Dover Athletic 0 Folkestone Invicta 1

A JAMES Dryden goal seven minutes from time was enough to give Folkestone Invicta the points against local rivals Dover Athletic at the Crabble.

Dryden, who had an otherwise quiet afternoon, rose highest to power home a bullet header into the corner of Paul Hyde’s goal after a cross from the left. Dryden is now Invicta’s all-time top scorer with 89.

It was no less than the visitors deserved after dominating possession and creating the majority of the chances throughout the match.

Dover’s chairman Jim Parmenter called the game the most important in the club’s history in the build-up, but Whites failed to impose themselves on a match played in front of a crowd of 2,390, the biggest in the Ryman Premier Division this season.

Invicta took the game by the scruff of the neck early on. Hyde was forced into a fine save after 22 minutes after a Simon Glover shot had taken a deflection.

Then Glover found space on the wing to get a cross in to the impressive Stuart Myall, who took the ball down beautifully before fizzing a left-foot shot which beat Hyde but clipped the top of the crossbar.

Dover’s first real chance fell to Walid Matata, who seemed to mis-time his leap and his header lacked the necessary power to beat Tony Kessell in the Folkestone goal.

Kessell then produced a fantastic save to deny Daniel Braithwaite after the Dover man had managed to get in an excellent left-footed drive.

* Listen to Neil Cugley speaking to kmfm sports editor Simon Watts after the match...