Folkestone Invicta boss Andy Drury reflects on home 1-1 Isthmian Premier draw as Hashtag United equalise shortly after defender Marvel Ekpiteta is controversially red-carded

Manager Andy Drury bemoaned a lack of officiating consistency as Folkestone were pegged back on Saturday.

Forward Khale Da Costa put Invicta ahead in the early stages of their Isthmian Premier match against Hashtag United, but Drury’s side were reduced to 10 men in front of a crowd of 1,111 at Cheriton Road when defender Marvel Ekpiteta was given a second caution in the 66th minute.

Soon after, Hashtag equalised through substitute Harrison Day and Folkestone were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw.

Drury reflected: “For the first 30 or 35 minutes, I thought it was some of the best football we have played all season. Then, the game fizzled out for the last 10 minutes of the first half.

“In the second half, it was pretty much the same until the sending-off.

“The referee has made a decision, which is fine, but he’s not done it for both sides. There’s no consistency and that’s what has killed us.

“If it was 11 versus 11, I think we would have won that game comfortably.

“But the performance in the first 30 or 35 minutes showed that we’re one of the better sides in the league. Then, we dug in after the sending-off.

“I thought the players were superb on Saturday in two different ways.”

It was the fourth time already this campaign Invicta had finished a match with a numerical disadvantage, albeit it's more than a month since they last did so.

“All games pretty much change when you’re a man down,” admitted Drury. “It changes the mentality of the game.

“Some might say you get better with 10 men but that’s never really the case. The ascendancy does go with the other team.

“The first booking on Saturday, Marv has not tripped him - the lad has tripped himself up and we’ve seen that on the video - and for the second one, I think Marv