Trott keeps faith as he chases play-off spot

MARGATE player-manager Robin Trott insists his side are still in with a shout for the play-off’s despite losing at AFC Wimbledon last night.

Second placed AFC Wimbledon closed the gap to ten points on leaders Chelmsford Cith with a last-gasp 2-1 win over the Thanet side at Kingsmeadow - all three goals coming in the last eleven minutes.

But ninth placed Margate are only FOUR points adrift of the final play-off berth in the Ryman Premier League table and anything is possible in this division.

This time last week supporters of Tonbridge Angels rubbished Tommy Warrilow’s talk of finishing in the play-off’s this season but derby wins over Maidstone United and Ramsgate have seen the Angels climb from the brink of relegation into 12^th place with their back-to-back wins.

And Trott has also kept the faith of clinching a play-off berth during their last ten league games of the season.

“It’s not over by any means,” Trott told www.margate-fc.com.  “We’re still in the pack.  It just means we’ve lost a little bit of ground when we could have pushed our way forward again.”

Reflecting on their defeat last night, Trott added: “Just disappointed really, that we didn’t win.

“Just gutted, can’t believe we lost it in extra, extra time, the last kick of the game. We’ve had a goal disallowed, we’ve had a lot of chances. It was an entertaining game.”

Looking at the positives from the game, Trott highlighted the performance of fellow central defender Louis Smith, who equalised, and spoke about some aspects of Margate’s attacking play.

He said: “Anyone that knows anything about us knows that we use our flanks, that’s our strength.

“Sometimes we were a bit narrow but when we broke we break quick. It’s a big strength of ours.”

Of course a defeat at AFC Wimbledon while disappointing puts into perspective a home defeat to Hastings United and on the road at Kent rivals Tonbridge Angels.

And Trott said: “You can’t forget those games but there are probably games that people thought we’d lose but we’ve won.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s trip to Bourne Park to face Maidstone United, a side that turned defeat into a dramatic last-gasp 4-3 win at Hartsdown Park earlier in the season, the Margate manager said: “We can’t drop our performance now, with Maidstone away this Saturday.”

Quotes courtesy of www.margate-fc.com