Folkestone Optimist Men’s 3s battled hard but narrowly lost 3-2 to Blackheath Men’s 3s. Blackheath went out the shed hard, scoring twice early in the first half to put Folkestone under pressure, but we dug in and pulled one back before the break to make it 2-1 with a brilliant strike from Steve Timmins from a short corner to keep us in the game. We had been in this position before against Marden last season and we felt like we could still get a result at half time.

Blackheath restored their two goal advantage shortly after half-time, moving 3-1 ahead, but we showed real determination and replied with a second goal this time from Phil King, with 15 minutes left of the half to close the gap to 3-2 Folkestone pressed hard in the closing stages and were unlucky not to find the equaliser with one of the last chances of the game being narrowly saved by the Blackheath goalkeepers outstretched foot.

Despite the defeat, Folkestone can take plenty of positives from their performance a strong effort, but plenty to improve upon in the upcoming weeks.