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Player-boss Ben Greenhalgh has explained the reasoning behind Jordan Ababio’s Margate departure.
The young winger, who has scored eight goals for fourth-placed Isthmian South East side Gate this season, has headed for the exit in search of regular first-team football.
He has since joined rivals Sevenoaks.
“It’s been really hard,” said Greenhalgh. “Jordan was one of our first signings.
“He was a key target from when I played against him last year and he did really well.
“He was also with Flan (No.2 Adam Flanagan) at Ashford and did very well there, and that experience of last season has probably helped him, mentally.
“Jordan has probably started 50 per cent - if not more - of our games. He’s a young winger so, sometimes, inconsistency can happen.
"But when he was on it, he was really positive for us.
“After he went through a few clubs last season, I think he wanted to finish this season settled and playing games regularly.
“We’re still disappointed because there’s a very good player in there. We’re in a good position in the league - and part of that is down to him.
“I’m not sure, mentally, he thought he would get back into the team. But we definitely want to see him do well.
“He’s a very good winger and, hopefully, he can get a bit more consistency into his game.”
Playmaker Greenhalgh is better-placed than most to understand Ababio’s frustrations.
He continued: “We don’t want to give false promises for a start. Some managers I have played for, they kind of sell you a dream.
“We could easily have said 'Stay, Jordan, and we will play you every game’ - but we have always tried to give people chances.
“We’ve also been consistent that, when people do well, they keep their shirt.
“Don’t get me wrong, I was a young winger once and it’s tough to get your head around it. But you need to look at the bigger picture.
“When I look back at winning Isthmian Premier with Maidstone, which was a great experience, we had 46 games and I think I played 28. So, there were another 18 that I was sat around on the bench for.
“It’s difficult and it’s hard to give assurances to players sometimes because football can change so drastically in such a short space of time.”
Margate’s players took the opportunity to head up to London on a fixture-free weekend and Greenhalgh thinks the camaraderie within the squad has been key to them now being in the play-off positions.
He explained: “We were in training on Thursday last week and Tuesday and Thursday this week, so we had a day off on Saturday.
“We all got together in London and we had a bit of team-bonding. We’re very together as a team.
“We had worked really hard last Thursday where our sports therapist, Graham Day, got us working through a few things.
“Then, Saturday was brilliant and I think that cohesiveness has got us to where we want to be in the league this season.
“We wanted to sign people that wanted to play for Margate and we’ve done that.”
Gate are at home against struggling Lancing this weekend before they travel to Sittingbourne - fellow promotion hopefuls and FA Trophy quarter-finalists - on Tuesday.
“Lancing had a good reaction against Sheppey at the weekend,” said Greenhalgh.
“They had shipped 17 goals in the last three games and, when you’re down there in a relegation battle, that’s never good.
“But they went 1-0 up and Sheppey really had to get going, and they won 2-1 in the end.
“We went to their place and we were in a similar situation where we were high-flying before the game and it wasn’t quite going their way for them.
“It was 1-1 until the 89th minute [when, ironically, Ababio popped up with a late winning goal].
“You don’t really get easy games in this league but, when the bigger guns go 2-0 or 3-0 up, some of them really start to show up.
“We just need to put in another good performance on Saturday and the main thing is to score more goals at home.”
Margate were also due to discuss the possibility of extending young forward Josh Bayliss’ loan from Gillingham.
Gate’s home game against Sittingbourne has been rearranged again. The new date is Tuesday, March 4.