side, but we were better. Their keeper was a bit iffy.
Only Roland Edge to give the post match interview. Whatever next?

[Ken Shabby]

I'd written us off to be honest. But that is one helluva performance and result against the champions elect. Thanks to some of our more witless performances, the play offs are remote now. But while there's life there's hope. We need to ay to win from now on. Draws won't suffice. But maybe the team can still make us proud of them?

[Spike]

Of course, the only thing that really matters is the points and in that respect it was a bad day as we've lost more ground on the playoff places. However, when it comes to analysing the performance, Darts deserve nothing but praise. It just proves that the team has been underperforming and is more than capable of competing at the top of this league. If we can play with the same intensity for the remaining seven games then we might have a glimmer of a chance, but it's certainly a longshot. MOTM for me was Callum, the first time he's reached last season's high bar that he set himself.

[Lars Resort]

Jay Saunders say's, defensively 'it wasn't them' on Saturday. No, probably because they were all over the place and couldn't live with us the first half hour and had to change to get anything from the game.
In the end we still could have won it IMO.

[Jonty]

Jay Saunders talks a load of old tosh, I'm so glad he didn't show for his second interview with us. It would not have worked out well for the cheque book manager. Full report below from Kent Online.

Boss Jay Saunders was disappointed with Folkestone’s defensive display in their Isthmian Premier derby draw against Dartford on Saturday.

Invicta played out an eventful 2-2 stalemate against Ady Pennock’s Darts in front of a crowd of 1,488 at Cheriton Road as they moved to within three victories of claiming the league title.

Folkestone found themselves behind at half-time, two-goal Callum Jones doing the damage for the away side, with his brace being sandwiched between a goal from the hosts’ impressive Bromley loanee debutant Nathan Paul-Lavaly.

They also missed a penalty through 22-goal top scorer Jake Hutchinson but, minutes later, fellow forward Joe Pigott levelled.

Saunders reflected: “It was probably a really good game for the neutral.

“I felt we started really well for the first 10 minutes, we got in behind them and we had a couple of half-chances, but we didn’t take them. Then, they scored and I thought they had a good foothold in the game and were on top from that point.

“I felt half-time probably couldn’t come quickly enough.

“It was very unlike us, defensively. We were all over the shop, which is unlike us. You have to give credit to the opposition.

“We didn’t start the second half particularly well but, once we got a foothold in it, I thought we started to look dangerous. We were linking a few passes and I did feel it was sort of a matter of time before we scored. Thankfully, we did

“Obviously, we had the penalty - but we didn’t let that (missing it) sort of disappoint us and we managed to get the goal.

“All in all, it’s a point but the derbies are never easy.

“Ady is trying to get his team into the play-off places, they’re fighting for everything, so it was never going to be easy.”

Folkestone Invicta's Jake Hutchinson - failed to convert a penalty, but manager Jay Saunders said he takes the blame for that spot-kick miss.

It took Paul-Lavaly, who will now remain at Folkestone for the rest of this season, just four minutes to create his first chance and he struck shortly before the half-hour mark, firing beyond ex-Invicta goalkeeper Jonny Henly from a pass by Pigott.

“There were glimpses,” said Saunders, who got the 19-year-old through an hour on his bow.

“He has trained really well this week. It’s difficult when you go into a game from training. He didn’t really know anyone and didn’t really know what we were about.

“You give them as much information as you can but that will have been good for him today.”

On what his message had been to his players, who found themselves behind at half-time, Saunders added: “It was to get on the ball and link passes.

“For me, we were just too edgy on the ball today. It was a case of saying ‘Get on the ball, be bright, move it and just be positive in everything we do.’. Once we started doing that, we looked good.

“If you look at our best moves over the whole afternoon, they came from good passing moves. But we didn’t do it enough, to be honest, so that was what the team-talk was.

“Dartford’s front boys are very good at getting hold of the ball and I was just saying ‘You keep turning it over.’. If you’re going to keep turning it over, you’re giving them opportunities.

“I just felt, once we got on the ball and settled down a bit, we were better for it and we could cause them problems.”

Hutchinson, 23, could have equalised for Folkestone with a penalty after referee Simon Cutler ruled Dartford striker Dan Smith, who was at Cheriton Road last term, to have fouled defender Joel-Michael Odeniran.

Hutchinson was denied by Henly - albeit Pigott did level with his 17th goal of the campaign a matter of minutes later.

Saunders revealed: “Having managed Jonny before and knowing what Jonny is about, I probably should have told Hutch not to do what he did.

“But I’ll take the blame for that and I have no issue with that - and I said that to Hutch afterwards.”

It was a third successive game where Invicta had conceded first.

But Saunders again highlighted those out of his squad as he praised his table-topping team once more.

“If you look at actual chances, we would probably think we had some really good ones,” said Saunders, who will now have versatile defender Liam Smith back at his disposal after a two-match ban.

“Early on in the season, when we were creating chances early, we were taking them. We’re not doing that at the moment but what I would say is that we’re showing good character.

“We went behind, didn’t panic and got back in the game. In the end, we could have won it, I think Jonny has made a great save from Ryan Kingsford, and we had a few chances to maybe win it.

“We have been top of the table since November so I’ll give the boys nothing but praise. You have to remember, as well, the amount of players we have got out at the moment.

“When you look at the sideline, Liam Smith is out, Ade Yusuff is out, Dean Rance is out, Ike Orji is out and Ollie Black’s been out all season! But we have carried on and the boys have produced.

“For me, there’s always positives. I was disappointed with how we were defensively today.


“Again, I’ll give credit to their front boys but, if you look at the two goals we have conceded, from our point of view, they’re very poor.”

Folkestone, who can now finish no lower than fifth, visit third-placed Brentwood next Saturday after their 3-2 weekend win at struggling Hashtag United.

[KentC]

Nice to read of a good performance, hopefully we can use that as a springboard for a good run and challenge for the play off spots. As high as possible for home advantage.