Season Review - November Edition

By Ryan Day

Heading into November, Margate knew they needed a good month if they were to keep themselves in contention for a play-off push, especially with the busy Christmas period to soon follow.

The start of November saw the ‘Gate welcome bottom of the table Burgess Hill Town to Hartsdown Park The afternoon started almost perfectly for the Blues as they raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to an Alex Flisher goal, quickly followed by a Josh James own goal as the Gate looked to secure just their third home league win of the season. In exceptional circumstances though the Blues managed to throw away their two goal advantage in the second half as the basement side stormed back to grab a 3-2 victory with a last gasp effort in front of a majority dejected 489 crowd.

The following week Margate headed to Surrey to face their former Manager Nikki Bull who was now in charge of Leatherhead who like Margate had struggled for any consistent form as they languished at the wrong end of the table. Despite a disappointing run at home in the league, the ‘Gate were impressing on the road and they collected another three points thanks to a Frannie Collin penalty.

A midweek trip to Merstham followed as the ‘Gate continued to impress on the road as they earned a 1-1 draw thanks to a first goal of the season from captain Liam Friend as Margate put the disappointing start to the month behind them.

The ‘Gate couldn’t keep up their away form though as they traveled to the home of Corinthian Casuals to face Kingstonian who again were to spend the season ground sharing as they await to find themselves a new home. A goal from on-loan Colchester midfielder George Brown wasn’t enough to earn the ‘Gate as they fell to a disappointing 2-1 defeat to slip back towards the bottom half of the Bostik Premier League table.

The end of the month saw Margate suffer their heaviest defeat of the season at Hartsdown Park as they were crushed 4-1 by a resurgent Bishops Stortford who had recently appointed former Football League stalwart Jame Cureton as player/manager. The veteran striker was on form himself as his side come from a goal behind scored by George Brown to inflict yet another home defeat on the ‘Gate.

The last few days of November saw the news that Margate had mutually agreed to cancel the contract of striker Joe Taylor as the management team of Steve Brown and Mike Sandmann looked to shake things up in a bid to improve the ‘Gate’s fortunes as they slipped worryingly closer to the wrong end of the Bostik Premier League table.

The month of November ended with Margate managing just one win from their five games, which included three defeats and just the one draw. The few goals that had been scored in the month were shared between George Brown, Frannie Collin, Alex Flisher and Liam Friend. A total of just 1,726 supporters watched the Blues over the month as they prepared for what looked to be a tough December at Hartsdown Park.

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