Margate player-manager Ben Greenhalgh has recalled his previous encounter with weekend visitors Loxwood - which came in entirely different circumstances.

Greenhalgh was at Tonbridge when they faced the West Sussex side in a friendly in August 2020 - shortly after the first coronavirus lockdown.

Now at the Hartsdown Park helm, he will be aiming to help ensure Margate see off Loxwood in the FA Cup preliminary round on Saturday.

He revealed: “Strangely, I have played against them.

“That was the first game after the original lockdown when I was at Tonbridge.

“To be fair to them, it seems like they have been on the rise as a club since. They have some young, energetic players and they’re giving it a go.

“With it being a game in the FA Cup, they will be the ones looking for a shock result.

“But one thing we’re not going to accept is being outworked this year.

“Whether teams are higher or lower, we need to give them respect and play to our levels. We have got to target our standards that we have set.

“Margate haven’t had a great FA Cup run for a few years now.

“I would love to be the side that does have one but our focus has to be on Saturday.”

On coming up against Loxwood again, Greenhalgh, whose full-time job involves managing Dartford’s Academy players, said: “It will be completely different!

“It feels like those Covid days are past us. You almost completely forget what we had to do with getting changed in stands and stuff like that.

“But I’ve been in football pretty much my whole life as an adult and that little break really gave some players the hunger to play football again and really kick on.

“It’s good to be back now and playing games against these sorts of sides in more normal conditions.”

The winners will earn £1,444 in prize money.

Gate began their Isthmian South East season with a home goalless draw against East Grinstead last weekend.

Greenhalgh reflected: “It was a really positive start, looking back at it.

“At the time, a 0-0 draw wasn’t ideal - we wanted three points and that’s what we were planning to get. But, having looked back at the game, it was a really positive performance.

“It was just very frustrating not to score. But we have got Lukas Franzen-Jones, who scored 21 goals in the division last year, and Ibrahim Olutade, who’s proven at this level and the level above.

“Then, I put myself in that mix with Jordan Ababio, Fyn Rutherford and Vinnie Bowman and a few others, so I’m confident we will score goals.

“I’m very pleased we put on a performance for the fans, there’s just a level of disappointment that we didn’t get a goal.

“It was one of those days where it wouldn’t go in.”

And while Margate looked the more likely to score, their defence and young keeper Tom Wray did have to be alert to maintain a clean sheet and preserve a point in front of a crowd of 402 at Hartsdown Park.

“That’s brilliant for the defence,” noted Greenhalgh. “They knew that they might not have a lot to do with the way the game panned out but they kept alert.

“To be fair to East Grinstead, there were a couple of times that they did break through. They had two moments - and Tom stood up.

“The defence and Tom deserved their clean sheet.”

Margate’s league derby trip to Ashford has been brought forward from August 24 to next Friday evening.

Midfielder TJ Jadama scored in the sixth minute of added time as Ramsgate opened the Isthmian South East campaign with a 1-0 victory at AFC Croydon.

Rams host Southall in the FA Cup preliminary round this Saturday.

It’s their first game in the competition since last season’s history-making run to the second round proper.