Invicta exited the Kent Senior Cup at the first round stage for the third season running on Tuesday evening as resilient Phoenix Sports side kept a much-changed Invicta at bay before winning the penalty shootout 5-4 in sudden death.

Manager Andy Drury made 10 changes to the side that beat Hendon in the Isthmian Premier Division 3 days earlier, with defender Marvel Ekpiteta the only player to remain. Ekpiteta partnered Peter Ojemen for the first time with captain Ian Gayle given the night off, Chris Sessegnon and Jamie Mascoll coming in as full backs with Academy goalkeeper Dan Kennedy given his debut in place of Jonny Henly. Sam Blackman returned from his loan spell at Hythe to make his debut in midfield alongside Jack Jebb, making his first start after recovering from a back injury, and Brad Walledge who came in from his dual registration with Kennington. In attack Tom Derry, currently serving a 3-match suspension in the league, started with Ellis Brown and new signing Matthias Fanimo, the third player to be making his debut for the club on the night.

It would prove to be a frustrating evening for Invicta, who would spend almost the entirety of the 90 minutes camped inside the Phoenix Sports half as they looked to break down a determined defence. With the Invicta defence high up the pitch, the visitors struck early in the 11th minute with a ball over the top of the defence that freed young forward Joe Thomas who took one touch to control the ball before firing accurately into the bottom corner with his second.

The officials would come to stand in the way of Sam Blackman netting his first for the club on three occasions. Blackman had the ball in the net for the first time in the 20th minute after receiving a ball over the top from Jamie Mascoll and finding the bottom corner.

Sam was denied again shortly before half time, this time by the goalkeeper who parried a long range effort from Derry into the path of Blackman only to get himself up quickly enough to deny the Invicta midfielder from close range.

Just moments later and it was the linesman that was denying Blackman again. Mascoll delivered a free kick from the left that Blackman headed beyond the goalkeeper, checking for the linesman’s flag before he wheeled away to celebrate only for it to go up seconds later.

Invicta would continue to labour in front of a defence that now had something to hold onto and it wasnt until just before the hour mark that Ellis Brown would have the first real effort of the second half, a pass from Jack Jebb cut out but bounced nicely for Brown who hit a dipping effort just past the post from the edge of the penalty area.

Searching for more quality in the final third, Drury made 3 changes around the hour mark. New signing Fanimo, who had a training session earlier in the day, was replaced on 58 minutes by Khale Da Costa, while Jebb and Walldge both made an exit a few minutes later with Eze Ebuzoeme and Evans Kouassi entering the battle.

It was the latter who made his mark just 6 minutes after his introduction to level the scores. A high ball into the box was headed into Kouassi’s path by Tom Derry, the substitute given far too much time and space to control the ball and lash it beyond goalkeeper Rob Budd.

A busy evening for Blackman got even busier in the 73rd minute as he picked up a booking for what appeared to be a perfectly timed tackle as he closed down a defender on the byline. A few minutes later He was denied by the linesman for the third time after latching onto an outside of the foot flick by Eze Ebuzoeme.

But Phoenix stood firm to deny Invicta a winner in the closing minutes to take us to a penalty shootout to decide who would travel to Cray Wanderers in the 2nd Round, with them having beaten Chatham Town 2-1 on the same night.

Evans Kouassi stepped up first to score for Invicta, followed by Tom Derry and Khale Da Costa to leave us poised at 3-3 before Ellis Brown saw his kick saved. Marvin Herschel beat Dan Kennedy to leave Eze Ebuzoeme needing to score to keep the tie alive, which he did as he buried his penalty into the bottom corner. Aaron Clarke ran to take the 5th penalty but Kennedy, who made saves in four shootout wins for Folkestone Invicta Academy last season dived to his left and got 2 hands to the ball to push it away.

Cheers from behind the goal where short-lived as Frankie Morgan thundered his penalty against the underside of the crossbar before Thompson Adeyemi scored Phoenix’s sixth spot kick to win the tie.

Match sponsors Pass 1st School of Motoring selected goalscorer Evans Kouassi as Man of the Match, his second bottle of champagne in just 4 days.

Invicta now look ahead to back to back trips to Sussex to face Chichester City on Saturday and Horsham on Tuesday 1st October.