Invicta emerged victorious from the toughest test of pre-season so far as a Dan Smith double secured a 4th win of the summer in a feisty and competitive 90 minutes.

Manager Andy Drury was returning to a club he knows well, having spent 2 spells there as a player, and had his full compliment to select from for the first time with Sam Blackman returning from honeymoon (congratulations Sam!)

Jonny Henly started in goal for the first time, with Gavin Hoyte, Ian Gayle, Joel Odeniran and Frankie Morgan in front of him. Blackman’s first appearance came alongside Jack Jebb, Dean Rance and Matt Young, with Tom Derry & Evans Kouassi leading the line.

Prior to kick off, Invicta captain Ian Gayle laid a wreath on the centre spot in memory of Sittingbourne director Peter Pitts who passed away on Monday. A minutes applause was also held

The tone was set early for a game where the tempo was high and the tackles flew in. Invicta went close early on, a cross from the left headed into the air, Matt Young saw hit effort headed off the line, Blackman denied by a save before Derry lifted a third effort onto the crossbar.

The tempo never dropped but the keepers remained untested for much of the first half, Invicta limited the hosts to shots from distance, while Rance and Young failed cause the Sittingbourne keeper much trouble at the other end.

Young defender Joel Odeniran saw his evening cut short after about 25 minutes, replaced by the experienced Chris Sessegnon while Joan Luque replaced Sam Blackman at half time to prompt a change of system in the second half.

Sittingbourne were the first to look like scoring in the second half as they broke in behind before being denied a shot on goal by a perfectly timed challenge from Gavin Hoyte.

Dean Rance had Invicta’s first effort of the second half, coming onto a lay off from Tom Derry on the edge of the box but failing to hit the target.

Just after the hour mark Invicta went close to breaking the deadlock, a Jebb free kick falling to Kouassi who saw hit effort denied by a combination of defender, goalkeeper and woodwork.

With 20 minutes to go it was Sittingbourne who found the way through. Invicta cleared a corner that resulted in a long shot that stung the palm of substitute goalkeeper Dan Kennedy. The resulting corner was taken short and delivered to the back post, headed back across goal and turned home.

Dan Smith got his first sight of goal in the 75th minute, turning a Brad Walledge cross wide of the near post.

On 82 minutes Smith had Invicta level. A cross from the left wasn’t properly felt with, Invicta’s no. 19 eventually bringing the ball under control on the edge of the box, spinning and firing into the bottom corner.

Just 2 minutes later and the game was turned on its head. Frankie Morgan drove inside and unleashed an effort from distance with his right foot that struck the post, bouncing back into the path of Smith to finish into an empty net.

Invicta saw out the final minutes to leave Woodstock Park with a 4th win from 4 pre-season fixtures, heading to Herne Bay on Saturday before returning home to the Alcaline Stadium to host Deal Town on Tuesday.