Margate player-boss Ben Greenhalgh on signing striker Joe Taylor, a 3-1 derby win at Herne Bay and a home fixture against Ashford United to start 2026

Player-boss Ben Greenhalgh has hailed Joe Taylor as an exciting signing for Margate.

Striker Taylor, Ramsgate’s record goalscorer, has moved across Thanet to return to the club where he began his career after he left Southwood before Christmas.

The 34-year-old, undoubtedly, will have had many potential suitors.

He didn’t get on the scoresheet on his first Gate appearance since his latest comeback - Greenhalgh and two-goal Sam Blackman, who took on penalty duties, netted in last weekend’s 3-1 derby win at Herne Bay - but it will surely only be a matter of time.

Greenhalgh revealed: “The penalty situation was quite funny.

“We’ve had a few situations this season around penalties. It was due to be Joe, then I was going to take it - but Blacky just took the ball.

“When you have missed so many penalties, from an outside perspective, you might think we need to be a little bit more dominant about who’s taking them. We were.

“But at the same time, we just needed the ball to go into the back of the net.

“Joe will probably be taking penalties in the future, I might be taking some penalties in the future, so we have got options.

“We created some chances for Joe to get goals.

“He will probably be getting goals in games like that for us as he learns about us.

“The most important thing to take from it is our players are learning about him.

“Everyone knows what he has done and the numbers he has got. But the reality is not many players - bar myself and a couple of others, who are a bit more experienced - will know how he plays.

“I’d never played with him before. We have spoken to each other for about three years now, going back to when Lewes used to play against Margate.

“You could tell the two of us knew what each other was looking for