Sterling: "We Looked Solid"

By Josh Cole

Tyrone Sterling says Margate were “organised” despite a narrow 1-0 defeat against Tonbridge Angels on Saturday afternoon, as they continued their pre-season schedule.

“I think if we said we were going to come here and lose 1-0 we might’ve taken that with the experienced team they had, but for me, we were organised and looked solid whilst creating loads of opportunities. We conceded from a set piece which is disappointing but it’s a good base to build from.”

Sterling was pleased with how the defence restricted Tonbridge to only scoring one goal and added “we kept them at bay”.

“I think we kept them at bay all game, they had good spells on the ball, put us under pressure but I thought we dealt with it well. We were patient with trying to create things going forward, so for us I think like Harrison said the other day we have to look at ways we can create better chances and I think today we did that.”

Sterling admitted that fitness levels were nearly there after several players played another 90 minutes against their National League counterparts.

“The overall fitness and sharpness is good, obviously there was a difference in sharpness today with them being a league above, but once again five or six of us got 90 minutes into the bank and with two more games left before the season, we’re basically there”.

Sterling says Wednesday nights fixture against Erith & Belvedere will be a “good” opportunity to test themselves on a grass pitch again.

“Its going to be good to be back on grass, it’s going to be interesting, I know they’ve got quite a good team and as you can see we’ve played teams that are below us in previous games and we’ve struggled, so mentality wise we need to be ready for a fight because these teams that are below us, they have confidence and they come out really wanting to beat us so we will have to be mentally strong and clever to get a result on Wednesday.”

Tyrone Sterling is sponsored both home and away by Josh Cole for the 2023/24 season.

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