Margate player-manager Ben Greenhalgh on their 2-1 Isthmian South East home defeat against Sevenoaks Town and a pre-match injury sustained by young winger Gabriel Duo

Player-boss Ben Greenhalgh believes a pre-match injury to Margate winger Gabriel Duo badly impacted their game-plan ahead of their defeat to Sevenoaks on Saturday.

Their 15-game unbeaten Isthmian South East run ended as they were beaten 2-1 at home by their west Kent visitors.

On a cold and foggy afternoon, it was a missed opportunity for third-placed Margate to put pressure on those above them, with the loss also a first for Greenhalgh’s side in the league at Hartsdown Park this campaign.

Gate gave a debut to young Gillingham loanee Josh Bayliss from the start - but only after young prospect Duo had pulled out.

“We just didn’t have the energy,” said Greenhalgh. “Brandon Davey was not available at the last minute - just the illness is still getting to him - and he’s someone that will play through anything.

“Even last weekend (in a 1-1 draw with Merstham), he had to come off after about 20 minutes because he gave it a go.

“Then, I’ve never seen it happen before but, when we were jogging out to the pitch to start the game, Gabriel Duo has possibly done his Achilles. Everyone has heard a crunch!

Report: Margate 1-2 Sevenoaks

“Mentally, that puts you in a different frame of mind and then you have to change the team completely.

“We brought in Josh Bayliss, who did really well. But he’s new to us and new to our shape.

“We didn’t want to change shape after working on something for the whole of our pre-match preparations and talking about it on Thursday. In hindsight, we probably didn’t look after Josh well enough because it was a tough position for him to come in and play.

“He did well - it was just the rest of the players didn’t do well enough.”

While players sustaining injuries in the warm-up ahead of a game is not