Match Report
On paper the standings were lopsided — Margate 5th with 75 points, Herne Bay 12th with 55, 20 apart. Scoring rates set the scale: Margate 2.07 scored and 1.5 conceded per game, Herne Bay 1.5 and 1.79, with the league averaging 1.77.
Momentum sat with Margate, winners of their last six, having scored in 15 consecutive games. Herne Bay arrived off four straight defeats. The five-game form split read 15/15 points for Margate against 3/15 for Herne Bay.
GioScore's database holds 5 meetings between the two: 3 for Margate, 1 for Herne Bay and 1 drawn, at 2.4 goals per meeting. The host's record in this fixture is thin — 40% of meetings won. Three-plus goals is the norm here, arriving in 60% of the meetings, and both sides scored in 60%.
Hartsdown Park, capacity 3,000, hosted the game. Half-time and full-time told different stories: it was 0-0 at the break, before 1 more goal closed it at 0-1.
Goal scorers
Herne Bay: 1 goal with no recorded scorer