Margate have advanced to the third round of the Kent Senior Cup following a penalty shootout win over Gills at Hartsdown.
Gillingham were knocked out of the Kent Senior Cup on Tuesday evening following a penalty shootout defeat to Margate at Hartsdown Park.
The Gills came from behind to lead 2-1, but Ben Greenhalgh converted a spot kick towards the end of normal time to make it 2-2, and with Ronald Sithole and Charlie Kelman both missing their efforts in the shootout, it allowed Jay Saunders’ men the opportunity to advance.
David Livermore and Mark Moss were in the dugout for the game with Manager Neil Harris observing from the stands. They named a competitive team for the game with Charlie Kelman and Tom Dickson-Peters up front with Harvey Lintott and Christian Maghoma also making the XI.
Ronald Sithole and Sam Gale were among the substitutes.
The first chance of the game fell for the hosts with a 20-yard effort from Vance Bola well read by Crump who composed himself to palm the ball towards the ground before gathering at the second attempt.
On 11 minutes the Gills had their first attempt with Ethan Smith’s pass to the right finding Harvey Lintott; he cut inside before seeing a shot deflected for a corner, which was headed just wide of the post by Christian Maghoma.
With nearly 25 minutes on the clock Jay Saunders’ men had the best opportunity of the game so far when Fyn Rutherford went through on goal, went around the oncoming Crump who did well to stay on his feet. The striker delayed his shot by a second or so, sufficient time for Maghoma and Carter to get back and block.
With five minutes to go until the break space opened up for Sam Odaudu 20 yards out. Left footed, the full-back drilled an effort towards goal, but it went comfortably wide of Crump’s left post who made an excellent save seconds later to deny James Bessey-Saldanha.
H/T: Margate 0-0 Gillingham
The hosts came out of the blocks the stronger in the opening exchanges in the second half, and they took the lead on 51 minutes when a corner kick was cleared to the edge of the box; Rutherford had possession on the edge of the box, set his sights and guided an effort beyond Tom Crump and into the bottom corner.
The next 20 minutes or so saw a limited amount of chances at either end, but the impact of the Gills subs, and a change of shape, gave the visitors the upper hand and, on 80 minutes, they levelled matters up when a cross from Josh Chambers to the back post found Ronald Sithole in space who slid in from close range to complete a fine team move.
Seven minutes later and the turnaround was complete. Charlie Kelman made space for himself on the left wing and used his pace to leave behind his marker and then produce a low cross into the danger zone which struck Tom Dickson-Peters, before hitting a defender, and then rolling into the back of the net.
This seemingly had given Gills the win, but moments after the restart, a penalty was awarded when Crump was judged to have committed a foul inside his box, and sub Ben Greenhalgh converted the spot kick to force penalties.
Sithole and Kelman both missed in the shootout, meaning Margate will go on to play either Dover or Dartford.
F/T: Margate 2-2 Gillingham (Margate win 4-3 on pens).
Margate: Bridle-Card, Hatfull, Odaudu, Lamb, Knight (Agyemang 46), Swift, Bessey-Saldanha, Blackman, Bola (Greenhalgh 66), Rutherford, Vaivada.
Unused subs: Kallmeier, Nzinga, Prestedge
Gills: Crump, Lintott, Maghoma, Giles, Carter, Dempsey (Gale 58), E Smith (Moore 81), Chambers, MacArthur (R Sithole 62) Dickson-Peters, Kelman.
Unused subs: T Smith, Leach