We need to get used to winning games again, says Margate player-manager Ben Greenhalgh

MARGATE player-manager Ben Greenhalgh says we need to get used to winning games of football again.

 

The Hartsdown Park outfit suffered relegation from the Isthmian League Premier Division at the end of last season, after claiming 10 wins and nine draws from their 42 outings.

Margate opened their Isthmian League South East Division campaign with a goal-less home draw against East Grinstead Town last weekend and are in thirteenth-place in the table following match day one.

The last time the Kent coastal club were performing at this kind of level was back in 1998-99 when they finished runners-up to Havant & Waterlooville in the Southern League South Division – the days before the National League North and South were slotted in to the football pyramid.

When asked about his first few weeks in charge of the club, the attacking midfielder, 32, said: “It’s been really enjoyable.  We’ve recruited a really good team together, a competitive team for that division and a team that’s really energetic and enthuastic and as a group.  We want to do well and we want to perform for the fans and everyone wants to be playing for Margate, so it’s a bit of a different dynamic to what we had in the past and I think it could work really well.

“We’ve shown in pre-season the performances that we can put across and we’re looking to play quite exciting and attacking football and Saturday was a perfect example of that.

“We worked out that we had 14 shots at goal, so it was really positive football. It was just the first game of the season, the way the game was going, we just couldn’t score any of them!

“That doesn’t worry me because I know we’ve got goalscorers in the team, so people will turn up for the right occasions and we’re still building a little bit and looking to progress together as well.”

When asked what kind of eighth-tier division he is expecting this season, Greenhalgh replied: “There’s a lot of good teams in it still and what I’ve noticed the bottom half are all going to fight for a point. They’ll all work hard together and they’ll be a bit more compact.

“I think in the Isthmian Prem every team believes that they can beat each other, so it’s a different dynamic to games and you can probably counter-attack a lot of teams.

“But I think people are going to come to Margate and they might sit in a little bit and we’re going to have to break them down and we’re going to have to be clever and patient, so that’s a different way of playing that we’ll be looking int.

“I think there’s give or six teams in the division that are very strong and they’re going to be tough games.

“I’m looking forward to those games. There’s a lot of Kent derbies, so we’re going to get a lot of good travelling support and hopefully we can bring a lot of home support as well.”

Margate will naturally one of the names that should be at the top end of the league table and Greenhalgh stated his aspirations for the months ahead.

“We’re looking to get back to winning ways. I think that’s the first thing,” said Greenhalgh, a Margate player since 2021.

“We need to re-build a younger team.  I worked out the other day that eight of our players were under 23, so it’s definitely a bit of a younger team that wants to play for Margate as a long-term project and hopefully in the long-term we can carry those players with us, as Margate starts to proceed as a club again and progress as a club again.

“Obviously our ambition would be to get close to the play-offs and in the play-offs or if not, as well as we could do but the realistic situation has to be, is we need to get used to winning games again because last year we won 10 games of football in the league.

“When you win 10 games out of 42 you’ve got to start looking at doubling that at least and looking at winning 20 games of football so that mentality, even though we are a new team, our mentality is something that we need to change and we need to get used to winning games again and it’s something we’ll look forward to doing.

“Everybody wants to bounce back. If you’re in this division, you want to complete.  You want to bounce back.

“Everyone’s got the same goal.  All of us want to do well but the one thing that I want to bring is a bit more of togetherness.

“I do talk to the board a lot, they want the sustainability that they’re offering, which is massive for a football club, especially for a club like Margate but we’re all on the same wavelength and we all want success for the club and we all want to rebuild the club again and get it back to fighting ways in whatever division we’re in.

“I don’t think there’s a pressure aspect to it because I’ve spoken to the fans and they’re absolutely buzzing with the way that we’ve performed and the group we’ve brought together, so I trust in that process.  I trust in the players that are going to perform and we’re going to start picking up results and start picking up good performances as well.”

Margate welcome unbeaten Loxwood to Hartsdown Park in The FA Cup Preliminary Round tomorrow (15:00).

Loxwood are in third-place in the Southern Combination League Premier Division (the Sussex County League in old money), having picked up three wins and a draw from their opening four league outings.

They needed a replay to knock British Airways out of the competition at the first hurdle. Margate last played in the Preliminary Round of The FA Cup back in 1998, losing at home to Ashford Town in a replay.

“Loxwood are on a great roll.  They’re a team I played against for Tonbridge a few years ago, it was one of our first friendlies and we couldn’t be in the changing rooms because of covid, so I know a little bit about them because of that but they’ve come a long way since,” recalled Greenhalgh.

“They’re used to winning and used to getting good results and they’re energetic so they’ll be coming to us to be the underdogs and they’re looking to try to get a random cup win, which teams look to do.

“We’ve got to be on the other end of it, knowing that we’re the favourites and knowing we need to put a performance in.

“The one thing I can trust about the team this year is we’re still going to give 100%. We’re still going to be energetic and make sure we match work-rate. Teams aren’t going to come to us and show extra work-rate than us, so we should probably have a little bit more quality but we know it doesn’t come down to that in FA Cup games. It comes down to which team wants it more and which team is together more.”

Greenhalgh’s daytime job is the Academy manager at relegated Isthmian League Premier Division side Dartford.

The Darts beat local neighbours Phoenix Sports 5-1 in The FA Youth Cup Extra Preliminary Round on Wednesday night. 

“It works really well.  I’ve now had six years as Academy manager at Dartford and it’s different because firstly you’re working with 16-19 year olds who all want to get somewhere in the game and aspirations to be pro footballers and you’re working with them full-time so you get the day-to-day to help to progress them.

“When it comes to non-league, we had 12 training sessions to try to implement our philosophy and the way we want to play and I think we’ve managed to get it there because when you’re working with some ex-pro’s and experienced non-league players, they take to things a little bit quicker and it works brilliantly because we do things on a full-time basis at Dartford day-to-day and then come the Tuesday and Thursday evenings and the Saturday you get your Margate head on and you can absolutely focus on both.

“I know in the past we’ve helped a lot of Dartford players at Margate, who have come on loan in the past, coming down and getting experience with us and going back to Dartford’s first team to go and play and be their stronger players, so there’s always going to be that relationship and it’s just something that I’m enjoying.

“I’m enjoying working with both. We’ve got a bit of a different environment at Dartford when you’re trying to progress footballers and then you’ve got a bit of a different environment at Margate when you’re trying to win games of football, so it’s enjoyable.”

Visit Margate’s website: www.margate-fc.co.uk

Margate  v  Loxwood
The Emirates FA Cup Preliminary Round
Saturday 17 August 2024
Kick Off 3:00pm
at Hartsdown Park, Hartsdown Road, Margate, Kent CT9 5QZ