Early joy for Bognor at Folkestone – but afternoon ends in heavy defeat

Odokonyero struck after just five minutes when he latched on to an incisive assist from Hani Berchiche.

The early goal provided hope that Robbie Blake’s side would use the advantage to develop their passing game and dominate proceedings.

Folkestone v Rocks in pictures by Trevor Staff and Lyn Phillips.

But it proved to be a fleeting moment of joy for the visitors as they struggled to find any fluency following the bright start.

With Odonkoyero, Matt Paterson and Dan Gifford in the line-up an expectation of more of a goal threat didn’t appear to be an unmerited one, yet with the latter deployed in midfield and the connection between the two main strikers failing to bear fruit, the promise didn’t materialise.

So it was that two goals in a five-minute spell gave Invicta a 2-1 lead as the Rocks struggled to regroup following the loss of skipper Harvey Whyte with a hamstring problem after 14 minutes.

And worse was to come after the break when the home side compounded the misery for Bognor with two more goals to seal their win.

Nathan Green made it 3-1 on 65 minutes and Ira Jackson hit a fourth on 90 minutes to leave Blake’s men frozen out in front of 564 fans at the Buildkent Stadium.

The loss was made worse by a red card for central defender Cameron Black, on loan from Dorking Wanderers, for a second yellow card on 82 minutes.

Now boss Blake must rally his troops as the Nye Camp outfit prepare for an FA Trophy third round tie at Banbury United on Saturday.

Likely to be missing is Whyte – who could still be recovering from his hamstring tweak – and with the hosts just off the play-off places in the National League North, the Bognor manager and assistant Jamie Howell will be asking their charges to put the defeat and display behind them and focus on the new challenge.

This is exactly what the Rocks did when they went to a strong Weston-super-Mare side and won in the trophy – and they did the same at Sussex rivals Lewes in the last round thanks to a dramatic penalty shootout success.