The 60s travelled to Margate on Thursday to play their third league game of the season. This had never been a happy hunting ground for the Mariners but, despite missing some key players, there were high hopes for the game.
The match was played in the caged area at Margate's Hartsdown Park which was the first time this season that the team had played in an enclosed area.
The game started with Margate on the front foot. They were obviously more adept at playing in these surroundings and were finding space down both of our flanks. We struggled to keep up with their movement and our defensive duo were by far the busiest on the field. We struggled to hold our shape and were getting drawn more centrally making the game very narrow. Margate exploited the extra space wide and were soon ahead with a move that ended up wit the ball coming down their right and squared for a low strike on goal.
We defended well but we couldn't get out of our half. The Margate press was high and working well. Jan was by far the busiest of the two keepers and made a string of saves to keep us in the game but we could not find space to give him an out ball. All to often the ball would would be played out to Simon or a midfielder and then come straight back via one of our defenders. When we did manage to get something moving going forward, we were reduced to speculative shots from distance that often flew wide.
With half time looming and it looking like we would go in just a single goal behind Margate scored a second. We gave the ball away in the midfield and a swift counterattack resulted in an almost carbon copy of their first goal.
Half time came and we regrouped and changed personnel. We identified that we need to use the width and hold our shape as well as getting something working going forward.
Unfortunately, we again struggled to do either and we found ourselves again dropping deeper and deeper and becoming too narrow. We invited the pressure from Margate and they made it tell. They scored a somewhat scrappy third after the ball had bounced around off of several legs before being hit into the corner.
As the half progressed both teams tired and we started to make some headway from an attacking point of view. We finally worked their keeper with Simon and Andy both having meaningful shots. Feeling that we could still get something from the game, we started to push higher but this left us exposed to the counter-attack. They managed to move faster than us without any retribution from the referee and were soon 5 up after two swift goals.
We were now playing for pride. A move down our right saw Steve P feed Simon and his low hard shot beat their keeper and into the corner.
The renewed vigour this goal gave us had us winning the ball and saw us playing some of our best football of the night. We passed well and moved to space but despite our best efforts the second goal would not come. In fact the last of the scoring fell to Margate right in the dying seconds.
The 6 - 1 loss somewhat flattered Margate but they were, by far, the better side. We struggled to get anything going and missed our key players. That said, this was our best result against Margate in all the times we have played them. Had it not been for Jan pulling off numerous great stops it could easily have been much worse.
My thanks to all 8 of the team who never stopped trying.
Additionally, as ever, my thanks to the support we had from friends and family.
The POTM was Jan.
