Mike Sandmann admits he was delighted with Margate’s winning start but knows it will be several weeks before he can truly assess the strength of his squad.

The Blues began the new Bostik Premier campaign on Saturday with a 5-2 home win over promoted Corinthian Casuals, having led 5-0 at half-time.

Joint boss Sandmann described some of Margate’s football in the opening 45 minutes as ‘fantastic,’ but says no-one at Hartsdown Park is getting carried away.

He added: “We played some excellent football in the first half. The work ethic was second to none, how we pressed the ball and the team shape, but if we’d have won 5-4 it still would have been three points which was the main thing.

“The second half was about the players managing themselves, not making any silly tackles and making sure they didn’t get injured.

“We made a few changes, by the end I think we had five 20-year-olds and an 18-year-old on the pitch and we did lose a little bit of shape.

“It’s going to take four or five games (to settle down), the players are still gaining fitness but if we can match the work ethic we produced in the first 45 minutes and play the way we did we can be a match for anyone.”

New signing Baselle Astride opened the scoring inside 11 minutes,with defender Tom Wynter’s header doubling the lead.

Summer arrival Alex Brown then grabbed centrestage, making it 3-0 with a superb 25-yard strike before adding an equally impressive effort from long-range.

Frannie Collin claimed the fifth with a free-kick into the bottom corner but Corinthian improved in the second half and Warren Mfula had already blazed a penalty over the crossbar when he atoned with a well-taken goal.

Casuals' Gil Carvalho poked home from a corner late on to complete the scoring.

Sandmann was delighted with Brown’s contribution and says left-sided attacker Astride also showed promise even though he is short of match fitness.

He added: “I was so pleased for Alex, and I mean his first goal ‘Wow.’ I’ve known him a while and can’t imagine he’s scored many better than that.

“Baselle needs to get fitter to be honest, he died a bit in the second half. He just needs to get more minutes under his belt. I think there’s more to come from him but then I think there’s a bit more to come from everyone.

“Saturday was a good start but we will improve, as we get fitter, and stronger. It will probably be five games before we really see where we are.”

Gate travel to Dorking Wanderers on Tuesday and are away to Brightlingsea Regent on Saturday.

Defender Ben Swift is available again after suspension.