Margate’s latest signing is exactly the type of rising recruit player-manager Ben Greenhalgh wants.

Harry Lawrence arrives from VCD and will bolster their defensive options.

The versatile 21-year-old had also impressed at Erith Town and Greenhalgh hopes he can join a strong core of young players capable of preparing Gate for Isthmian Premier football one day.

He said: “He fits the bill perfectly for what I believe we’re trying to build at Margate. That’s a team for the future.

“When you look at the majority of our players - you do have myself at 33, Lewis Knight is over 30 and Sam Blackman is 30 - but apart from that, we’re a very young squad. The majority of the squad are 21 and 22.

“If you can build a team to put in good performances at this level, my theory is, and I said it to the boys on Thursday night at training, as we progress as a football club or as we progress as a management staff, we progress these players with us.

"If the club were to step up at some point, they would be ready.

“It’s not a case of if we did well and got promoted one season we’d suddenly need to sign loads of new players. We have got boys that are going to be constantly progressing.

“Harry Lawrence fits that bill perfectly.”

Another recent Gate recruit is young midfielder Joseph Kpaka, who made his first appearance as a late substitute in last weekend’s 7-2 thrashing of Beckenham after leaving Dartford.

“It’s probably the worst we have been in terms of an injury list on Saturday,” revealed Greenhalgh.

“We were without Sam Blackman, Tom Derry, Lewis Knight, Brandon Davey, Blu Husthwaite and Harry Hudson was suspended. Louie Atkins looks like it could be a longer-term one, as well, with his knee.

“We said ‘We might be in a position where we’re struggling to fill a bench or even to get close to filling a bench. The team is pretty much picking itself’. But the positive side of it is we knew the XI we were fielding was strong.

“It was an opportunity to give the younger lads, those who have been training with us, a chance on the bench. It shows we can trust in these younger players.

“It was good to get Kieron [Agbebi] back. We were having a joke with him after the game.

"I think he has got three in three - but he has only played three games in the space of two-and-a-half months!

“He has always played and come back two or three weeks later where he hasn’t been right.

“But in the last three games he has come on, he has scored goals. We’ll have to manage him, we cannot throw him into the deep end for another couple of weeks, but he’s a brilliant substitute to have."

Two goals from Kane Haysman, alongside efforts by Greenhalgh and Ibrahim Olutade, had Gate 4-0 up against Beckenham.

Striker Olutade also missed a penalty inside an incredible first 30 minutes at Hartsdown Park.

While Beckenham pulled two back, 30-year-old attacking midfielder Haysman added two more, completing his hat-trick with a penalty, in the second period, before substitute Agbebi got in on the act.

Margate had done similar in the same fixture last term, leading 4-0 within 29 minutes in a 6-2 success.

“It’s an odd one,” admitted Greenhalgh.

“There has to be an element of we did it last year and we’ve done it again this year.

"I did say in the pre-match team talk about the memories of last year and how quickly we started at them before and asked could we match those levels?

“It’s always going to be a different game. We’re a slightly different team, they’re a slightly different team, but it's slightly surreal we managed to start in that manner.”

Haysman has settled into life at Margate well, having arrived in August.

Greenhalgh said: “We always liked Kane as a player at Herne Bay.

“We didn’t actually approach him in the off-season because he did so well at Herne Bay. We thought ‘Herne Bay are going to keep hold of him, that’s a no-brainer’ but, when things changed a little bit there, we were first to act.

“Kane was a man of his word. He had us in his frame of mind. He wasn’t trying to play anyone.

“We knew, once he was committed and we were committed, things were going to work out, and things have already worked out.

“As a management team, I think we need to take a little bit of credit with how we have managed him.

"But not just him, probably a couple of other players, myself included, where you maybe don’t start one game but you start four or five after that. It keeps your energy levels high.

“When Kane first came in, we probably flogged the life out of him. We played him Saturday-to-Tuesday-to-Saturday, with the injuries we have been going through.

“Recently, we have managed to pull him out for a couple of games, with the birth of his child.

"There were a lot of external factors that helped us to give him a rest. He has come back in again and he’s firing.

“He came on against Deal and scored and, obviously, scored four on Saturday.

“For a player to come in during the season and already be on nine goals, that’s absolutely brilliant.”

Next up is this Saturday’s journey to Crowborough.

Newly-promoted Athletic are 11th, having been edged out 1-0 by frontrunners Three Bridges last weekend.

“It’s a difficult one,” said Greenhalgh. “It’s another one where we are going into the unknown a bit.

“We have watched them play and we do know enough about them in terms of the way they play. It’s going to be a different game, stepping on the pitch against a club you haven’t played against before.

“But we’re used to that a little bit from last season. There are a couple of teams from this season, as well, like we have had with Jersey and we will do with Hassocks.

“When we’ve watched Crowborough, they look a good team. They look quite well-organised.

“Their results have been up-and-down but against Three Bridges, who are flying at the moment, to keep it to 1-0, it shows there’s a team within them.

“There’s definitely going to be a game up for grabs there.”

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