Invicta secured a third win of pre-season against Ashford United at Homelands on Saturday with second half goals from Joel-Michael Odeniran and Matt Young.

Having been light on numbers for Tuesday evening’s win over Whitstable Town, manager Andy Drury had a much larger squad to select from for what will be Invicta’s shooters trip of the summer, with 21 players to select from.

Academy goalkeeper Dan Kennedy started in goal with Jonny Henly, available for the first time, awaiting a second half introduction.

Marvel Ekpetita returned to line up alongside Ian Gayle, Chris Sessegnon and Joel Odeniran in defence.

Cameron Brodie, who picked up a knock a week ago at Sheppey, also returned alongside Brad Walledge and a trialist in midfield.

Joan Luque also returned to line up with Tom Derry and a trialist in attack.

The opposition lined up with 3 familiar faces in their lineup: Louis Collins in attack, Invicta’s record all-time goalscorer Ian Draycott in midfield and Will Moses at right back.

It was an afternoon that took a while to get going, a couple of blocked efforts from Brodie and Gayle and a wayward effort from Luque, all from distance, all Invicta had to show for the opening half hour.

The 35th minute saw the first real effort of the afternoon, Chris Sessegnon winning the ball high up the pitch and feeding Brad Walledge who rolled the ball away from his defender on the edge fo the box before unleashing a left-footed effort that was unfortunately too close to the Ashford goalkeeper.

Invicta made three changes at the break, with Henly pulling on an Invicta shirt for the first time in goal, a trialist replacing Ian Gayle in defence and Dan Smith on for Tom Derry in attack. A fourth changed was forced shortly after the restart as Evans Kouassi replaced a trialist who picked up a knock.

It was Kouassi who then proved instrumental in the game’s opening goal a few minutes later. Smith and Luque linked to find the forward who drove through the centre of the Ashford half with the ball, seeing his effort on goal blocked before trialist no. 6 pushed it into the path of young defender Odeniran who lashed it past the keeper.

With the goal coming moments before the hour mark, Invicta made a host of changes before Ashford got us back underway with Dea Rance, Gavin Hoyte, Frankie Morgan, Matt Young and Jack Jebb (making his first appearance of the summer) all coming on for the final half hour.

A deflected effort on 66 minutes that flew just wide of the near post was as close as the hosts came to troubling either Invicta keeper, but Henly had it covered.

Smith will have been disappointed not to add to his pre-season tally with 20 minutes remaining as he was played clean through on goal by a defensive error, the keeper making himself big to deny Smith a third goal in as many games.

With Jebb, Young and Rance now controlling the game, the three combined with 10 minutes left to allow the former to take a shot from the edge of the box that failed to test the keeper.

Ashford threatened an equaliser on 86 minutes with a well worked move that resulted in an effort that was sent comfortably wide via an Invicta defender. The resulting corner was fired directly into the side netting.

Seconds later Invicta killed the game. Henly’s goal kick into the Ashford half eventually dropping to Kouassi who drove infield and picked a superb chip over the defence into the path of Matt Young, the midfielder lifting the bouncing ball past the keeper with the outside of his left boot to settle the match with just over 2 minutes remaining.

With 3 consecutive wins under our belts this summer, Invicta now head to Woodstock Park on Tuesday to face Isthmian South East playoff semi-finalists Sittingbourne for what is sure to be a tough test.

🎯 Joel Odeniran & Matt Young were on target in yesterday’s win at Ashford United #fifc | 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/dxxbhb5C3h

— Folkestone Invicta (@FIFC) July 14, 2024