Sunday 19th March 2006

Scorers:
Invicta - Teddy 30, Thompson 38
Surf - 78

Half Time 0 - 2

Man of the Match:
Jack Freke – Once again an outstanding performance full of control and maturity that stifled the opposition threat on the right and ensured Invicta got the best out of Teddy going forward on the left.

Invicta needing to bounce back from last weeks defeat, saw the return of keeper Kinderman and Mason to bolster their squad for a difficult fixture at Lloyds Park on Sunday. In blustery conditions that were fortunately blowing across the firm pitch, pretty passing football was always going to be hard to enforce.

In an evenly contested opening 20 minutes, Invicta’s best chance fell to Tom Willers but his lob over the keeper went wide and when Kinderman looked to have been caught out by the wind with a fortuitous shot, he made an excellent recovery to push the ball over.

Thompson and Barnett looked comfortable in Invicta’s defence with Kinderman covering any long balls. Nicholls was busy in midfield and coupled his ball winning skills with some creative through balls to get Teddy into the game.

With 20 mins on the clock a rash tackle from Invicta’s Josh Poore, saw him dismissed and Invicta’s who were adjusting to the conditions found themselves with 10 men. As is often the case the home side looked lost with the extra man and Invicta enjoyed their best spell of the game.

The opening goal came on 30 mins when Nicholls threaded a pass to Teddy on the left and having outpaced the right back, slotted the ball home through the keepers legs. Mason replaced a good workman-like performance from Taylor as Invicta set out a 4-4-1 formation.

The crucial second goal came just before half time when Teddy was fouled and dead ball specialist Mason found an unmarked Thompson at the far post and a fine finish low on the far corner made it 2-0 and gave Invicta something to work with in the second half.

Phillips and Leigh replaced Barnett and Hermitage at the break as Invicta made sure they gave nothing away and looked to hit Surf on the break. Despite the man advantage Surf did not pin Invicta back and gave the back line little to worry about other than shots from outside the box that Kinderman had covered.

Opportunities fell to Willers and Teddy but neither could convert to make the game safe. Holmes replace a tiring Willers and made sure the home defence had little time on the ball to start any fruitful attacks. As Invicta were coasting home a Surf free kick was played into the box and the ball was scrambled home to deny Invicta a clean sheet, but it was too late for Surf to mount another attack and two points were secured.

Overall a performance that was much about the character of the team after last weeks poor showing and the resilience when they went down to 10 men.

Next week, Invicta entertain Redhill in a must win game if Invicta wish to keep their Championship hopes alive. Redhill won 2-0 at Chipstead today, leaving them firmly in the driving seat.