Our pre-season schedule continues with a trip to Faversham Town on Saturday.

Jay Saunders added a goalkeeping coach to his backroom this week with the appointment of former Crystal Palace and Southampton coach Jim Stannard.

Team News

Supporters will again see a mixture of first team players and trialists in action, with Jay Saunders trying to manage players minutes at this early stage of pre-season.

Having gone into pre-season with a squad of 12, Invicta are now up to 14 players with the signings of Josh Strouts and Ronnie Dolan this week.

Kit

Invicta will be wearing our new black and amber home kits on Saturday. You can buy yours online now, or pop into Landau Sport at 111 Sandgate Road to buy in store.

From The Manager

First-team manager Jay Saunders spoke following Tuesday night’s trip to Sheppey: “We need to assess where we are on Thursday, we took a
few knocks tonight and it’s important we manage players’ workloads and dont give them too many minutes.”

“We tried to do 60/30 tonight as much as we could and we will flip that on Saturday and see more of the lads who only did 30 at Sheppey.”

The Opposition

Faversham Town are preparing for their return to the Isthmian South East, two years after relegation. The Lilywhites reached the playoffs in their first season in the SCEFL, losing in penalties to Corinthian in the semi-final before winning the title and automatic promotion last season under the leadership of Tommy Warrilow.

Warrilow has retained the majority of his key players from last season and strengthened by adding former Dover men Harrison Pont and Eniye Amgbaduba as well as Michael Ademiluyi from Cray Valley PM.

The Lilywhites kicked off their pre-season last week with a 1-1 draw against Dover on Saturday followed by a 3-1 defeat to a Bromley XI on Tuesday evening.

Recent Meetings

The sides have only met in competitive action twice in nearly a decade, Invicta winning an FA Trophy tie 2-1 in 2021 and a 5-0 Velocity Cup win in 2022.

The last meeting came in a friendly in 2023, Faversham visited the Alcaline Stadium with Invicta winning 6-1.

Last 6

12/08/14 – Invicta 2-1 Faversham (Ryman South)
29/11/14 – Faversham 2-2 Invicta (Ryman South)
17/10/15 – Invicta 0-2 Faversham (Ryman South)
20/02/16 – Faversham 2-2 Invicta (Ryman South)
13/11/21 – Invicta 2-1 Faversham (FA Trophy)
01/11/22 – Invicta 5-0 Faversham (Velocity Cup)

The Manager

Tommy Warrilow took charge of The Lilywhites early in 2024, leading them to a second-place finish behind Deal Town before going one better last season and securing automatic promotion as SCEFL champions.

Warrilow is an experienced operator, having lead Tonbridge Angels to the Conference South in 2011 before spells with Cray Wanderers, Thamesmead Town and Ashford United. Faversham announced a new two-year contract for Warrilow last week, taking them through until the summer of 2026.

One To Watch

Forward Tashi-Jay Kwayie worked under Warrilow at Ashford United, reuniting last season as the forward scored 30 times to lead Faversham to the title. Former Hythe man Johan Caney-Bryan finished with 22 goals, also featuring in the SCEFL’s top ten goalscorer list. Midfielder Nathan Wood chipped in with 17, so the Lilywhites should possess a potent goal-threat to test Invicta’s backline.

Familiar Faces

At the other end of the pitch Invicta supporters will be very familiar with Faversham captain Callum Davies and fellow defender Matt Newman, who have over 700 appearances for Invicta between them.

How To Follow

You can keep up to date with the action with updates from our X (formerly Twitter) account.

The Venue

Travel

Always check rail times/strike action before you travel. 

Rail travel to Faversham takes just over an hour from Folkestone. Take the Ramsgate service on the hour and change at Dover for the London Victoria service that will take you to Faversham where the Aquatherm Stadium is a 10-minute walk from the station.

Admission  

Supporters can pay on the gate or buy online for this fixture.

• Adult: £5
• Concession: £2