Margate may be left frustrated as they failed to make opportunities count against Crowborough in 2-2 draw

Ben Greenhalgh’s goals not enough (Image Credits: Margate FC)

Preview

Margate have had a particularly poor away from home record, this season, a -1 goal difference, only one win and 5 draws in 8 games, Margate came into this game wanting to turn their fortunes around. Today’s game marked a debut for Harry Lawrence, a new singing from VDC Athletic, who played 120 games for VDC and captained them to promotion last season.

FIRST HALF

Margate started on the front foot, and found their first good opportunity 5 minutes in as they put pressure on the home team, who were playing out the back, when a risky clearance landed awkwardly for Walters ) who took a chance from range. The keeper could only parry the shot, but the defenders recovered quickly to clear the ball, this time keeping possession of it. 5’

Margate then produced a golden chance 7 minutes later, as the move started, once again from the high pressing play. A risky pass across the face of goal, was headed down with very little accuracy from the header, the full back quickly scrambled to clear the ball. The full back swung his leg through the ball, however the ball moved in the opposite direction and Garande was there to head it down toward Greenhalgh who got round the keeper, only to see his effort cleared of the goal line, by another home defender. The move was pulled back anyways due to a foul on the keeper, but a great chance had the visitors been a little more deliberate in their attack. 12’

The Gate’s wouldn’t be worrying about that chance for too long though, as just a minute later, their next attacked proved to be clinical, once again the Gate’s press won them the ball high up the field, and that ball was then played centrally into Greenhalgh, who found himself completely open in the middle of the park. This gave him the space he needed to whip a ball, with his left foot, toward the goal, which curled right under the crossbar, a beautiful goal! 14’

Walters won the ball deep into his own half, found Greenhalgh in the middle, while TT Walters drew the defenders out to his side, Greenhalgh  passed the ball in the opposite direction to find Haysman. He then dribbled toward the edge of the goal, before rifling a shot at a goal, which the keeper parried, and if there was a blue attacking that area, could’ve been another great chance. 21’

The next move was against the run of play, as the home side whipped a floating pass from their own half, up towards their towering striker, Hudson stepped up aggressively, but misjudged the flight of the ball, This allowed the striker to beat his man, and eventually lay it off to Marcus Goldsmith, who managed to squeeze the ball in between the gloves of Hobbs and the inside of the post. 32’

With a couple more good attacking moves from Margate, the half ended equally with both teams scoring once, Margate would have felt a bit unlucky that they couldn’t capitalize on their chances, but in the latter half of the game, Crowborough did find their feet to ensure the game wasn’t completely one-sided. 45’

SECOND HALF

That promise that Crowborough showed in the first half continued as early into the second half they had one themselves a corner, as it was Harry Forster set to take the corner. The corner  kick was whipped towards the back post and curled all the way through the players in the box as it made its way into the net. From the corner spot! Forster had made it 2-1 with a sensational goal. 46’

The home side started to play in more long balls towards the far side of the visitors box, these balls were proving deadly, and mixed with high crosses coming into the penalty box, it was Margate’s keeper Hobbs being the man to keep those chances out of the net. 53’

The Gate was able to slow their momentum as they slowly started gaining more control of the ball, and started dictating the play a bit more. In one chance Margate whipped a low cross into the feet of Walters whose shot was cleared of the line and as the rebound was skewed Walters knew he just missed a great chance to get Margate level again. 66’

With just 15 minutes remaining it wasn’t Margate’s last chance, but their next attacks only produced half-chances or shots easily claimed by the keeper, and as time was ticking down, Margate had to feel they were running out of chances. 74’

The next chance had to be meaningful, and it was the Gaffer again who dribbled round two men to find himself outside the corners of the penalty box, he cut inside to create the chance that would level the score. As Ben curled it sensationally into the top left corner, not an easy angle but the ball swerved beautifully into that top left corner and it was 2-2. 85’

It was a game of sensational goals, but Margate will feel like their opportunities were plentiful and they may have felt a bit unfortunate not to have scored 4 or 5, but on this night it just wasn’t the case.

It means that Margate continue a 5 game unbeaten streak, but are frustrated as they played really well, it’s their seventh draw of the season and means the Gate have only made it 1 win away from home out of 8, a record the blues will want to end in their next away fixture.

Man of the Match:

Ben Greenhalgh

Player rating: 9.5/10

Margate had many chances, and the ones that were easier to score just never seemed to go in. But it was a brace for Ben, as he scored two amazing goals, and will go down as one of the best braces in the league, especially this season.