David Smith says he and new strike partner Ade Yusuff could be unstoppable at Folkestone this season.

The pair are big pals off the pitch and it shows in their relationship on it.

They caused plenty of problems in Saturday’s 3-1 friendly win over Maidstone, with Yusuff opening the scoring and Smith on target twice.

Yusuff rejoined Invicta from Cray Valley this summer to add to Invicta’s exciting attacking options.

And Smith said: “If me and Ade work together, we could be unstoppable.

“He brings a lot to the team, he’s got good experience, where he’s older than me, and he tells me what I’m doing well and what I need to work on.

“It’s good to have a striker you can look up to and who can help you through games.

“I’ve known him a long time, he’s a good friend of mine and that, 100 per cent, makes a difference.

“When you’ve got that friendship off the pitch you can’t take anything personally on the pitch.

“If I’m not doing something he’ll let me know and he doesn’t have to worry about hurting my feelings or whatever.

“It’s nice when you’ve got that friendship, it makes it easier to play with each other.”

Smith is starting his second season with Invicta after joining from Ashford.

The former Maidstone academy striker, who’s also played for Sittingbourne and Dover, took time to find his feet in pre-season, following the Covid-enforced break.

But he’s ready to go and determined to enjoy his football more than ever.

He said: “It took me a while to regain match fitness but I feel everyone was in the same boat.

“That was the biggest worry after eight months out.

“I set little goals each month and those little goals play into reaching the big goal.

“I’m looking forward to playing as much as I can and helping the team.

“When you come back, you realise how much you’ve missed football and how important it is.

“We take this game for granted but if you play with a smile on your face and enjoy it every single Saturday, it shows in your performance.

“During lockdown I trained by myself, and practised scenarios in my head, but it’s not the same.

“The rustiness was there in the first couple of games, my fitness felt so bad and I was thinking, ‘Wow, this is going to be a long old pre-season.’

“It’s good that the gaffer threw me into as many games as he could to get my match fitness up and now I feel ready.”

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