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Player-manager Ben Greenhalgh has reiterated Margate were keen for their postponed top-of-the-table home match against Sittingbourne to be played.
Brickies boss Ryan Maxwell, writing on social media, claimed Margate didn’t want to play last Tuesday’s scheduled Isthmian South East game due to player unavailability. They have refuted those claims and, instead, cited electrical issues.
“It’s interesting how everything got portrayed,” said Greenhalgh, who hopes to this week find out the extent of the injury sustained by winger Gabriel Duo (Achilles) in this month’s 2-1 loss to Sevenoaks.
“We had a fully-fit squad, bar one player.
“At the Sevenoaks game, there were a lot of technical issues. The heating had blown and the electrics had started to play up.
“I actually got a phone call from the club on the morning of the game to say they were trying to get the floodlights back on, but it kept blowing and there was quite a serious issue.
“It got to the point at midday where they kept coming on and blowing again so they practically called it. Worryingly, it then somehow took three or four hours for the game to be agreed to be called off.
“I don’t know what else could have been done. We were ready to play the game. A lot of our boys had taken half-days from work.
“I think the idea of playing at a neutral venue didn’t make any sense to anyone. I’m not sure many clubs would do that.
“The staff had been prepared for last Tuesday night and I’ve never known a home game be called off in my time at Margate.
“I’m not sure how it became such a big thing. But we were keen to play the game.”
The match has been rearranged for Tuesday, February 25.
Margate returned to action last weekend with a 3-2 victory at Hythe, netting two injury-time goals to claim the win.
Greenhalgh said: “I think it sums up our character as a team in terms of just having that belief right throughout every game.
“There’s been a couple of games already this season that we have been losing and have managed to pull it back to a draw or drawing and we have managed to pull it back to win. I think it was something that we needed to get through as a group after not winning the previous two games.”
Greenhalgh’s troops fell behind twice, only for a late playmaker Ben Allen brace to win it after midfielder Max Walsh’s strike.
“With it being a grass pitch and at this time of the year, it was always going to be a different sort of game,” explained Greenhalgh.
“In those first 15 minutes, we probably should have scored three or four goals, and you’d certainly like to think we would have been a bit more clinical on an astro-pitch. But you could tell our legs just weren’t quite at it and we weren’t taking the chances properly.
“Frustratingly, we did let in a goal. Splatty (Javaun Splatt) heads it out of Tom Wray’s hands but, looking back on it, it was quite a tight call.
“You can understand why the referee has just gone with it and not disallowed a goal.
“We found ourselves 1-0 down and then had a pretty decent first half where we created a lot of chances and could have scored a lot of goals, but it was quite hard to score on a grassy, wintry pitch.
“So, we came in at half-time and weren’t too critical because we knew we had it in us to score more goals.
“Within five minutes, Ben Allen has cut it back after a really good bit of play for Max Walsh and we sort of went on top from there.
“It looked like we would score again because there were a couple of goalline clearances and a few big saves.
“Then, Knighty (Lewis Knight) gets absolutely clattered, clearing the ball.
“It was a little bit naive of all of us to think it was just the most blatant foul ever, but they crossed the ball and scored so, out of nowhere, everyone’s heads went a little bit there where it was such a bad decision.
“The positive thing is we managed to get out of that head-loss.”
Gate face an anxious wait to find out the full extent of Duo’s injury.
Greenhalgh confirmed: “He did go to A&E that night.
“They felt like it was a full rupture which, fingers crossed, it isn’t. He was due to see someone on Monday or Tuesday to find out a little bit more on that.
“Then, we will know what we can do for Gabs and how long the recovery time will be.”
Margate host Phoenix Sports on Saturday.
Phoenix are in relegation trouble but have seven points from their last six matches.
Margate won at the Mayplace Ground in November as defender Ronnie Vint - now on reality TV show Love Island All Stars - made a one-off appearance.
“It’s a tough one to look into,” said Greenhalgh.
“When we played Phoenix at their place, it was a really good game. We were solid and beat them 2-0 - but we had a laugh with them about it finishing 2-0 at the end of the game because it was actually quite tight.
“It’ll be very tough on Saturday and we need to make sure we’re on it.”