A miserable day-trip for Margate

Merstham 1 Margate 0, Isthmian League Premier Division, Saturday 1^st February 2020

Having been joined by a mini entourage (quite literally) on my visit to Lewes vs East Thurrock United last time out, I was back to ploughing a lone furrow this weekend.

Perfect. 90 minutes of relative peace. Or so I thought. We’ll come to that in a bit.

With the weather once again threatening non-league fixtures throughout the South-East, I left myself with a couple of match options this weekend. Horley’s visit to Alfold in the SCFL Premier or Merstham v Margate in the Isthmian League Premier Division.

When Alfold’s match was switched to Horley (a ground I’ve already visited this season) on Friday evening, my decision was made. Barring a late postponement, I’d be heading up the A23/M23 to Merstham in the borough of Reigate.

I arrived at Merstham’s Whisky Bible Stadium (possibly my favourite name for any ground I’ve visited thus far – can’t think why?) at 14:30.

Having parked in a residential road a short walk from the ground, I paid my £10 admission fee (cheaper than any other Isthmian Premier game I’ve been to this season – bargain) and a further £2 for a really well produced programme.

The Whisky Bible Stadium (which was actually formerly known as the Moatside) is an attractive little ground surrounded by trees on all sides. It also acts as the home ground of AFC Wimbledon’s Development squad. The ground’s main seated stand runs down one side of the pitch, while there is another smaller covered seated area behind one of the goals. Behind much of the width of the other is a covered terraced area.

While the team’s main clubhouse and bar is actually located just outside the ground itself, there is a refreshment stall inside it that sells hot and cold food and drinks and snacks. There are also toilet facilities located inside the ground as well as in the clubhouse.

With the weather surprisingly fairly sunny, and the pitch not looking in too bad condition at all given the recent weather, I was hoping that an entertaining afternoon’s football awaited.

Merstham are battling hard against relegation, and were currently on a three-match unbeaten run in which they hadn’t conceded a goal. This came on the back of having shipped 16 goals in their opening four games of 2020. Quite some turnaround!

Their visitors for the afternoon, Margate, were ensconced firmly in midtable – unlikely to be drawn into a relegation battle, yet equally unlikely to be threatening a late play-off push.

If I’m being totally honest, I was fairly distracted in the early stages of the game, as I was trying to work out whether I loved Margate’s rather unusual kit – or absolutely detested it.

It’s certainly unique. I can’t think of any other team that boasts a white kit with turquoise and purple diagonal stripes! They’re also sponsored by The Libertines (the band) which surely gives them one of the coolest sponsors in non-league football. At least in my opinion. Still, this is a football blog, not a fashion one (if you’ve seen my dress sense – or lack of it – you’ll be somewhat relieved by this statement), so let’s move on.

Margate certainly seemed to start the game on the front foot, with striker Noel Leighton causing the home defence a couple of problems in the early stages. Merstham ‘keeper Mattie Pierson had to be alert to deny the striker at his feet after one particularly threatening burst forward.

However, this early promise soon faded and the hosts, kicking with a fairly strong wind at their backs, began to gain control.

Their pressure was rewarded on the 20^th minute, when Margate goalkeeper Joseph Tupper (on loan from Spurs) upended a Merstham forward in the area to present the home team with a penalty. Calvin Ekpiteta struck his spot kick right down the middle, Tupper dived to his right, and Merstham were in front (see video).

This setback certainly didn’t deter the Margate supporters from cheering on their team. Or, rather, one particular Margate supporter from cheering on their team. I mentioned right at the start of this post that I didn’t have quite as quiet afternoon as I’d expected. This was mainly down to the efforts of one particularly vocal Margate supporting woman. While the visitors did have a decent number of fans with them, it was only her (and her drum) that you could really hear cheering.

Regular shouts of ‘up the gate’ were clearly heard at regular intervals throughout the match, while every now again she would beat on her drum and start a song that no one else really joined in with.
She was so loud that I could even hear her when she was positioned behind the far goal and standing around 50 yards away from me on my right. Full disclosure, I’m stone deaf in my right ear, so this is really quite some achievement!

Still, good on her for trying to generate support for her team throughout the match. Even when Margate were struggling to get any real foothold in the game. There can certainly be no denying her passion.

The Gate were second-best throughout much of the first-half and had it not been for a fantastic Tupper save from a fierce Richie Whittingham strike right on the stroke of half-time, they would have gone in at the interval two down.

In a reversal of the first-half, it was Merstham who started the second half the stronger before Margate began to see more of the ball.

A flowing move early in the second-half provided Jordan Robins with a great chance to equalise. Although he struck his shot well, he was denied by Pierson who produced a fine save to keep his team in front.

This was to be as good as it got for Margate. Despite seeing plenty of the ball in the final third, they never really looked like breaching the Moatsiders’ well organised defence.

At the other end, Merstham were a constant threat on the counter, and on two occasions missed decent opportunities to put the game out of their visitors' reach.

With very little going right for Margate, the game started to become quite physical. Merstham were forced into three substitutions (all through injuries), causing their assistant manager, former Premier League player Barry Hayles, to loudly bemoan the fact that they were rapidly running out of players.

Margate’s Leighton somehow managed to escape being shown a red card, after twice committing fouls that were clearly worthy of a yellow, having already been booked for dissent.

The final whistle brought a fourth clean sheet in a row for Merstham and, more importantly, three vital points in their battle against relegation.

It’s fair to say that this won’t be a 90-minutes that will live long in my memory. Not that Merstham will care a jot.

For me, the best thing about the afternoon was Margate’s kit. Or was that the worst thing? I still can’t decide.

Enjoyed this blog post? Then you may be interested in reading my kindle book which recounts my 2018/19 groundhopping journey (take a look, it’s only 99p).