Hamlet led for almost the entire match after a 3rd minute corner was nodded down by Mills and kept alive inside the box, allowing Chambers to turn sharply and fire home with his right foot. We looked alarmingly vulnerable to quick counter attacks after turnovers in possession. Folkestone missed a glorious chance to equalise when a poor pass was intercepted by their #9 for a clear run at goal in the inside right channel, but Constable judged the situation perfectly in advancing just enough to narrow the angle without committing himself before blocking the shot with his legs. A blunder by the visiting keeper allowed us to go two ahead, failing to hold Wanadio's whipped cross from the right above his head, to leave Mills with a simple headed finish. The lead was halved within two minutes thanks to a sequence of pretty slipshod defensive moments. A forward got clear in plenty of space out wide and his overhit cross should have been seen away to safety on the opposite flank, but Pascal seemed unaware of their left back pushing up to close him down and was brushed aside as his opponent surged past. A low pass into the centre wasn't dealt with and their other full back fired in from near the penalty spot. Our third arrived shortly before half time after a booming clearance from Constable was flicked on by Mills to unleash Jeffrey's pace on the right. His low cross into the centre was relayed on to Scott, who lifted a composed left foot shot into the roof of the net at the far post.
At that point I'd have put money on both sides scoring at least once more in the second half, and rather less on us winning. In a reversal of last week's second half, our visitors never really built any attacking momentum after the break, while Hamlet successfully took the heat out of the game. As the game drew towards a conclusion we looked the more likely scorers, especially after they'd had man sent off for a wild late tackle near the touchline.
It looks like Constable is now in line for a run of starts after a sound performance. Both goals against Margate and the equaliser at Haringey resulted from balls coming across the six yard box, so maybe Lakin has been judged as not commanding enough in this aspect, or maybe Hak just wants a more experienced keeper? (Lakin and Edwards were both involved in the pre-match warm up.) No sign of Shonibare after his vital contribution last week. This is only conjecture on my part, but I suspect he's impatient to play for a higher level club and won't hang around long. He was at Cheshunt for most of last season before joining Maidstone shortly after they sacked Hak. They offered him a contract for this season but he turned them down and ended up on trial at Forest Green Rovers, but that fell through after a change of manager. I wouldn't be surprised if he's lined up another trial at a higher league club.
Incidentally Lewes lost at Whitehawk in the FA Trophy today, so our league trip to play them is still on for Saturday 9th December.
folkestoneinvictafc.co.uk
