Folkestone Invicta boss Jay Saunders reacts to their 2-2 Isthmian Premier home draw against Dartford

Boss Jay Saunders was disappointed with Folkestone’s defensive display in their Isthmian Premier derby draw against Dartford on Saturday.

Invicta played out an eventful 2-2 stalemate against Ady Pennock’s Darts in front of a crowd of 1,488 at Cheriton Road as they moved to within three victories of claiming the title.

Folkestone found themselves behind at half-time, two-goal Callum Jones doing the damage for the away side, with his brace being sandwiched between a goal from the hosts’ impressive Bromley loanee debutant Nathan Paul-Lavaly.

They also missed a penalty through top scorer Jake Hutchinson but, minutes later, fellow forward Joe Pigott levelled.

Saunders reflected: “It was probably a really good game for the neutral.

“I felt we started really well for the first 10 minutes, we got in behind them and we had a couple of half-chances, but we didn’t take them. Then, they scored and I thought they had a good foothold in the game and were on top from that point.

“I felt half-time probably couldn’t come quickly enough.

“It was very unlike us, defensively. We were all over the shop, which is unlike us. You have to give credit to the opposition.

“We didn’t start the second half particularly well but, once we got a foothold in it, I thought we started to look dangerous. We were linking a few passes and I did feel it was sort of a matter of time before we scored. Thankfully, we did.

“Obviously, we had the penalty - but we didn’t let that (missing it) sort of disappoint us and we managed to get the goal.

“All in all, it’s a point but the derbies are never easy.

“Ady is trying to get his team into the play-off places, they’re fighting for everything, so it was never going to be easy.”

It took Paul-Lavaly, who will now remain