Margate 2 Basingstoke 1

MARGATE made it four wins in a row with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Basingstoke at Homelands on Saturday.

They were forced to come from behind after David Ray had given the visitors the lead after 36 minutes with a superb long-range shot into the top corner.

Gate should have been ahead by then but Moses Jjunju and Rocky Baptiste were both guilty of missing glorious chances when it seemed easier to score.

On the stroke of half-time, Basingstoke’s keeper Scott Tarr was lucky to escape with just a booking after bringing down Che Stadhart outside of his area.

The home side’s equaliser came from Stadhart, who had a fine second half, after 75 minutes. Peter Benevides’ pass sent Darren Watson through and his touch was turned in by Stadhart for his 16th of the season.

Gate sensed a winner and it duly arrived three minutes later. The hapless Tarr in the visitors’ goal brought down Stadhart and Adrian Clarke coolly converted the resulting spot-kick.