Blues Crash Out of FA Trophy

By Riley Finch 

Margate rue missed chances as we face an early exit in the Isuzu FA Trophy losing 1-0 to Harrow Borough on Saturday afternoon.

It looked certain that penalties would be the only way to separate the two sides with both sides failing to capitalise on good chances.

While that turned out to be the case in the end, it was not in the way of a penalty shoot-out.

A dominant first-half display seemed to have paid off for The Gate as they were given a penalty on the stroke of half-time.

Ben Greenhalgh was unable to give his side the lead however as his penalty was brilliantly saved by the Harrow keeper.

The Gate picked up where they left off in the second-half creating chances and searching for the opening goal of the game.

A breakaway attack from the hosts however resulted in double jeopardy for the Blues as Skye Salmon’s heroic goal line clearance resulted in both a penalty and a red card with Salmon appearing to use his hand to keep the ball from going in the net.

In a tale of two penalties, Harry Seaden’s save could not prevent the hosts from scoring as the rebound was thumped in.

Despite having just ten-men, The Gate worked hard to try and find an equalizer.

Margate even had the ball in the net at one point only to be ruled offside after a pin-point strike was met by Sam Blackman who was deemed in an offside position in the 90th minute of the match.

Debutant Rohdell Gordon spoke after the match: “Buzzing to make my debut, we’ve got a really good group of lads in the dressing room but obviously it’s a tough one to take.”

“When you’re in a rut, the fine margins are the things which kill you and we felt that today.

“On a different day, Ben scores his pen and it’s a completely different game. Everybody misses pens, it happens.

“We must take ownership. We created enough to score. It’s on us.”

Reece Prestidge opted for a five-back today, something we may seem more of this season.

“We tried it out Thursday. It worked well today. We all agree it suits us as a team.”

While we all love a cup run, a positive from today is that it’s all eyes on the league as we aim to climb the table.

“We can make the play-offs this season, I really believe that. We have ten days’ rest and then we go again, all focus is on the league.”

Margate return to Isthmian Premier Division action on Tuesday 17th October as they welcome Chatham Town to Hartsdown Park for a 7:45pm kick-off.

Margate: Seaden, Hatfull (Vasiliou 82’), Johnson, Poku, Sterling, Hudson, Blackman, Cawley, Greenhalgh, Gordon (Rutherford 82’), Salmon

Subs not used: Hobbs, Duncanson, Bowman, Mazzone, Sutcliffe.

Attendance

126

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