Gillingham (H) - 1st March

Margate will look to progress to the Quarter-Finals of this seasons Kent Senior Cup on Tuesday evening as they welcome SkyBet League One side Gillingham to Hartsdown Park.

The Blues set up this tie after convincingly beating Isthmian South East Division side Cray Valley (PM) 5-0 at Hartsdown Park in the first round in November.

This will be Gillingham’s first game in this seasons competition. Last season the Blues crashed out at the first round after a 4-1 home defeat by Phoenix Sports, whilst the Gills ended up being Semi-Final losers to Whitstable Town. National League South side Dartford won the delayed competition in November by beating Whitstable 6-1.

It is expected to be a mixture of U18, Academy and first team players that travel to Hartsdown Park. Whilst it will be difficult to predict which Gills side will arrive, the club have seen a resurgence in recent weeks after the arrival of new manager Neil Harris. Saturday saw the Gills close the gap to safety in League One to just three points after a 2-0 away win at Lincoln City.

Margate could also mix things up from their 0-0 draw against Bishop’s Stortford on Saturday. Midfielder Sam Blackman could come back into contention after serving a two game ban for collecting ten yellow cards so far this season, whilst Manager Jay Saunders hinted there could be starts for George Lamb and Fyn Rutherford after Saturday.

It was March 2015 the last time these two sides met in this competition. Margate held their League One opposition to a 1-1 draw that night thanks to a Freddie Ladapo goal, however the ‘Gate were defeated on penalties.

Supporters should note that as this is a cup fixture, all supporters should purchase a ticket as no Season Tickets or Youth passes will be permitted. 

Kick-off at Hartsdown Park is 7:45pm, but as always if you can’t be there then you can stay right up to date on the clubs official Twitter feed @margate_fc from 7:30pm.

More news