Whitstable Town U12's v Margate Youth U12's Whites

Sunday afternoon in half term meant we were 4 players short this week. Our small squad of 11 was down to just 7. Up stepped Tony ' Wheeler Dealer' Sibley who's mobile must have been red hot as he busied himself securing signings to fulfil the fixture.

Rather than take a fine and an automatic forfeit of 3 points Harry Redknapp, Sorry Tony Sibley had secure the Loan signing of Ottie from Whitstable Town girls U12s and pushed through a permanent deal for Vinnie.

As we prepared for a 60 mins without subs pre-match plans were thrown out of the window when the Margate team announced pitchside that they only had 8 players. This left us with a moral dilemma, play 9 v 8 and give us a better chance of 3 points or be sporting and agree to the opponents request to play 8 v 8?? As Fin was carrying an injury and with fairness taking precedent we rightly agreed to start 8 v 8.

We dominated from the first whistle, some great work from debut boy Vinnie found Max B who helped us take the lead on 10 minutes. A rare attack from Margate led to a penalty, which Phil saved superbly to preserve our lead. We continued to control the game but couldn't get the goals our pressure deserved. As these things often go, they hit us on the counter, equalising with a smart volley after a corner was only half cleared. 1-1 half time.

The second half was pretty even but we continued to have chances. We must have had nearly 30 corners and we regained the lead when one was deflected in for an own goal. Margate had some fast players and caught us on the break to score twice and take the lead. We added the extra player for the final 7 minutes but couldn't find the equaliser. A frustrating game as the team didn't quite reach the heights of recent weeks, but we did have most of the chances and could have won on another day.

Well played all, special mention to Vinnie who had a fine debut hitting the bar and to Ottie who had a great game in defence.