A clinical and determined Folkestone Invicta put an end to Horsham’s winning run as the “Cheriton Road Curse” struck once more, The Hornets departing the Alcaline Stadium empty handed once more.

Andy Drury made 2 changes to the side that had beaten Canvey Island a week earlier; injury to Marvel Ekpiteta seeing midfielder Amadou Kassaraté come into the defence in his place while Nathan Green made his first start since returning to Invicta, replacing Frankie Morgan at left back. The manager was given a boost ahead of kick off as forward Ade Yusuff was passed fit enough to start in an unchanged front 3.

It took just 104 seconds for Invicta to spread that “here we go again” feeling throughout the travelling support, that had taken up the Cricket Ground End terrace in number. Dean Rance, fresh off opening his Invicta account a week earlier, took aim from 20 yards, his driving effort taking a deflection before striking the arm of Charlie Hester-Cook. Having scored an own goal at that same end of the Alcaline Stadium in this fixture last season, the Horsham midfielder will already be dreading the next meeting between the sides. Ade Yusuff stepped up to beat Lewis Carey, taking his tally to 4 in 4 games since returning to the club at the start of the month.

Horsham had the ball in the net in the 11th minute after Isaac Philpott found forward Lucas Rodrigues inside the Invicta penalty area, the Brazilian turning and controlling the ball the ball well despite the difficult pitch underfoot before firing beyond Henly. The linesman’s flag however was up before the ball hit the net to deny the visitors an equaliser.

Henly was down well to save a low, long range drive from Reece Myles-Meekums on 25 minutes, but just over a minute after his first save of the afternoon the ball was in the net at the other end. Yusuff won a free kick for Invicta wide on the right, Jebb’s delivery cleared only as far as Ian Gayle who teed up Jebb for a rasping effort through a crowded penalty area and beyond a stranded Carey to double the lead.

As the first half ticked away, Rodrigues did well to battle off Gayle to force a save from a tight angle before Meekums struck an effort out of the ground fro the edge of the penalty area.

If the visitors hadn’t already given up on the idea of ending their winless run, the strength of the curse was put to the test just 2 minutes before half time. Hester-Cook, looking to atone for the earlier penalty and having picked up a booking for dissent, continued his eventful afternoon with a shot from just inside the Invicta penalty area that took a deflection off the boot of Kassaraté that sent it spinning towards the bottom corner but Henly reacted quickly enough to claw it away before it was deemed to have crossed the goal-line by the officials.

Invicta saw Kassaraté and Rance join Hester-Cook in the referee’s book in the opening minutes of the 2nd half, Philpott then pulling back Kouassi in the middle of the pitch to level things up and 2 bookings apiece. Yusuff departed the action shortly before the hour mark, Joe Turner entering the fray.

The visitors dominated possession but Invicta held firm to keep them at arms length and continuously looked dangerous on the counter attack. Dan Smith saw an effort from the edge of the box deflected wide before a cross from Evans Kouassi evaded his head by a whisker. The visitors created their best chance of starting a fightback with 15 minutes to go as fullback Harvey Sparks forced a save from a tight angle before fellow substitute James MCShane’s follow up was blocked by Kassaraté.

Matthias Fanimo replaced Kouassi before injury to captain Ian Gayle forced him off, Frankie Morgan on at right back with Gavin Hoyte now forming a central defensive partnership with Kassaraté for the remainder of the afternoon.

Former Horsham man Turner showed his threat as he flashed a ball across goal before his former teammate Daniel Ajakaiye was thwarted by Henly on the 90 minute mark. Into the 6 minutes of added time, Fanimo looked to join Jebb in opening his Invicta account but fired over with his weaker foot. Drury then opted for a final substation as he awarded Folkestone Invicta Academy and Under 18 captain Lucas Dent his senior debut in place of Luke Allen.

As we entered the final minute of added time Invicta put the final nail in the Horsham coffin as Smith and Turner combined on the counter attack. A clearance from Morgan headed down by Smith on halfway for Turner’s fresh legs to spring into action. The winger ran at right back Jake Elliott, who had picked up a booking just a few minutes earlier, before cutting inside and firing an effort off the underside of the crossbar, Carey helpless and Smith fired home the rebound from close range for his 17th of the season.

The evening was brought to a close shortly after, Invicta climbing 2 places to 8th and closing the gap to Horsham in 5th to 9 points as we enter the final 3 months of the season.

Winger Evans Kouassi was selected as Man of the Match by our matchday sponsors Ardonagh Advisory.

Invicta now look ahead to kicking off February with a trip to Hendon on Saturday before we return home against Chichester City on 8th February. Tickets are on sale now.