Unbeaten Folkestone Invicta under-13 boys’ youth team have been celebrating after a near-perfect season.

The side, led by coaches John Ross and Greg Newman, completed a double during their 2023/24 campaign.

Having won 14 and drawn one of their East Kent Youth League Division 1 fixtures, they were crowned Merv Willis Cup winners last Saturday.

It was a second successive league triumph for the team, which replicated Arsenal’s 2003/04 Premier League “Invincibles” season in their own way. Their last loss was a 2-0 away defeat to Whitstable in November 2022.

Newman said: “We won Division 2 last year. We had been in Division 2 for three or four years and had never managed to get out of it.

“But, last season, we won it. Then, we have gone up to Division 1 - and we have won it without losing a match!

“It’s been a fairytale season with getting through to the Cup Final and winning that, as well.

“We would have won every single game - but for one draw in the league.

“But it’s still an ‘Invincible’ season in the way that Arsenal did it.”

Folkestone Invicta Youth were way clear of the league runners-up - who, ironically, were Folkestone Invicta Youth Juniors.

“We were 15 points clear in a 15-game season,” Newman noted.

“The next team finished with five defeats, so it was quite a substantial win.”

Folkestone Invicta Youth won 8-3 against Snowdown & Aylesham in the Merv Willis Cup showdown.

Hat-trick hero Flynn Topley - their leading scorer - Jack Smith (2), Oli Houghton, Henry Worthy and Mason Clayton netted before captain Hayden Skinner lifted the trophy.

Newman stated: “That really flattered us. The other team folded a little bit in the second half. In the first half, we scored, they equalised - Snowdown & Aylesham kept coming back - but we won that in the end.”

Glory at the end of the season has been a culmination of years of hard work together for a tight-knit group.

“We’re a team that has been together for five years,” Newman noted.

“We have never achieved anything like this. It’s not like we have done it year in, year out - like some other teams have done in the past - we have really had to build, grow, coach and develop these lads. It’s a really lovely story.”

Looking ahead to 2024/25, Newman has mixed emotions, with some of their players set to leave and link-up with Folkestone Invicta’s higher-division Kent Youth League side.

He said: “We have got a couple of players who are going to leave for the Kent League side.

“That’s a bit sad but it happens. We have to let it happen.

“They have really shown their ability to perform at different levels.”

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