Watt Reflects on Folkestone Draw

Manager Steve Watt felt for his side who deserved more as Margate drew 1-1 against local rivals Folkestone Invicta on Bank Holiday Monday.

Watt changed his starting eleven to take on one of the Bostik League’s in-form teams and the attacking dominance shown in the first half set a good tempo for the game itself.

“I came to watch Folkestone, I knew how they liked to play and I went with my gut and changed things. I went for the three of Fran, Jay and Jordan as I wanted to be attacking minded.”

“I wanted to try and ask them questions which I thought we did very, very well. I think we had some great passages of play and I don’t really remember Lenny Pidgeley being in any spells of real bother at all.”

The Gate had three strong penalty appeals waved away and Watt was disappointed Frannie Collin’s stunning strike was not enough to take three points back to Hartsdown Park.

“In terms of the game itself, I thought the boys were fantastic and deserved more. Other weeks, I would say it’s been our own undoing or our own fault but today I think an official has cost us.”

“Our goal was a great finish and Frannie will always bring you that quality and danger. It was a brilliant goal and it’s a shame it didn’t win us the game. I thought the front line caused them so many problems and it should have been three points.”

Besides Margate’s attacking threat, the defensive unit and midfield combination of James Rogers and Jack Evans worked tirelessly to limit one of the League’s hottest attacking line ups from a limited number of opportunities on goal.

In the end, the only means of breaking down Watt’s side was from the spot-kick, another talking point to run past the Manager after the full-time whistle.

“We’ve been so good for 90 minutes dealing with Folkestone and it’s the first occasion in the game when we’ve gone for the ball and not got there and they’ve got in, got the opportunity.”

“The ball has hit Tom’s hand so it’s probably a penalty but the shot took a deflection towards him so I think he’s been a bit unlucky. If the referee sees a handball, it’s then got to be a sending off.”

“I hate speaking of luck because I think you make your own luck in this game but it just seems, as of late with the issues we’ve had to deal with, it is not falling our way. On another day, I think we could have come away three or four goals to the good but today it just didn’t happen.”

Margate now return to Hartsdown for two home games on the bounce and after a positive derby display, Watt and his team are fully focused on the final League push.

“We go into the next game, try and win that and it’s as simple as that. We should have more points than we do; that goes without saying. We should be in a more comfortable position than we are; but we’re not.”

“As I’ve said, I just feel it’s unfortunate because I think the boys deserve to be in the play-offs comfortably with what they’ve delivered this season.”

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