Blues Look To Progress In Trophy When Hosting Egham Town
Margate face Evo-Stik East Side Egham Town tomorrow (Saturday) for their long awaited 2nd qualifying round fixture in the Buildbase FA Trophy.
Egham were dumped out of the competition by Bowers & Pitsea in a replay 5-3 but the winners were removed from the competition this week after they were found guilty of fielding a player whilst under suspension in the original 1-1 draw meaning Egham were reinstated on Wednesday evening.
Tomorrow’s visitors currently sit 12th in the Evo-Stik East division having not won in the league since the 17th October when they beat Aylesbury Town 2-0. Egham have endured some varied results including a 7-1 win over Shoreham in the Trophy, whilst also suffering a 6-1 League defeat to Cambridge City.
Margate Manager Steve Watt has no new injury concerns ahead of the game but it is unclear whether Lenny Pidgeley (illness) and Chris Sessegnon (Knee) will be in line to return after missing the 3-1 win away at Tooting & Mitcham on Tuesday night.
The winners of the tie will face Bath City in the 3rd qualifying round on Tuesday evening or should the tie finish level after 90 minutes it will go to a replay at Egham on Tuesday evening with the 3rd qualifying round then taking place on Tuesday 5th December 2017.
The winners of the tie will also collect £4,000 prize money. Supporters are reminded that due to this being an FA Trophy tie no season tickets or youth passes will be applicable and all supporters should pay at the gate.
Supporters should also note that no alcohol beverages will be allowed on the terraces before or during the game and must remain within the bar area.
Kick off at Hartsdown Park is 3pm but as always if you can’t be there then you can stay right up to date on the clubs official Twitter feed @margate_fc from 2:15pm.
Don’t forget as well Hartsdown Park will be open from 12pm as Margate Walking Football Team take on West Ham United Walking Football on the main pitch with kick off at 1:15pm.
In the Club shop we have #BlueSaturday which means all items excluding half season tickets are 20% off.
Blues Through To Face Bath City
Margate safely secured their passage into the 3rd qualifying round of this seasons Buildbase FA Trophy with a 2-0 win at home to Egham Town on Saturday afternoon at Hartsdown Park.
The Blues had waited 14 days for the fixture after Bowers & Pitsea (our original opponents) were removed from the competition after fielding a suspended player against Egham in their original 1st qualifying round game in October.
Blues boss Steve Watt named a strong starting eleven with Patrick Lee continuing in goal whilst a Frannie Collin and Jay May led the front line for Margate against an Egham side who conceded six goals in their two previous game leading up to Saturday.
Whilst the performance from Margate was relatively simple, they certainly didn’t have it all their own way thanks to Aaron Bufton in the visitor’s goal whose performance was sensational. It was Kane Haysman who drew the first incredible save as his bullet header from six yards out was somehow clawed away by Bufton before crossing the line.
Margate were failing to create many chances and the Egham Town back line would have been pleased to have kept the Blues at bay for the opening 45 minutes with the scores level at half-time. Margate switched through the gears in the second half as firstly Haysman saw another show test Bufton before Lee Prescott saw a fierce effort skim the crossbar.
It was the turn of Bufton to wow the 370 strong crowd as he superbly denied Haysman from long range again before kicking the ball clear just as Jordan Chiedozie was about to tap home from close range. The Blues finally got the goal that they deserved on 65 minutes as Frannie Collin unleashed a pile driver of a free kick which swerved away from Bufton into the bottom corner.
1-0 became 2-0 just five minutes later as Collin slammed home another to put the tie to bed with 20 minutes remaining. There was still time for Bufton to superbly deny Chiedozie and Collin again as he stole the show but Margate secured a 400 mile round trip to Bath City on Tuesday evening in the 3rd qualifying round of the Buildbase FA Trophy.
MARGATE: Lee, Evans, Mills, Rogers (Brown (75’), Wynter, Swift, Haysman, Prescott, May (Enver-Marum 75’), Collin, Bodkin (Chiedozie 60’)
Subs Not Used: Friend, Martin
Attendance: 370