New Margate boss Mark Stimson on what he knows of the players he has inherited, their 1-0 Isthmian Premier loss to Carshalton Athletic and hosting fellow strugglers Kingstonian

New Margate manager Mark Stimson already knows a fair amount about the players he has inherited as he aims to turn the club’s fortunes around.

Former Gillingham boss Stimson has been appointed as Reece Prestedge’s successor and started his time in charge of the Isthmian Premier outfit with a 1-0 home loss to Carshalton last weekend.

Stimson had spent five years with Gate’s divisional rivals Hornchurch prior to his summer departure and only recently left Isthmian North outfit Grays Athletic.

In his time with the Urchins, he has come up against Margate on plenty of occasions and, therefore, has a head start as he aims to learn about his new charges.

He said: “I’ve had a couple of good games against Margate.

“That helps because I got to know the players a little bit. It’s always been a tough place to go.

“Now, I need to find out a lot more about them.”

The 55-year-old was beaten in his first fixture at the helm at Hartsdown Park through a stunning strike by midfielder Bradley Williams, despite the hosts twice going close to scoring themselves.

But Stimson, in charge at Priestfield from 2007 to 2010, took positives from the performance as the struggling side’s winless run extended to nine matches.

“You don’t want to lose any game,” he said. “We knew it would be a difficult game.

“Both teams, at the moment, are not getting the results the club would like. It would have been great to get a win. But the performance wasn’t bad.

“The performance was positive. The performance and effort were there.

“Sometimes you need a little bit of luck, and we hit the crossbar and had one cleared off the line. There were some positives to take out of it - as strange as that might sound.

“We just need to go again now.”

While Gate are at the