Ramsgate (H) - 30th July 2022

By Josh Cole

Margate will face Ramsgate in the Isle of Thanet Cup on Saturday afternoon at Hartsdown Park in their latest pre-season friendly.

Ben Greenhalgh gave his thoughts on what the Isle of Thanet Cup means to the players and the fans alike. “Jay was saying it to us last year, this is massive, whether it’s massive for you boys or not, he (former manager Jay Saunders) knows that it was just a pre-season game but it’s massive for the fans, so we (the players) bought into that at Ramsgate and we had our good away support that we normally do and that got us going.”

The Gate will look to retain the cup after winning it last year. This will also be Margate’s last scheduled pre-season fixture at Hartsdown park before the start of the 2022/23 campaign at home to Kingstonian on Saturday 13th August.

The Blues got back to winning ways after beating Ashford 1-0 on Tuesday night. Manager Andy Drury was pleased with the win at Homelands. “very pleased, I said to the boys before the game they came 2nd in the league last season and almost went up and got promoted, so we knew they would be a tough test tonight and that’s why I arranged the fixture, it was a similar game to what we would come up against in our league and we stood up to the physical side of the game and we played some good football out there as well.”

Ramsgate finished 6th last season in the Isthmian South East division just outside the playoffs with 65 points which equates to 20 wins, five draws, and 13 losses. Former Margate player Jordan Chiedozie now plays for the ‘Rams as well as former Assistant Manager Jamie Coyle who now resides at Southwood, as well as summer signing Jack Richards.

Ramsgate have enjoyed a mixed pre-season with wins against a Gillingham XI, Dover Athletic and Herne Bay and a loss against Ebbsfleet United.

Supporters can still purchase tickets for the game by clicking here.

Gates open at 1:30pm at Hartsdown Park, whilst after the game, the 2022 Community Shield game between Liverpool and Manchester City will be shown live on the screens in the Hartsdown Bar.

'Gate Lose IOT Cup Showdown

Margate were defeated by local rivals Ramsgate on Saturday afternoon at Hartsdown Park 2-1, as the ‘Rams lifted the 2022 Isle of Thanet Cup.

An injury concern to Sam Blackman ahead of the game meant he started on the bench as Margate looked to continue their solid start to pre-season.

It was an uneventful opening 45 minutes in the Hartsdown Park sun with neither side creating many chances as the scores remained level at 0-0 going in at half-time.

The second half started much quicker and the visitors were ahead within the opening five minutes as a quickly taken free-kick caught Margate sleeping, allowing Ramsgate to advance before the cut back ball was diverted goalwards by Margate striker Harvey Smith who put the ball in his own net.

The Blues looked to pick up the pace immediately and went on the attack by forcing four successive corners, before Kieron McCann thought he had levelled, only for the linesman’s flag to suggest otherwise as he was ruled offside.

For all their intent to equalise, the ‘Gate fell two goals behind in the 65th minute as former Blues striker Jordan Chiedozie saw his shot saved by the trialists goalkeeper, before the ball rebounded off Chiedozie and into the net to double the ‘Rams’ lead.

Five minutes later a later challenge on Peter Ojemen saw a Ramsgate player receive a red card, leaving Margate with a man advantage, which they looked to take advantage of as Troy Howard beat the offside trap, only to see his shot rise narrowly over the bar.

The Blues had cut the arrears moments later as Howard again broke the offside trap and rolled the ball square to James Bessey-Saldanha who made no mistake to fire the ball home and reduce the score-line to 2-1.

Margate continued to push but never really looked likely to equalise, and the game ended on a sour note as a scrap in the box resulted with Montrell Deslandes and Jamie Coyle being sent off as Ramsgate held on to lift the trophy.

MARGATE: Trialist, Fisher, Knight, Hudson, Ojemen (Trialist 77’), Cole, Topley (Deslandes 81’), Greenhalgh, McCann (Howard 73’), Bessey-Saldanha, Smith (Oluwesemo 67’)

Subs not used: Blackman, Kallmeier

Margate Goal scorer

James Bessey-Saldanha 76’

Margate Man of the Match

James Bessey-Saldanha

Attendance

562