Margate 0-0 East Grinstead Town

By Riley Finch

A draw that should’ve been more, the Blues’ kicked off their 2024-25 Isthmian South East campaign with a 0-0 draw against East Grinstead Town at Hartsdown Park.

Despite an abundance of chances, Margate were unable to replicate their free-scoring form of pre-season as we watched chance after chance foiled by a resolute Wasps defence.

The chance of the match fell to Vinnie Bowman, who was only on for around ten minutes prior.

Hatfull fired the ball across the box to Bowman at the far-post but he was unable to put it into an empty net.

Moments before that, Bowman blasted the ball low from the edge of the box forcing an acrobatic stop from Mattie Pierson.

Bowman replaced signing Lukas Franzen-Jones who also had a busy afternoon alongside fellow newcomers, James Bessey-Saldana and Kai Garande.

Bessey dribbled his way through a number of Wasp defenders, feeding Franzen-Jones to whip the ball to the back post where substitute Ibrahim Olutade nodded the ball into the grateful arms of Pierson.

Franzen-Jones (and the entirety of the Hartsdown faithful) were convinced we had a penalty late into the game but the referee was having none of it.

It appeared as though Franzen-Jones was played though on goal only to be wrestled to the ground by a Town defender.

Despite boasting the majority of the chances and possession in the affair, it is fair to say that East Grinstead were not far away from nicking all three-points.

Omar Folkes rolled Lewis Knight brilliantly to put himself face to face with Tom Wray only to put the ball wide of the outside post.

Minutes from time, the ball broke nicely in the box for a Town striker to unleash a lethal strike. Margate found their crossbar rattled with questions being raised as to whether the ball had crossed the line.

In the end, Margate will feel a more clinical display would easily have kept all the points at Hartsdown Park.

Scoring was not an issue for the 'Gate in pre-season with 16 goals in eight matches including a 4-1 victory against Concord Rangers and a 3-0 win over Whistable Town.

Todays eleven saw seven new signings players make their competitive debut for the 'Gate with only Hatfull, Knight, Greenhalgh and Hudson remaining from last season.

A nil-nil draw won’t be the start player-manager Greenhalgh would’ve hoped for us, but an abundance of chances created alongside a clean sheet is a sign of things to come for a new look Margate side.

Margate XI: 1. Tom Wray, 2. Harrison Hatfull (Ross Craig 98'), 4. Harvey Brand, 6. Harry Hudson, 7. Jordon Ababio (Ibrahim Olutade 63'), 9. Lukas Franzen-Jones (Fyn Rutherford 87'), 11. Ben Greenhalgh, 12. Lewis Knight (Vinnie Bowman 87'), 14. Brandon Davey (Tyrone Sterling 92'), 17. Kai Garande, 20. James Bessey-Saldanha.

Attendance: 402

Margate Media Man Of The Match: Harvey Brand

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