Folkestone Invicta 4 Cheshunt 3

FOLKESTONE’S 11-game winless run came to an end when they picked up all three points with a 4-3 win over second-placed Cheshunt in an extraordinary encounter at the Westbourne Stadium on Saturday.

Invicta's supporters were in dreamland as goals from John Guest, James Dryden (two) and Mark Munday saw Neil Cugley's side 4-0 ahead after 50 minutes.

Three Cheshunt goals in the final 20 minutes took some of the gloss off Invicta's victory, but the home side would have taken any kind of victory before kick off.

Invicta gave a starting place to new signing Paul Sykes and the striker made a positive difference to the home attack alongside top scorer James Dryden, with Andrew Burke and Simon Glover providing support.

Bobby Highton shot over for Cheshunt after just 48 seconds, but the first half was to be one-way traffic in Invicta's favour as they overwhelmed their high-flying visitors.

The home side were in rampant mood and raced into a two-goal lead inside 10 minutes.

Guest opened the scoring in the sixth minute when he converted from Burke’s corner and Dryden doubled the advantage three minutes later, following up after the Cheshunt goalkeeper had parried a Sykes header.

Visiting captain Ryan Harris then cleared off the line from Burke on the half-hour mark when Russell Ling saved Burke's initial shot.

Ling sprung into action again after 41 minutes with another good save when the ball ricocheted off Dryden.

Things got better for Invicta at the start of the second half as Dryden made it 3-0 after 47 minutes when he tapped the ball in at the far post following an excellent exchange of passes between Glover and Sykes.

Cheshunt briefly rallied as Chris Watters burst down the left-hand side and shot wide after 49 minutes.

But Munday made it 4-0 when he bundled the ball in after Dryden's shot had been blocked.

There seemed to be no way back for Cheshunt and when Darren Grieves met Steve Magona's corner from the left to score after 70 minutes it appeared to be no more than a consolation.

But when Archer sidefooted the ball home a minute later the alarm bells starting to ring for an increasingly nervous Invicta.

Their third came with a stoppage time penalty after Guest had handballed, but their was no time to complete the comeback.

Folkestone: Kessell, Watson, Sykes (Walker 71 mins), Flanagan, Guest, Lindsey, M. Everitt, Munday, Dryden, Burke (Coleman 78 mins), Glover (J. Everitt 90 mins). Subs Not Used: Waters, Morrin

* Manager Neil Cugley told KM-fm the result proves how tight the league is at the moment...