Brown Praises Gate Squad

Margate Joint Manager Steve Brown applauded his side after they came from a goal down to draw at Merstham on Wednesday evening.

Liam Friend’s second-half header cancelled out Tayshan Hayden-Smith’s tap in earlier in the game and Brown felt it was the least his side deserved.

Reflecting on the 90 minutes, Brown said:

“We have to give Merstham credit for the way they played. In the first half, they were causing us more issues than they should’ve done.”

“We gave away possession too easily but on the other hand, their passing and movement was good, and they put lots of pressure on us. Merstham are a good team and we could not afford to let them play like that.”

After the break, The Gate were a different side, and all credit lay with the players themselves according to Brown.

“Our players deserve a huge amount of credit for the turnaround in tonight’s performance. We struggled to create anything in the first half, so at half time we asked the boys to do certain things and they did.”

“We deserved our equaliser and could have even pinched the win as their keeper has pulled off a couple of sublime saves and we had very, very strong calls for a penalty at the death too.”

With the Margate squad carrying a number of tired bodies, Brown took the opportunity to praise the mentality and spirit of the characters in the dressing room.

“Our squad is threadbare and I think the players should be applauded for the results they are stringing together. One defeat in seven league games is credible considering the circumstances and that is because of the battling displays the players are putting in.”

“With the injured players we’ve got sitting in the stand, we are now left to work with a small squad and they are producing performance after performance whilst carrying niggles of their own.”

Brown added, “We are honest with the players, when they have performed poorly like against Burgess Hill or Potters Bar, we are frank about that but we’ve got to give nothing but praise for the squad right now.”

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