Enfield Town (A) - 25th February 2023
Margate travel to North London to face Enfield Town on Saturday afternoon looking to build momentum after securing their place in the last four of the DFDS Kent Senior Cup on Tuesday evening.
Manager Reece Prestedge will be able to call upon two new signings if he wishes after the club secured the services of Yaser Kasim and Ruben Soares-Junior on Friday.
Two players Prestedge definitely won’t be able to call upon are midfielders Sam Blackman and Emmanuel Oke who are both suspended.
Despite Tuesday evening’s cup success, the Blues will be looking to pick up some Isthmian league points after suffering two consecutive 1-0 home defeats either side of a 1-1 draw away at Herne Bay. Despite their indifferent form, the Blues still remain nine points clear of the drop zone with 12 league games remaining.
In stark contrast, Enfield still remain hopeful of clinching a play-off place this season despite suffering back to back defeats recently. The Town suffered a 3-0 away defeat to Folkestone midweek just days after a 3-0 defeat away at Canvey Island. Although they remain 4th in the league standings, the North London side will be aware that they have just two wins from their last six in all competitions.
Margate fans won’t need reminding that they suffered a heavy 5-2 home loss to Enfield earlier this season, despite matching their visitors for the first 60 minutes.
Historically Margate do not enjoy visiting the Queen Elizabeth Stadium having only collected one point from their last six visits, which was picked up in a 1-1 draw back in 2013.
Kick-off at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium is 3pm, but as always if you can’t be there then you can stay right up to date on our Twitter feed @margate_fc from 2:30pm.
Ground Address
Queen Elizabeth II Stadium
Donkey Lane
Enfield
EN1 3PL
Blues Earn Valuable Point On The Road
Margate battled for a valuable point away at Enfield Town on Saturday afternoon as they drew 0-0 at the Queen Elizabeth Stadium.
Reece Prestedge made changes from Tuesday evening’s cup success as Phil Roberts returned to the starting eleven to partner Harvey Smith in attack, whilst new signings Yaser Kasim and Ruben Soares-Junior were named on the bench.
In blustery conditions in North London, it was the hosts with the wind behind them that started the game with more intent, winning several corners which were dealt with each time by the excellent Daniel Jinadu in goal, alongside the defensive unit who dealt with the corners and early long throws into the Margate box.
Jinadu was called into action on 28 minutes as he superbly denied Lyle Della-Verde with a fine save as the scores remained level. Some further heroic defending from Peter Ojemen frustrated the hosts as the two sides went in at the break all level.
With the wind in their favour in the second half, Margate showed some attacking threat in the early parts of the half with Ben Greenhalgh delivering some perfect set piece deliveries which were being dealt with by the strong Enfield back-line.
Heading into the final ten minutes, Prestedge introduced Soares-Junior, however it was another recent signing Sinn’Kaye Christie who superbly blocked an effort to deny the hosts another opportunity.
Kasim was introduced in the final moments as the officials added six added minutes, however there was no way through for the hosts as Margate secured a point on the road to move them ten points clear of the drop zone.
MARGATE Xl: Jinadu, Hatfull, Fisher, Christie, Hudson, Cole, Roberts (Soares-Junior 79’), Greenhalgh, Ojemen, Wood (Kasim 90’), Smith
Subs not used: Barton, Bessey-Saldanha, Macarthur
Margate Man of the Match
Daniel Jinadu
Attendance
644