Slow start - faster finish
by Gary Mead
Folkestone travelled to Whitstable on Saturday and it took some time for the team to wake up after the journey with early pressure from Whitstable resulting in a driven over try very early on.
Folkestone then applied themselves and exerted pressure on Whitstable who resulted to kicking out usually from deep within their half to ease the pressure. However one of these kicks was picked up the Folkestone full back Josh closer to the side line who drove forward and then off loaded to Damien Dixon who surprised the home team with his turn of speed and a third of a pitch to score on the wing for an unconverted try (5-5).
From the restart, Folkestone again drove back at Whitstable and good running by Jacob Cook nearly resulted in a try straight from the restart being held up just short of the line, but then followed a further period of sustained pressure resulting in a penalty in front of the post which James Mead converted (5-8).
In the second half, Whitstable put pressure on the Folkestone defence from the kick off, and from the resulting lineout and good play by Whitstable resulted in an unconverted try (10-8).
Folkestone then continued to apply pressure on the Whitstable defence and poor tacking from Whitstable resulted in a yellow card and Folkestone then used their one man overlap for Peter O’Shea to score an unconverted corner in the corner (10-13).
Folkestone continued to apply pressure and caused Whitstable to concede further penalties. After a scrum close to the Whitstable try line, the ball was picked up by Tom Snare and driven over for a try out on the wing, which was converted by James Mead (10-20).
There were no further scores and it became a battle of attrition, with the referee becoming more involved in the game issuing a yellow card to Folkestone and a further yellow to Whitstable, followed on the final whistle by a red.
The Folkestone youngsters well supported by a couple to vintage players played well and showed good maturity in the way they reacted to some of the tactics used by the home side. Final score (10-20) well done the team.