Margate Take Survival Fight To Last Day

By Riley Finch

Ben Greenhalgh’s late thunderbolt fires Margate to within touching distance of safety, after a hard-fought win over play-off hopefuls Wingate & Finchley at Hartsdown Park.

Steve Cawley’s cushioned pass found its way to Greenhalgh on the edge of the box who fired the ball into the top corner of Ben Goode’s net to put his side in front with 20 to go.

Margate had taken the lead early in the second half after Cawley’s penalty was saved into the path of Jeremiah Pinder, who smashed the ball past a helpless Goode into the roof of the net.

It was short lived however as the away side raced down the other end of the pitch to draw the score level within a minute. Ruben Carvalho swept home after Harry Seaden saved an initial effort from Rhamar Garrett, and the ball fell kindly to Wingate’s danger man.

Margate thought they had found the winning goal straight after Wingate found the equaliser. Mohamed Kamara’s shot crashed against the underside of the crossbar after an audacious effort from outside the box.

The ball appeared to cross the line after coming off the crossbar but despite Margate protests the referee was unfazed.

Having lost the contest, Wingate will squarely look back to the 24th minute, in which they had their best chance of the game.

A scuffed shot found its way to Anointed Chukwu in the six-yard-box, but Harry Seaden heroics prevented his cool finish from finding the back of the net.

A Greenhalgh goal was always on the cards in this contest.

Margate’s number 11 has scored four times in his last four matches and has scored the winning goal in three of those four. The 32-year-old was a thorn in Wingate’s side all afternoon, testing the keeper on a number of occasions.

The match was certainly one of two halves, the first played like a chess match with both sides probing for a chance at goal.

The other half was more like a basketball match, fast paced, high intensity, end to end stuff.

In the end, we were able to close out the last 20 minutes to claim what could be a season defining victory.

Losing just once in seven matches, that loss being to League champions Hornchurch, the Gate have amounted fourteen points.

We have also conceded just seven goals, scoring eleven times in the process. From four straight losses to an unbeaten run of five games.

What looked like an insurmountable gap reduced to zero, we are now just separated from safety by goal difference.

With just one game to go, depending on Cheshunt’s midweek result, it is all to play for come the end of the season.

Ben Greenhalgh said: “With the way we are playing now, we can take on anybody… seven games ago you would’ve already counted us out but if we do go down, we’ve shown we are gonna go down fighting.”

Margate XI: 1. Harry Seaden, 3. Toby Stevenson, 6. Harry Hudson, 8. Gabriel Duo, 9. Steve Cawley, 11. Ben Greenhalgh, 12. Fyn Rutherford, 15. Mo Kamara, 18. Jeremiah Pinder, 19. Lewis Knight, 20. Teddy Perkins.

Unused Subs: 7. Jayden Boulton, 10. Kadell Daniel, 13. Reece Hobbs (GK), 14. Vinnie Bowman, 17. Destiny Oladipo.

Goalscorers: Pinder 47’, Greenhalgh 68’

Attendance: 413

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