K’s Stitched Up By Two Taylors
Did we have a lovely time the day we went to Margate? No, not really. Both non-league football and third-division seaside towns have a way of living down to your expectations, sadly.
Margate (the town) is the depressing place I remembered from previous visits, with shops and arcades that are either dead or dying, whilst Margate (the team) delivered the kind of two-goal-victory that their form and league position suggested was always likely. So, no surprises there.
Margate's home form prior to the game was P8, W7, D1, L0, with a +14 goal difference. And they played like it, attacking swiflty, defending solidly, and benefiting from any questionable refereeing decisions the game had to offer. No surprises there, either.
The game itself was a solid two-nil-victory. Arguably, Margate's keeper might have received a red card for handling the ball just outside the penalty area in the first half, and a foul on Pinney in the second half that resulted in a penalty might have yielded another. Sadly for the Ks, the referee showed only yellow cards for both offences and therefore the keeper was still on the pitch to save the spot-kick. On an unsurprising day, these two failures to surprise scarcely even registered.
One more thing. The wind – it was incredibly strong. But whilst it was incredibly strong, it wasn't surprisingly strong. When the Margate keeper kicked the ball straight into touch, and on numerous occasions several outfield players did the same, and when even a couple of throw-ins became throw-straight-back-out-agains, no-one was surprised. We all have TVs and radios and websites and mobile phones and they'd all spent all day telling us how windy it was going to be, so it was no surprise, it was incompetence. Like my failure to pick up a coat before I went out – it was immensely stupid but no-one was surprised.
To complete the picture, the chip shop was awful. In fact, it wasn't just awful but really, really bloody awfully awful. And, if it hadn't been in Margate, it might even have been surprisingly awful. But it was in Margate and so somehow it just seemed to fit.
However, there was ONE surprise. Ryan Moss didn't score against us.
But Lewis Taylor did. Quelle surprise.
Match report by rex.
