25thnov05

Friday 25th November 2005

Margate's league form receives a boost

Margate play host to the current league leaders Hampton & Richmond at Harstdown Park tomorrow, writes Steve Wells - www.margate-fc.com.

Margate’s league form received a boost last weekend with a 1-0 victory at Windsor & Eton. That win broke a sequence of three league defeats - to Fisher Athletic, Braintree Town and Chelmsford City - albeit by just a single goal in each case.

Meanwhile, the mid-week home draw against Bromley was enough to lift the Blues one place in the Ryman Premier League table to 15th. With seven from a possible 18 points in the six league games, Gate also find themselves inching up the form table.

As promised, manager Chris Kinnear has made three new signings in Anthony Allman - formerly with Charlton, Darren Baxter who had been playing in Canada and Charlie Taylor. These three will offset the departures of Ryan Maxwell and Warren Ryan as the manager continues to rebuild the squad. Dean Standen misses the Hampton game through suspension, while Hasim Deen remains on international duty with the Gambia under-23 side.

To date, Chris Kinnear has used 30 players in 22 league and cup games with Dean Standen and Charlie Mitten leading the way with 22 and 21 appearances respectively. In addition, five players that have represented Gate in competitive games during the season have either been released or moved on to other clubs.

The Beavers finished sixth in last season’s Ryman Premier league, level on points with Leyton but behind the east Londoners on goal difference. This season, the Middlesex side has taken a commanding lead at the top of the league table, although they have now suffered two defeats in a row – the last in mid-week at home to championship rivals Fisher.

Hampton’s weekend defeat at Worthing was reported by the official club web-site www.hrbfc.co.uk as, “a very good performance that, which with a little luck, would have seen them at least get a draw, which is what their efforts surely deserved.”

However, the defeat cut the Beavers’ lead at the top of the table to seven points over Worthing who moved above Staines with the win.

The visitors took the lead in the 27th minute. Worthing lost possession on the half way line; when Elliott Godfrey releasing Yaku whose side foot effort beat the keeper. But Hampton’s lead only lasted three minutes as Worthing equalised through a Browne penalty, former Hampton player Richard Pacquette brought down by Elverson. Worthing's second goal came out of the blue and had just a touch of fortune to it. The ball came in from the right and slid off the head of a Worthing forward perfectly for Stafford Browne to score, coming in at the far post.

Despite these two defeats, Hampton can still point to three more victories than anyone else in the league.

Current manager Alan Devonshire (formerly West Ham and England) was appointed during the close season in 2003 and tasked with returning the club to the Premier Division. Not only did he achieve that, but last season’s sixth place was their highest ever placing in the Ryman League.

Margate v Hampton & Richmond Borough
Ryman Premier League
Saturday 26th November 2005
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Hartsdown Park, Hartsdown Road, Margate