Whitehawk Deny Blues With Late Winner

By Riley Finch

Steve Cawley’s clinical brace wasn’t enough as an unfortunate, last minute own goal by Harry Seaden denied Margate a well deserved draw in a gutting defeat to Whitehawk at the Enclosed Ground.

In an opening fifteen minutes to forget for the Gate, Whitehawk took a quickfire two goal lead to put themselves in firm control.

A calamity of errors awarded the Hawks a penalty just eight minutes in.

A wayward pass from Rohdell Gordon set the hosts on the the counter, Harry Hudson then failed to clear the ball as it bobbled up towards him and Seaden was forced to take down a Whitehawk forward in a one on one situation.

Seaden guessed the right way but Charlie Lambert’s perfectly dispatched penalty nestled into the bottom corner to give his side the lead.

Just five minutes later, Lewis Knight failed to intercept a ball in behind which allowed Imran Kayani to slot the ball past Seaden to give the Hawks a two goal cushion.

It looked as if we would be faced with a long afternoon at the Enclosed Ground but an emphatic reaction got us level just after half-time.

A clinical Cawley capitalised on a loose ball from a Ben Greenhalgh cross to fire past Mitch Walker to get one back within just nine minutes.

The Hawk’s keeper failed to hang onto the ball to present the chance to Cawley again who slotted the ball into an empty net to get us level five minutes from the break.

It looked as though we would only kick on from there having had the better of the football since going two-nil down so early on.

The introduction of Vinnie Bowman, who scored his first senior goal here a month ago, created a dangerous partnership with Cawley which caused the Hawks all sorts of problems.

Whitehawk always looked dangerous on the counter but so did we with both sides pushing for a winner in an end to end game.

That all came to a sudden halt however when the referee brandished a red card after Greenhalgh collided with a Hawks player with the referee claiming that Ben had kicked out whilst they were on the floor.

A man down with fifteen minutes to go, Whitehawk piled on the pressure which payed off with a 93rd minute winner.

Kayani reacted quickest at the back post and Seaden’s trailing leg ricocheted the ball into his own net in an agonising last minute defeat.

Another loss and another last minute goal may make for grim reading for Gate fans but it’s clear that manager Mark Stimson’s Margate is taking shape.

After the first fifteen, we saw some excellent football and huge fight to get us level and the very least we deserved from the game was a draw against a side with a daunting home record.

Stimson hopes to see some fresh faces in time for our next match against Concord Rangers and will be boosted by the return of Sam Blackman and Tyrone Sterling who served suspensions today.

It is still yet to be seen as to whether Greenhalgh will be available with the club planning to review the footage to see if it is worth appealing.

Line-up: Harry Seaden, Archie Johnson, Godfrey Poku (Leo Mazzone 90'), Harry Hudson, Rohdell Gordon, Steve Cawley, Ellis Ashworth, Ben Greenhalgh , Fyn Rutherford, Vinnie Bowman (Taner Dogan 89'), Lewis Knight

Unused subs: Hobbs, Salmon

Goslscorer(s): 

Steve Cawley 23', 50'

Attendance

 391

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