Invicta were forced to settle for a point in front of a crowd of 1,111 at the Alcaline Stadium on Saturday after defender Marvel Ekpiteta was dismissed in controversial circumstances, with on loan forward Harrison Day levelling out Khale Da Costa’s early strike.

Manager Andy Drury named an unchanged side from that which beat Ascot United 8-1 in the FA Trophy the previous week, with Tom Derry returning from suspension to replace the injured Chris Sessegnon on the bench.

Invicta began the afternoon with a front 3 of Khale Da Costa, Matthias Fanimo and Dan Smith looking lively and threatening the Hashtag backline. Fanimo won an early free kick just outside the box that Jack Jebb hit into the wall before Fanimo forced the first save of the afternoon on the follow up.

Fanimo set up the opening goal of the afternoon after 12 minutes. Smith and Amadou Kassaraté won the ball back from a Hashtag throw in, feeding Fanimo who found Da Costa with a superb pass across the pitch, Da Costa cutting inside and firing off his effort between 2 defenders and inside the far post, leaving Hashtag goalkeeper Jack Giddens with no chance.

Giddens was forced into another save shortly after, Jebb finding Smith with a long pass to his chest, Smith controlling the ball well on the edge of the box before turning and shooting but the keeper got down to swallow up the effort.

At the other end, Invicta keeper Jonny Henly was forced into his first save of the afternoon by Toby Aromolaran who cut inside and fired a low effort towards the near post, denied by Henly’s right leg. Invicta cleared the danger from the corner, as Hashtag recycled possession Da Costa robbed the ball from a defender and raced towards goal but was unable to hit the target with his effort under pressure.

Fanimo had another sight of goal after 20 minutes, a kick from Henly turned over the top of the defence by Smith, Fanimo running in behind but lifted his effort far too high.

Hashtag’s most dangerous attack of the first half came after 26 minutes on the counter from an Invicta corner. Aromolaran raced away with Sakarya Hassan, going 2-on-1 at Gavin Hoyte but the former Love Island contestant fired his shot so far wide that it went for a throw in.

Both teams continued to press but without either testing the opposing goalkeepers as we headed towards half time. Marvel Ekpiteta picked up his first booking of the afternoon in the 44th minute, Aromolaran chasing a ball in behind the Invicta defence with both central defenders in pursuit but as the ball raced through to goalkeeper Henly the Hashtag number 9 took a tumble. Ekpiteta looked understandably baffled as he was issued with a booking.

Fanimo started the second half brightly, feeding Da Costa who fired a ball across the face of goal before slipping in Dan Smith who was quickly smothered by Giddens.Hashtag responded by firing high over the bar after Aromolaran has closed down a clearance from Henly.

Hashtag may have been edging the second half, without Henly being tested, but the game took a turn in the 66th minute as Ekpiteta was dismissed for a second booking. Picking the ball up deep in the Invicta half, Marvel drove into space that took him 15 yards inside the Hashtag half and looked to find Kassaraté with his pass. The midfielder, being given a rather warm hug by Hashtag’s Quba Gordon, failed to control the ball and a slight tug on Joe Christou saw the referee blow his whistle as the ball bounced back to Ekipiteta who had continued his run and took the ball with him. While at first it appeared the referee was uninterested, following protests from a number of Hashtag defenders lead by captain Harry Haysom he finally reached for his pocket nd produced first a yellow and then a red card to reduce Invicta to 10 men.

Andy Drury quickly reshuffled his defence with Frankie Morgan coming on to replace Jack Jebb. Jamie Mascoll, now operating at right back, burst forward with 20 minutes remaining before drawing a foul from Hashtag’s Nathan Smith that saw their only booking of the afternoon. Mascoll delivered an in-swinging ball from the set piece that was headed wide by Ian Gayle at the back post.

Hashtag took advantage of Ekpiteta’s dismissal moments later. Sakariya Hassan, who had been a threat all afternoon, got in behind the patched up right side of Invicta’s defence and pulled back to Harrison Day who saw his effort deflected beyond Jonny Henly and into the net to level the score.

Invicta had the ball in the net shortly after, Tom Derry colliding with Giddens as he attempted to catch a Gavin Hoyte free kick on the edge of the box, the loose ball falling to Da Costa who found the empty net but only after the whistle had gone for a free kick to the visitors.

Captain Ian Gayle was the next Invicta player to be booked with 12 minutes to go, Day going to ground seemingly after a tangle of legs with Hoyte who went down with him, Gayle seemingly perplexed as to why he was going into the notebook. The free kick was struck into the wall before the follow up was well saved by Henly, the offside flag up as Hashtag followed in on the rebound.

Hashtag could control the remainder of the game without testing Henly, but there was still time for Invicta substitute Sam Blackman to pick up a booking in injury time, protesting to the referee that Haysom had kick the ball away after it had gone out for an Invicta throw in front of the Brian Merryman Stand, taking his point too far in the eyes of the official.

Invicta made to settle for a point in frustrating circumstances before we head into a run of away fixtures, starting with a trip to Canvey Island. Our next home fixture sees us welcome neighbours Dover Athletic on Bonfire Night.

The match was played in memory of former Folkestone Invicta Chairman Gordon Wallis, with Gordon’s son Rob selected goalscorer Khale Da Costa as Man of the Match.