Margate crank up pre-season preparations with 2-0 friendly win against Dulwich Hamlet as Gate player-boss Ben Greenhalgh explains young midfielder Jack Peters’ Whitstable Town move

Margate’s pre-season preparations were cranked up in style on Saturday.

Gate continued their run of warm-up matches ahead of a second Isthmian South East season with a 2-0 home win over Isthmian Premier Dulwich Hamlet.

It was a pre-season friendly player-boss Ben Greenhalgh and his backroom team had targeted as one where they would step things up, with the big kick-off a fortnight on from that friendly, and second-half goals by striker Tom Derry and Greenhalgh helped see off Mark Dacey’s team.

“It was something we’d worked quite hard on,” Greenhalgh explained. “We always highlighted this as the stage where we would crank it up a bit.

“Even though there were some times we worked on our playing style, it had been more about getting people minutes.

“On Thursday night, we then worked on things like set-plays and just being organised. That showed on Saturday.

“We played against a team from the league above so, on paper, they’re a team you would think would beat us. That shows where we are.

“We treated it like a league game with our substitutions. I think we limited them to pretty much no chances in the first half, apart from shots outside of the area. Then in the second half, we took it to them a little bit more.

“Teams in our league probably won’t be as hard to work out as they were but, by the second half, we had worked them out and got our two goals.

“In general, it was a really organised performance.”

The game was watched by a 447-strong attendance at Hartsdown Park, including many who had travelled down from London.

Greenhalgh said: “We are always quick to thank our fans, home and away.

“Away, they went to a few new grounds last season and there's one or two more new ones this season, including Jersey! In the play-off