Herne Bay (H) - 13th September 2022

By Josh Cole

IT’S DERBY DAY!

Margate take on Herne Bay at Hartsdown Park in a Kent showdown this evening with this fixture being both teams’ closest journeys of the 2022/23 season, just under 12 miles between the two clubs.

Last time out: Margate showed determination throughout the second half to hold onto the slender lead against Aylesbury in the FA cup first qualifying round despite having 10 men for the entirety of the second half. Harvey Smith broke the deadlock in the 69th minute as he turned home Ben Greenhalgh’s front post corner.

Following this resilient ‘Gate performance, here’s what Andy had to say after the game. “First 15 minutes I thought we was at it, we started off really well, got a bit sloppy at times leading to them breaking us a couple times, had a couple of chances, which was obviously disappointing from us, because really we didn’t want that to happen, they were sitting off a little bit and we needed to control the tempo, control the midfield, we got caught a few times, and then obviously whatever happened around about the 40th minute (Montrell Deslandes’ red card incident) happened, I didn’t see it because we were breaking away at the time, I'll have to have a look at it if there’s a video, but listen don’t take anything away from the boys, at halftime I said to them it was going to take character, team spirit that we haven’t actually shown this year, and to be fair to all ten pf them second half, every single one of them gave everything, it’s obviously important and pleasing to be in the hat but the most pleasing thing was that second half performance, especially after Monday (bank holiday defeat to Cray Wanderers)”

Following the cancellation of the games on the 9th September in respect of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, it has been 11 days since Margate were last in action and 15 days since the last league fixture. Margate remain in 15th place on five points with one win, two draws, and two losses. Our opponent, Herne Bay, have had a tricky start to their life in the Isthmian Premier Division sitting 19th on four points with one win (4-2 vs Haringey Borough), one draw (1-1 vs Kingstonian) and three losses (1-0 vs Potters Bar, 2-1 vs Bowers and Pitsea, and 2-1 vs Folkestone Invicta).

Margate will be without Montrell Deslandes (suspended) for this evening’s game.

The last time we faced Herne Bay was last season in the Velocity Trophy third round where the ‘Gate came out victorious by two goals to one.

Kick off will be at 19:45 with gates opening at 18:30.

Ticket prices are £12 for Adults, £9 concessions, £5 young person (aged 11-17), and any children under 11 have free entry.

You can purchase tickets by clicking here.

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