Brilliant Blues See Off Lewes

By Dylan Smith 

The Blues produced an excellent performance to win 2-0 against Lewes at Hartsdown Park on Saturday afternoon.

Manager Reece Prestedge named a changed eleven, with Olly Box making his first start and Harry Hudson taking the armband in absence of Sam Blackman who was serving a one game suspension.

The game started as a cagey affair in the opening ten minutes. The ‘Gate had started slow, leaving the away side to have more control of the ball in our final third, fortunately, the backline stood firm, leaving Harry Seaden with minimal to do.

With the ‘Rooks struggling to break the Blues defence down, Bradley Pritchard decided to take a lucrative shot from 30 yards, hitting the crossbar.

With this near miss, the ‘Gate woke up and started to get a foothold in the game. The Blues pressed higher up the pitch, causing the Lewes ‘keeper to send a wayward pass to Greenhalgh who unleashed an effort from 20-yards that was seemingly going into the bottom right corner, but the shot was saved.

Margate’s small period of dominance would pay off in the 25th minute. Greenhalgh’s delivery from a corner whipped its way to the back post, finding Tyrone Sterling who was able to head home to break the deadlock and give the host a deserved lead.

With Margate now on top, the chances kept on coming throughout the first half. The most notable of these being Greenhalgh’s header in the 38th minute. Rohdell Gordon picked the ball up on the right wing and saw Greenhalgh lurking around the penalty spot. Gordon managed to find him with an excellent cross leaving Greenhalgh to head the ball, but his powerful effort hit the crossbar.

Margate came out for the second half firing, looking to put the game to bed. They had the Lewes team pinned in their third for the opening ten minutes of the restart.

In the 60th minute, Greenhalgh would all but seal the three points for the ‘Gate, scoring the goal that his performance deserved. A through ball was played to Harrison Hatfull down the right wing as he worked his way into the box and cut it back to an unmarked Greenhalgh, who smashed home to make it 2-0.

With Lewes latching on to any hope of them leaving with a point, they played a ball across the six-yard box, Hudson was there to clear in another positive display from Margate’s backline.

The ’Gate went on to manage the rest of the half, as they looked to slow down the game. Despite a late flurry of corners and five minutes of added time, the ‘Rooks were unable to break the defensive wall of Margate, securing the ‘Gate three points and a much-needed clean sheet.

We’re back at home again Tuesday evening against Haringey Borough in the Isthmian Premier Division.

Lineup

Seaden, Hatfull, Johnson, Poku, Sterling, Hudson, Gordon (Bowman 93’), Greenhalgh, Rutherford (Duncanson 88’), Box (Cawley 74’), Knight

Unused sub(s)

Roberts

Mazzone

Goalscorer(s)

Tyrone Sterling 25’

Ben Greenhalgh 60’

Man of the Match

Tyrone Sterling

Attendance

372 

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