Dover Athletic exited the Kent Senior Cup following a 3-1 defeat to Folkestone Invicta at the Alcaline Stadium on Tuesday evening, with Sonny Fish on the scoresheet for the Whites.

Jake Leberl took the opportunity to field a fully-changed side, handing valuable minutes to several academy players, trialists and fringe squad members ahead of Saturday’s return to National League South action.

George Wilkinson captained the side, with trialists Ernaldo Krasniqi, Will Sweet and Mo Sagaf all named in the starting XI. Rolando Onu also featured as he continued his return from injury, while the substitutes’ bench was made up entirely of academy players.

The hosts, meanwhile, named a side featuring several experienced first-team players, including John Akinde, Alex Woodyard and Alejandro Machado.

Folkestone had the first clear opportunity after 11 minutes, but Lewis Bartlett produced an excellent double save to keep the scores level. The young Dover goalkeeper initially parried Machado’s effort from distance before reacting quickly to deny Freddie Francis on the rebound.

The deadlock was broken in the 22nd minute when Francis worked his way through the Dover defence before calmly placing his effort into the bottom corner.

Onu came close to restoring parity just three minutes later, but it was Invicta who struck again on 35 minutes. Akinde raced onto a ball played through the Dover defence, cut inside onto his right foot and curled his effort inside the far post.

The hosts extended their advantage seven minutes later when Pierre Ikong forced his way through the Whites’ defence before finding the bottom corner to make it 3-0.

Dover responded almost immediately, with Fish pulling a goal back in the 44th minute to reduce the deficit to two goals heading into the interval.

Leberl made his first change at half-time, introducing academy youngster Jack Edwards in place of Onu.

Further opportunities followed for the club’s academy players, with Kyllian Kimbembe replacing Kai Finch in the 65th minute before Jude Leberl and Taylor Gidalla entered the action five minutes later in place of Elijah Abraham and Fuad Sesay.

The introduction of Jude Leberl marked a special moment, with the academy youngster making an appearance in a senior fixture under his father, Jake.

Gidalla was shown a yellow card in the 77th minute, while Sonny Jemmett became the final Dover substitute of the evening, replacing Sagaf with seven minutes remaining.

Despite the Whites’ efforts, there was no further change to the scoreline, with Folkestone progressing courtesy of their three first-half goals.

Although the result brought Dover’s Kent Senior Cup campaign to an end, the evening provided valuable senior minutes for several younger members of the squad, alongside an opportunity to assess trialists and players seeking further first-team involvement.

The attendance at the Alcaline Stadium was 815.

Dover now turn their attention back to National League South action, travelling to Salisbury on Saturday.

Dover Athletic: Lewis Bartlett, Fuad Sesay, Momodou Jallow, Will Sweet, George Wilkinson (C), Sonny Fish, Mo Sagaf, Ernaldo Krasniqi, Rolando Onu, Kai Finch, Elijah Abraham.

Subs: Jude Leberl, Jack Edwards, Sonny Jemmett, Taylor Gidalla, Kyllian Kimbembe.

Folkestone Invicta: Isaac Ajuchi, Ben Mason, Liam Smith, Zacharias Ioannides, John Akinde, Freddie Francis, Alex Woodyard, Alejandro Machado, Harry Uttley, Preston Kedwell, Pierre Ikong.

Subs: Brookes-Read, Adam Lovatt, Kelman, H Kedwell, Joe Pigott.