Folkestone 2nds Vs Clifftonville

• 02/11/2011
• D 2-2
• Clifftonville

A spirited performance saw Folkestone’s 2^nd XI come away with an unlikely point against league leaders Cliftonville.

Folkestone started brightly, moving the ball smartly up the field with patience. Ben Allon, who had been irked by the previous week’s ‘lack of firepower’ match report, responded in emphatic form scoring a goal within the first five minutes. Captain Scott Minister slung a ball into the area from the left flank and Allon, with poacher’s precision, nipped in before the defence and deflected the ball to give the home side the lead.

This goal must have come as a shock to Cliftonville, who have only conceded once before this season, and the visiting side sprung into life. Folkestone were forced to defend in numbers and struggled to deal with the slick and swift forward play from Cliftonville. A well worked short corner levelled the scores before a scrappy goal just before the break gave them the lead – a slip in Folkestone’s midfield gifted the Cliftonville forward with a run at goal, beating two defenders before a weak shot squeezed it’s way through the legs of keeper Owain East before trickling into the goal.

The second half was more of the same for Folkestone who had to dig deep to hold of the waves of Cliftonville attacks. A great defensive display from Adam Luckham and Ali Walls as well as another brilliant performance form Louis Sharrock restricted the visitors to just a few weak shots that were easily dealt with by keeper East.

Folkestone kept battling and although they scarcely deserved an equaliser, they got one. A short corner was pushed out to Ben Allon, who worked himself some space with a piece of brilliant skill before his strike was saved, the rebound fell to Jamie Miller-Hastings who smashed it home from close range.