Invicta’s playoff hopes took a dent on Tuesday evening as goals either side of halftime saw Dulwich Hamlet to victory, a late strike from Dean Rance only a consolation for Andy Drury’s side.

Drury named an unchanged side from our last outing at Hendon 10 days earlier, Ian Gayle only fit enough for a place on the bench in place of Sam Blackman.

A Dulwich side that had won their previous two matches 3-0 began on the front foot, with Invicta looking as if the weekend off had knocked momentum. While the hosts dominated both ball and territory and Invicta threatened quickly on the break, it took until the midway point of the half for the first real action of the evening when the referee pointed to the spot after Max Hudson was bundled over. David Bremang stepped up to take the kick but saw it saved by Jonny Henly, who then denied Bremang’s rebound and a third effort from Hudson for good measure.

🧤 Just Jonny Henly doing Jonny Henly things#fifc | 🟠⚫️ pic.twitter.com/zOMZ6RYh16

— Folkestone Invicta (@FIFC) February 14, 2025

Invicta’s joy was short lived however, Dulwich took the lead less than 5 minutes later. Amaru Kaunda saw an initial effort saved by Henly before firing home the rebound, Invicta’s no. 1 unable to produce another save from point blank range.

Henly’s goal lived a charmed life shortly before the break, an in-swinging free kick from Hudson evading everybody in the penalty area before striking the inside of Henly’s post, Invicta scrambling the ball away.

While Dulwich had dominated before the break, it was a different story after the restart, with Invicta now enjoying all of the possession and territory they had seen their opponents enjoy in the first half. But before Invicta could make it count, Dulwich hit on the counter. Gavin Hoyte slipped under a diagonal ball from Hudson, allowing it to find Danny Mills and afford the veteran forward the time and space to fire inside the near post to double Dulwich’s lead.

Invicta’s night went from bad to worse midway through the 2nd half as Ade Yusuff was forced off after a challenge with opposing no. 10 Sean Bonnett-Johnson left the Invicta man in pain.

Yusuff’s replacement Matthias Fanimo went close from the edge of the penalty area after Kaunda had seen a second of the evening ruled out for offside. The flag however stayed down at the other end 5 minutes into stoppage time when Luke Allen poked a bouncing ball into Dean Rance who took a touch before finishing well into the bottom corner. Rance and Turner raced to get the ball back for the restart but it proved to be too little, too late with the night’s proceedings coming to an end less than a minute later.

Invicta now look ahead to a trip to Aveley’s Parkside on Sunday to face Hashtag United, with both sides aiming to keep their playoff hopes alive.