Sunday, October 19, 2008 20:37
Folkestone Under 18's 1 Faversham Town Under 18's 2
Scorer: Richard Pennell (2)
Richard Pennell made it 6 goals for the season and helped secure 3 points for Town at the Buzzlines Stadium, Folkestone.
Town had been without a fixture for the last two Sundays but picked up a vital win to stay in touch with the early league leaders. Town started the game unchanged from the last game at Whitstable but welcomed into the squad Aaron West who signed during the week.
The game began with Town slow out of the blocks and were generally pinned back for the first 20 minutes without being really troubled. Folkestone were a little quicker to react all over the field as Town tried to gain a foot hold in the game.
The situation was not helped when less than 10 minutes in Liam Gould limped out of the game with a dead leg, Chris Axford came on after missing out last game through injury.
Slowly and surely Town established themselves Pennell lead the line superbly all day, began winning a few flicks and Stefan Wall looked to have the pace to cause problems for the Folkestone defence.
On about 20 minutes Town put together one of their first fluid moves, Wall turned and ran at the Folkestone back line, he fed the ball into the path of Dave Miles who hit a great low first time cross, it found Pennell who guided the ball into the bottom corner.
This gave Town a big lift and they looked more organised throughout the side, and started to look dangerous down the left hand side where Matt Wilson and Kris Richardson were linking up well, Richardson going close with a couple of efforts from outside of the box.
Apart from a couple of dangerous corners from Folkestone it was Town that now looked like they had the cutting edge, and it was about to get better, when with just over 5 minutes of the half left, the ball was won by Chris Axford who provided the perfect weighted ball through to Pennell who rounded the keeper to score into the empty net.
With Town seemingly looking comfortable they switched off just before half-time and allowed Folkestone to get a goal back. A lack of marking at the back post lead to a flick on and the ball falling at the feet of the Folkestone player who made no mistake from 6 yards.
The second half began with Town 2-1 up, but Folkestone continued to battle throughout the second half constantly asking questions of the Town defence.
Folkestone were generally more fluid on the ball getting the ball wide well, but with Jamie Sparks and Brad Doyle organising the back-line there were not many clear cut chances created. Town remained at their most dangerous on the break with Wall's pace, and Richardson's probing down the left.
After about 20 minutes of the half gone, Town made a double substitution, Aaron West came on for his debut along with Dan Ellett, for Wall and Miles respectively. The game continued in a similar pattern with Town having to defend well whilst attempting to put the game out of reach with a third on the break. It was not going to happen for Town but they stuck together well and kept out Folkestone's attacks right till the end of the game and gaining the 3 points.
Town: Carl Hodgson, Daniel Ellett, Matt Wilson, Taylor Johanson, Brad Doyle, Jamie Sparks, Dave Miles, Liam Gould, Richard Pennell,Kris Richardson, Stefan Wall.
Subs: Chris Axford (Gould 10), Aaron West (Wall 65), Dan Ellett (Miles 65).
Not Used: Joe Dart, Danny Smith.