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Sport

Margate manager Steve Watt reflects on draw with Met Police

By: Mark Stokes

Published: 00:00, 21 March 2018

Steve Watt admitted he was frustrated Margate conceded a late equaliser at Met Police on Saturday but urged his players not to get too despondent.

The Blues trailed to Shaquille Hippolyte-Patrick's header at half-time but hit back to lead thanks to two goals from Frannie Collin, whose first came from the spot.

Collin's double looked to have secured the points only for home midfielder Tom Bird to break Margate's hearts by volleying in from 25 yards with one minute of normal time left.

Margate's Dave Martin pushes forward against Met Police Picture: Don Walker

The result stretched Margate's winless sequence in the Bostik Premier to four games, but the last three have been draws, and manager Watt says his players can take plenty of positives from their recent performances.

He explained: "To concede an equaliser so late was frustrating, it's the only way to describe it, but when you reflect on the match as a whole a draw was probably a fair result.

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"We were really poor in the first half and couldn't have complained if we'd gone in more than one down. I felt they should have had penalty and they also hit the bar with a header, but we made a change at half-time tweaked our shape and we were dominant in the second half.

"I can't fault the players for the effort and character they showed in that second half. They were disappointed not to have won but they have to remember, we've come from behind in each of the last three games and we've only lost twice in 2018. That's in something like 15 or 16 games and it's easy for them to lose sight of that."

The draw at Imber Court saw Gate slip to fourth but Watt believes their play-off destiny remains in their own hands,

They have eight games left, five of which are at Hartsdown Park, starting with the visit of Enfield on Saturday.

Kane Haysman is going to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury Picture: Don Walker

Enfield beat the Blues 2-1 in October - one of only seven league defeats Watts's side has suffered this term - and the Gate boss expects them to be uncompromising opposition.

He said: "Enfield will be very organised and physical, they're one of the biggest sides I've seen at this level. so it will be a very tough game."

Sam Blackman returns after his suspension but top scorer Jordan Chiedozie still has one match of his ban to serve.

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Midfielder Kane Haysman will miss the rest of the season after damaging his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) while Watt will also take a check on centre-half Ben Swift who isn't completely over his recent hamstring problem and came off at half-time at Met Police.

The Gate boss did not rule out making signings ahead of the Enfield game but said he was also considering his options regarding Sid Sollis and Harry Stannard, who are on loan at Ashford and Faversham respectively.

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