Football Memories

London, UK

This day, December 13th, there are two interesting results in the history of Margate Football Club. I mentioned one last month, here about the FA Cup clash with Yeovil in 1967. That 3-1 away victory was a great achievement for Margate who then lost to Peterborough United in Round 2.

A couple of years later, Margate, like many other senior non-league clubs at the time entered a new competition, the FA Trophy. I remember the draw being made for the 3rd Qualifying Round. It was to be either St Neots or Thorneycroft Athletic. This is a bit like Arsenal or Chelsea having to play Brentford or Rochdale in the FA Cup. Expecting an easy away win, I called the "away" results line. I rang back because I couldn't believe the 0-2 result. Margate FC's record since that time has been less than impressive.

The furthest Margate has reached in this competition was the 3rd round proper, when they were defeated by Runcorn (after a replay) in 1979, then to Morecambe in 2002 at the quarter-final stage. This season, Margate lost to Leamington (formerly AP Leamington) 1-0 in a 2nd qualifying round replay.