Who Wants A Chat?!

Who Wants A Chat?

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Having drawn against Vanarama National League (South) Eastbourne Borough on Saturday, Chatham Town of the Southern Counties East Football League (SCEFL) Premier Division visit the BuildKent Stadium tomorrow for the next fixture in our pre-season programme.

Over the past two seasons they’ve been challenging for promotion to the Pitching In Isthmian League South East Division and they can count themselves very unlucky to miss out when the F.A. decided on promoting teams for the forthcoming season based on results from the last two. When the 2019/20 season ended prematurely, they were lying in 3^rd place, and then when last season did the same, they were top with thirty points from eleven games. However, when it came to deciding who would go up on the Points Per Game (PPG) process based on those two seasons they were third within the SCEFL, just 0.17 PPG less than Corinthian who will play in South East Division this season. They will be looking to put that disappointment behind them and will no doubt be putting in a strong challenge again this season.

SCEFL PPG Table for 2019/20 and 2020/21 Seasons – Top Five

They’ve played three pre-season games (all at home) so far, beating a Gillingham XI 3-2 with goals from Chris Lawal in the first half and Jordy Robins and Josh Strouts after the break as they came back from 2-1 down, losing 1-2 against Cray Wanderers with Harvey Brown getting their consolation goal, and then last Saturday they beat Punjab United 7-3, with four from Strouts, two from Jon Pilbeam and Brown.

Prior to that however, they also played in a Post Lockdown Tournament in May and June and came away as winners. The competition involved four SCEFL Premier Division clubs, Chatham Town, Lordswood, Punjab United  and Sheppey United, plus Rochester United from the First Division, playing each other home and away on a League basis with the top two qualifying for the Final. In an exciting Final, ‘The Chats’ beat Sheppey United 8-7 on penalties following a 1-1 draw after ninety minutes which went to 2-2 after extra time, before former Invicta goalkeeper Henry Newcombe saved the decisive penalty.  

‘The Chats’ are managed by Scott Lindsey, who needs no introduction to Invicta fans as he was a hugely popular member of our squad from 2002 to 2006, being part of the team that played in the First Round of the F.A. Cup at Chester City in the 2005/06 season and the F.A. Trophy Third Round against Stevenage Borough in the 2003/04 season, both of which represent our best runs in the respective competitions. In 2003/04, Invicta also won promotion to the Isthmian League Premier Division as although we finished fifth in the Southern League Eastern Division, we were promoted due to the National League System (NLS) reorganisation. Scott then re-joined us in June 2008 as a player/coach before leaving for Gillingham the following January.

His assistant is another popular former Invicta fans’ favourite, Darren Smith, who also had two spells with us. In the 2009/10 season, Invicta finished second in the Isthmian League Division One South before going on to beat Godalming Town 2-1 in the Play-Off Final and so win promotion to the Premier Division. In that same season we also reached the Kent Senior Cup Final, losing 3-1 at home against Sittingbourne. He came back briefly in 2016, but that wasn’t quite so successful as in his one game we lost 3-1 at North Leigh in the F.A. Cup!

They have several ex-Invicta players in their squad. As mentioned already, goalkeeper Henry Newcombe, who served us so well last season moved there for this one, and he is joined by striker Andy Pugh, who had a short spell at Invicta on loan from Gillingham at the start of his professional career in 2008 when he scored three goals in six games, as well as Jack Evans, who is the club’s skipper, Jon Pilbeam and Charlie Dickens. Oh! And for this season they’ve signed a certain Liam Friend, who gave Invicta such sterling service in his ten seasons with us before moving on to Margate.

Last season we met them twice, once in a pre-season behind closed doors game at Chatham which we won 2-1, but they then came to the BuildKent Stadium and registered an excellent 3-0 win to knock us out of the Emirates F.A. Cup at the 2^nd Qualifying Round stage. The teams for that game were:

Folkestone Invicta: Tim Roberts, Josh Vincent, Jordan Wright (Tyler Sterling, 75 mins), Micheal Everitt (Clark Woodcock, 55 mins), Callum Davies, Finn O’Mara, Aaron Simpson, Ronnie Dolan, David Smith, Scott Heard, Sam Hasler (Adem Ramadan, 55 mins) (Sub not used: Henry Newcombe).

Chatham Town: Jordan Carey, Jon Pilbeam, Ryan Hayes (Harvey Brown, 73 mins), Reece Butler, George Sheminant, Chris Lawal, Jordan Robins, Luke Rooney, Dan Bradshaw (Ikechukwa Orji, 63 mins), Jack Evans, Moses Abioye (Mikey Dalton, 67 mins) (Subs not used: Fikayo Ajayi, Jack Healey, Jack Palmby, Patrick Lee).

Goalscorers: Dan Bradshaw (35 & 52 mins) & Jack Evans (90 mins).

Looking ahead to the game, Manager Neil Cugley said; ‘I’m looking forward to catching up with Scott Lindsey and his assistant Darren Smith, both of whom served Invicta well in the past, plus their Chatham team. ‘There is no doubt this will be a tough test as although they’re currently a couple of levels below us, with the quality of the players in the squad, I’ve no doubt that they would be able to hold their own in a higher league and would expect them to be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. ‘Amongst their squad are a number of former Invicta players and I’d like to welcome them back, especially goalkeeper Henry Newcombe who served us so well last season when required, and Liam Friend who gave ten years excellent service to the club, a number of which as Club Captain.’ He then added; ‘We will have a similar squad from Saturday’s game to pick from although Ryan Johnson may be available.’

Folkestone Invicta’s Pre-Season Fixtures and Results

Entrance to the game

All entrance will be pay on the turnstiles, which will open at 6:30pm, there will be no pre-bought tickets available.

At the Wilmoth (cricket ground) end, entry will be by cash only whilst at the turnstile by Bar Invicta payment will be accepted either by cash or card.

Prices are: £5.00 and £3.00 (concessions). Any body interested in an early bird season Ticket the dead line is now Saturday the16th July