'Gate Denied By Late Penalty

By Riley Finch 

The ‘Gate take a precious point on the road as a Steve Cawley brace earns us a 2-2 draw with Bognor Regis Town on a cold Tuesday night at the MKW Arena.

Harrison Hatfull’s whipped cross was sweetly finished by Cawley as he lobbed it over the keeper to bring the score level for the Gate and his coolly dispatched penalty gave us the lead for his second of the game.

Bognor had previously taken the lead through Lucas Pattenden just three-minutes in after his explosive shot from the edge of the box pinged off the crossbar and into the goal past a helpless Harry Seaden.

The boys showed great character after having suffered an early set-back and had numerous chances to score in an exciting encounter.

Minutes before his first goal, Cawley and Hatfull combined as the right-backs ball splitting pass saw our top goal scorer free in the area only for the ball to be quickly closed down by an on rushing keeper.

The returning Olly Box was slipped in behind the home sides defence on the left-hand side of the box but the tight angle forced his driven shot just wide.

Some Gate fans will remember Ben Greenhalgh’s goal of the season contender against Chatham (if you haven’t get yourself to our Youtube channel) in which he scored from the halfway line and he came close to repeating it.

Seeing the Rock’s keeper off his line, Greenhalgh pinged the ball from the halfway line and just as it looked as though it would creep under the crossbar, Ryan Hall tipped the ball heroically over the goal.

Margate certainly looked as though they would rue missed chances, Harry Seaden was called upon to make some saves and the Rocks looping header almost crept in but was denied by the crossbar.

With a few minutes to go, it seemed as though we had done enough for a precious three-points on the road.

Sadly, we were struck with more late drama when a Bognor player was brought down by Fyn Rutherford in the area for a penalty in the 88th minute.

Dan Gifford’s coolly taken penalty sent Seaden the wrong way to claw back a draw for the home side and snatch two-points at the death from the Gate.

Hatfull, who made his 100th appearance for the club spoke after the game: “Bognor is always a tough place to come to, two to three-hour journey, cold conditions it’s never easy. To get a point here is a good result.

“It just frustrating because that’s a few games now where we’ve dropped points from a late goal.

“After conceding early in the game we did well to get back into it and then take the lead, just a shame we couldn’t get over the line.”

A precious point keeps us 16th in the league but still just three-points away from the top half of the table.

Margate’s next test comes in the form of Enfield Town in another trip on the road.

“Enfield is similar conditions to Bognor, maybe even tougher.

“It will be a tough match, it always is but we take the positives from today with us there and hopefully we can get something out of it.”

Margate Xl: Seaden, Hatfull, Johnson, Sterling, Salmon, Gordon, Blackman, Cawley (Robrts 88’), Greenhalgh, Rutherford, Box

Subs not used: Bowman, Hobbs, Mazzone, Poku

Goalscorers

Steve Cawley 13, 67’ (PEN)

Attendance

428

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