Folkestone Invicta continued their impressive form on Saturday afternoon, securing an eighth consecutive win with a victory over Burgess Hill Town at Leylands Park, where the hosts had returned for the opening of their new 3G pitch.

Invicta made the trip to Sussex with a new face amongst the squad with Finley Marjoram, son of Lee Marjoram who played for the club in the mid-90s, putting pen to paper on Friday. Finley came straight into the starting XI in place of Montel McKenzie, one of two changes from Monday evening’s win over Aveley with Mikey Berry coming into the midfield for Bivesh Gurung.

Invicta started on the front foot, winning a corner in the first minute. Joel-Michael Odeniran saw his header cleared off the line before Liam Smith’s follow up was saved by Burgess Hill goalkeeper Alfie Mansell. Burgess Hill responded quickly with a header of their own, former Gillingham man Chris Whelpdale forcing a save from Ted Collins.

Invicta had the ball in the net in the eighth minute – Donell Thomas with the finish from close range – but the assistant referee’s flag was up to signal the ball had crossed the byline before Joe Pigott had cut it back to his teammate.

Pigott was brought down by Marcus Allen as he looked to race clean through on goal in the 10th minute, the referee only issuing a caution to the Burgess Hill Town defender. Pigott took the free kick which struck the wall before a ball into the box was taken by Mansell.

Involved in everything early on, Pigott then started the move for Invicta’s opening goal. Collecting the ball on the halfway line, the forward laid it off to Mikey Berry who drove forward to feed Josh Strouts who skipped past his defender and delivered a low ball into the six yard box back to Pigott who managed to bring the ball under control but struck his effort against the base of the near post. Following up on the back post was debutant Marjoram who fired a low effort through the crowd and past Mansell before he could react.

Invicta were almost gifted a second a few minutes later when Mansell passed the ball straight to Thomas, but the midfielder struck his effort over the bar as the keeper attempted to recover his position.

Both Marjoram and Thomas forced Mansell into saves with his legs as we approached the half hour mark, Invicta unable to take advantage of their dominance to extend the lead.

Burgess Hill’s Ryan Worrell gave Invicta a scare with a cross that clipped the top to the crossbar, but from the goal kick Invicta carved through the hosts for their second with a 13-pass move that involved seven players. Pigott, Thomas, Dean Rance, Berry, Smith and Joel-Michael Odeniran moved the ball around the pitch before Smith found Thomas in enough space to turn and pick out the run of Ben Mason who delivered a first time ball across the penalty area for Pigott to fire at the back post and open his account in an Invicta shirt.

Invicta’s second will go down as a goal of the season contender and Burgess Hill found one of their own six minutes later, a very different strike that literally broke the goal. Whelpdale picked up the ball 25 yards out and was afforded too much time and space to turn and unleash a rocket into the top corner of Collins’ net, causing it to collapse, giving us a two and a half minute wait as it was reattached to the stanchion.

The goal seemed to give Burgess Hill a lift for the final minutes of the first half as they applied pressure to the Invicta goal. An appeal for a penalty was turned down after a cross hit the arm of Marjoram at close range but Invicta’s lead rained intact at the break.

Invicta came quickly out of the blocks again after the restart, with Mason firing just over from outside the penalty area and Thomas forcing one save from a tight angle and another from 18 yards in the opening minutes of the second half.

Marjoram fired narrowly over from the edge of the box as he looked for his second of the afternoon, then fired over from 25 yards after carrying the ball from his own half.

With chances to kill the game off going begging, Invicta were punished shortly after the hour mark. Whelpdale drifted into space between the Invicta defence, collecting a pass and rounding Collins before squaring for Martyn Box to finish from close range to level the score.

In contrast to Invicta’s second goal, the winner came without a single pass involved after Donell Thomas beat Josh Spinks to a loose ball in the middle of the pitch and raced away from the defender on the left flank, entering the penalty area before sliding the ball through the legs of Luke Ashburn and beyond Mansell for his fifth strike in as many games.

With Burgess Hill now pushing for an equaliser, Pigott came close to grabbing his second after beating the offside trap to race onto a long pass down the right flank, winning the race with Mansell and lifting the ball over the goalkeeper but firing narrowly wide from a tight angle.

Invicta stood firm late on to secure an eighth consecutive win in all competitions, our longest run since the end of the 2015/16 season.

Attention turns to Tuesday night’s Kent Senior Cup tie against VCD Athletic before our FA Cup trip to Horsham on Saturday. Supporters’ travel for the trip to Horsham can be booked online here.