By Blue-tinted specs
Whitehawk 3 Margate 1
Margate’s first match since the departure of manager Reece Prestedge ended in defeat at Whitehawk in the Velocity Cup on Tuesday night.
The visitors, who fielded several youngsters, had the better of the first half but a series of substitutions by the home side swung the match in their favour.
The first chance of the evening fell to Margate when Harrison Hatfull squared the ball to Steve Cawley and his shot was deflected over by home keeper Mitch Walker. From the resulting corner, Cawley had a shot cleared from the goalmouth.
At the other end, Whitehawk’s Dom Johnson-Fisher had a low shot touched wide by keeper Harry Seaden.
A poor clearance by Walker went straight to Margate’s Leo Mazzone, who was making his first appearance for the Gate since September. He advanced but his shot was easily held.
It was a terrible error by Walker that gifted Margate a goal on 26 minutes. He dropped a cross and Vinnie Bowman scored into the empty net.
A Tyrone Sterling clearance then went to Cawley who cut inside his marker and sent a curling shot just over the bar.
Whitehawk made two substitutions at the interval and they instantly combined to craft an equaliser. Imran Kayani’s cross from the right was nodded into the net by Lloyd Dawes.
Skye Salmon made a run down the right for Margate and crossed to Cawley who controlled the ball then shot but Walker saved.
Charlie Harris gave the home side the lead on 78 minutes when he diverted a cross with his head past Seaden into the far corner of the goal.
Sub Josh Nandhra, who had only been on the pitch for a couple of minutes, added a third for Whitehawk in the dying moments to secure victory.