Folkestone Invicta 6-1 Kingstonian
THE BRYCO CUP - DON'T MISS IT

A game from which precious few positives can be drawn saw an experimental Kingstonian team emphatically dumped out of the Bryco Cup, losing 6-1 to a mediocre Folkestone Invicta side.

The game started quietly with nothing much of note happening for 25 minutes, the highlights being Dave Ocquaye and Michael Everitt missing headed chances for Kingstonian and Folkestone respectively.

The substandard manner in which K's dealt with set pieces at Yeading soon came back to haunt them again though. Steve Norman's chipped free kick cleared Richard Taylor and found Paul Sykes at the far post. The Invicta striker made no mistake, heading in off the post.

Scott Steele fired a 29th minute free kick over the bar after Paul Lamb had curtailed an excellent Mazin Ahmad run with a cynical foul, but a minute later the Kent side made much better use of a set piece. A chipped cross found flamboyant substitute Simon Glover unmarked at the far post and he easily headed Folkestone into a two goal lead from six yards out.

Bashiru Alimi turned well and cut the home defence apart for Martyn Williams but the striker fired wide. Just before half-time though, Ahmad gave K's a lifeline. He stormed down the right flank, turned Glover inside-out with a series of skilful moves that probably don't even have names outside of South America, and then delivered a chip from out wide that goalkeeper Tony Kessell was unable to keep out of the net.

K's struggled to assert any authority on the game though and after chances for Glover and James Dryden went begging and Alimi cleared a corner off the line, Folkestone deservedly went 3-1 up on 61 minutes. A set piece was once again K's undoing, as John Guest was this time the beneficiary of the poor defending, heading home Lamb's free kick. K's then made a change, as Bernard Asante made his first appearance in many weeks to replace Steele which saw the wing-back formation changed to 4-4-2.

Another excellent run by Ahmad was ended by a nasty tackle from Adam Flanagan, but from the resultant free kick the referee was unreceptive to K's claims that Jamie Palmer was pushed in the box by Guest. Ahmad was the only K's player who looked dangerous, and on 74 minutes he skipped through the Folkestone defence once more and produced a good save from a full-stretch Kessell.

Richard Taylor got a foot to the resultant corner and it sat up nicely for Dean Lodge on the edge of the box, but the diminutive midfielder volleyed wide. The replacement of Dave Ocquaye with Ahmed Tchankou was Kingstonian's last throw of the dice, but rather than a dramatic comeback the last ten minutes saw a disastrous collapse for K's.

Palmer turned a Glover cross over his bar for a corner, which Nick Hart claimed. Unfortunately for the former Maidenhead keeper as he tried to release Dave Timothy on the counter-attack with a quick clearance, he fell over. The ball went straight to Dryden on the edge of the box and after outfoxing Alimi he fired home from close range.

Three minutes later Dryden scored a far better goal, smashing a 25 yard volley into the corner of the goal. Not to be outdone Glover made it 6-1 shortly afterwards, beating Hart from 20 yards as the visiting defence merely watched in disbelief.

While K's line-up was somewhat under-strength, it did not feature anybody who has not played in the league this season. It was not an out-an-out reserve team, more a hybrid of first teamers and squad players. Ahmad was the only man to come out of the game with credit, and even he was shackled in a wing-back role and did not have the creative freedom he needed to terrorise Folkestone as often as he would have liked.

Being out of the Bryco Cup is really no loss to K's as it is a weak competition that can really only serve the purpose of distracting K's from their relegation fight. The manner of the exit though is a major worry - this was by far the worst K's performance of the season.