Folkestone Invicta 3 Chelmsford City 2

MIDFIELDER Martin Chandler came off the substitutes' bench to hit a dramatic winner a full eight minutes into stoppage time to give Folkestone Invicta their first home league win of the season on Saturday.

There was joy all around the ground as Invicta finally made it 'home sweet home' by ending a miserable run which had seen them fail to win a league game at home since March 2002 and fail to record a league win of any description since the end of August.

It was to be an unforgettable afternoon which saw three penalties, two sendings off and more than ten minutes of stoppage time during which Chelmsford equalised to seemingly deny Invicta their moment of glory before Chandler finished the day as the hero after being left out of the starting line up.

The home side had started the game very positively and opened the scoring after 16 minutes courtesy of a trademark thunderbolt from James Millar when a Ryan Peters corner fell into his path outside the penalty area.

Chelmsford were then awarded the game's first penalty when Garry Cross went down under challenge from Invicta's new captain Scott Lindsey. After furious Invicta protests, one-time England non-league international Dale Watkins stepped up to make it 1-1.

Invicta were themselves awarded a penalty after 46 minutes when centre half Ian Wiles challenged Ayling. Goalscorer Millar stepped up, but Wingate got down to his left to save and Lindsey blasted the rebound over from close range.

Ayling gained a second penalty after 68 minutes following another challenge by Wiles and Andy Morris stepped up to make it 2-1.

The drama was not to end there as Dover man Kristian James was sent off after 71 minutes for what seemed to be a fairly innocuous looking second yellow card.

But Chelmsford's numerical advantage was to last for just three minutes as substitute Keith Sharman received a straight red card for a foul on Tait.

Chelmsford hit the crossbar following a bounce up in the Invicta goal mouth and when Watkins levelled to make it 2-2 during injury time it seemed like heartbreak again for the Folkestone side.

The final joyous twist came when Dryden played Chandler through the middle and the midfielder kept his head with a cool finish to earn himself a little place in the club's folklore.