Brightlinsea Regent (A) - 20th August 2022

By Josh Cole

The ‘Gate continue their 2022/23 campaign with their third league game and second away game in succession against Brightlingsea Regent at North Road.

Last time out, Margate secured their first three points of the season beating Bowers and Pitsea 2-0 at the Len Salmon Stadium with the goals coming from Harvey Smith in the 7th minute and Montrell Deslandes striking in the 90th minute to secure the win. This result leaves the Blues in fifth position in the league after two games.

Following the first win of the season, Andy Drury commented on the result. “it’s always great to get your first win of the season, the boys are happy in there, me and the staff are over the moon, it’s a good three points as it can be a difficult place to come and play, we’ve got them quite early and although we were comfortable when it’s 1-0 you’re always a little bit weary of them just coming out of nowhere and grabbing a goal but once we got the second goal it was game over, the boys managed the game really well in the second half.”

The ‘Gate will travel to North Road with a full squad, and this will present manager Andy Drury with some selection headaches on Saturday.

Opponents, Brightlingsea Regent have struggled after the first two games losing 2-1 to Carshalton Athletic, and 5-1 to Canvey Island which leaves’ them 21st in the league table. The ‘Gate won here in the 2021/22 season as goals from Benas Vaivada and Crossley Lema helped the Blues to a 2-1 win in March.

Kick-off is 3pm with tickets able to be purchased on the turnstiles on the day. Supporters making the journey by car should note the ground address below.

Ground Address 

North Road
Brightlingsea
Essex
CO7 0PL

'Gate Beaten By Brightlingsea

Margate suffered their first defeat of the 2022/23 league campaign as they were beaten 2-1 away at Brightlingsea Regent on Saturday afternoon.

Manager Andy Drury placed new signing Fjord Rogers on the bench as he stuck faith in the players that had recorded a fine 2-0 win at Bowers & Pitsea just three days earlier.

The Blues were forced into soaking up some early pressure as the hosts were looking to register their first point of the season after suffering back to back defeats.

After soaking up the early pressure, the Blues found their rhythm and started to create chances with Harrison Hatfull and Ben Greenhalgh creating, whilst Sam Blackman forced the home sides keeper into a fine save in the 20th minute.

Despite continuing to have the majority of possession and half chances, it was the hosts that hit Margate on the break as Connor Barnby latched onto a long straight ball and delicately chipped it over Amadou Tangara to give the hosts a 1-0 half-time lead.

Both sides started the second half in a scrappy fashion, with the Blues desperate to get an early leveller to force the pressure onto the hosts, however the Blues were dealt a sucker punch on 59 minutes as Barnby added his and Brightlingsea Regents second to give the hosts a 2-0 lead.

That goal took the wind out of Margate’s sails and despite earning some corners, they were unable to create any real chances of note.

The Blues did manage to sneak a way back into the game on 77 minutes as a Ben Greenhalgh corner looked initially to have gone straight in, however Harry Hudson appeared to have the final touch as Margate set up a frantic 13-minute finale.

Margate threw plenty at their hosts, including new signing Rogers who almost had the perfect debut as his late effort was fantastically saved as the Blues ran out of steam and had to head home with a disappointing 2-1 defeat.

MARGATE: Tangara, Hatfull, Topley, Knight, Hudson, Cole (Deslandes 48’), Blackman, McCann, Greenhalgh, Ojemen (Fisher 68’), Smith (Rogers 57’)

Subs not used: Howard, Bessey-Saldanha

Margate Goalscorer

Harry Hudson 77’

Margate Man of the Match

Ben Greenhalgh

Attendance

202