Folkestone Invicta 3 - 1 Dover Athletic XI

FOLKESTONE took the spoils against a Dover Athletic XI in Invicta striker James Dryden's testimonial game at the Buzzlines Stadium on Tuesday.

Although Dover took a team largely comprising fringe first team players and reserves, it didn’t quite turn out to be the "men v boys" encounter predicted.

In fact, Whites will consider themselves unfortunate to have lost a game they played a full part in before being sunk by two goals in the closing stages.

A crowd of around 500, with the usual high turnout from Dover, gave Folkestone’s record scorer a night to remember.

At half-time, Invicta were flattered that Whites went in with just a single goal lead.

The goal came after just six minutes when first-class passing and movement resulted in Dave Clifford going clear down the left and from his cutback, Walid Matata turned marker Steve Norman before firing low past keeper Tony Kessell’s right hand.

Though not quite at the races in the first half, Invicta looked a different proposition after they equalised with a fortunate goal two minutes after the break.

Kevin Watson’s free kick took a huge deflection off Michael Everitt to wrong-foot keeper Darren Smith and restore parity.

Though Whites hit the woodwork twice, they were caught cold as the Black and Ambers killed the game off with two goals in as many minutes late in the game.

The first came when Smith fumbled Paul Lamb’s cross from the left, presenting Joe Nielson with a close-range opportunity he couldn’t miss.

But there was nothing lucky about the final goal as Watson whipped over a free kick from the left and Adam Flanagan rose to head home to seal the win.