Player-boss Ben Greenhalgh says he couldn’t have asked for more this season as Margate go into their final match before Christmas.

Gate climbed to third in Isthmian South East with a 2-1 win at Littlehampton on Saturday.

Ibrahim Olutade scored a penalty and Louie Atkins made it two before the hosts scored a late consolation.

Margate are over-achieving on their pre-season points target, showing what a good fist they’ve made of transforming the club’s fortunes following relegation.

They’re 12 points behind leaders Ramsgate and 10 off second-placed Sittingbourne but 42 points from 19 games is an excellent total by anyone’s standards.

“In terms of how the start’s gone, I don’t think we could have asked for more,” said Greenhalgh, whose side host struggling Steyning this Saturday (3pm).

“We said all along we wanted to be looking at averaging two points per game and we’re four points above that.

“That was a target we didn’t think was unrealistic but if you end up getting 84 points in a season, normally you’re right up there.

“That was an ambition for us and being ahead of it right now is very good.

“We’ve got a brilliant group and there’s a really good togetherness. They all want to work hard and fight for each other and there’s just a good atmosphere about it all.

“We’ve had a lot of different performances and we’ve got a good number of points to show for it.”

Averaging two points per game was often seen as the gold standard for winning championships.

Ramsgate and Sittingbourne have raised the bar but it shouldn’t be forgotten that Margate started in a very different place after last season’s relegation.

“When you’ve been relegated it would be very naive to start talking about winning leagues because you’re not used to winning games,” said Greenhalgh.

“We’ve said all along, we’ve had a few draws in the mix where it’s about getting into that habit of constantly winning games.

“I think in any other non-league division, that we’ve looked at, we’d be top, being four points ahead of that two-points-per-game mark, but the harsh reality is Ramsgate and Sittingbourne have been used to winning games over the past couple of years.

“They’re giving us good targets to try and keep up with.

“We are keeping up with it relatively well but we’ve got to focus on ourselves.”

Greenhalgh was delighted with Margate’s performance at Littlehampton, where they were good value for the win despite the tight scoreline.

“It’s a difficult place to go,” said Greenhalgh.

“With the grass pitch, they’d had a lot of rain and it was the first time we’ve really been tested with a pitch of the winter weather.

“We asked for certain performances away from home, and I think we are still top of the away form, which is brilliant.

“We’re putting in efficient performances but individually there’s a lot of people to mention.

“Tom Wray has been brilliant for us in goal.

“He didn’t have a lot to do but he’s always there and ready.

“We played Harvey Brand in a bit more of a solo role where we left him on his own a little bit.

“He was really effective and it’s something we can look at doing again, and because of that, we played Brandon Davey in a different role.

“It was good to get Ben Allen back out there, too, and he was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet.”

Weekend opponents Steyning are in the relegation zone following promotion but earned a creditable 1-1 draw against high-flying Beckenham on Saturday.

That result allowed Margate to take third place off Becks.

“Steyning are a club that are trying to find their feet at the moment,” said Greenhalgh.

“Getting a draw against Beckenham was a brilliant result and that will give them confidence coming to us.

“Teams have taken points off us at home - only ever the one point - but they have done that.

“Teams are coming here to try and steal a point, so we’re clearly doing something right, but we need to get the final bit over the line of not just dominating games but getting the three points and putting the ball in the back of the net.”

Greenhalgh is not ruling out adding to his squad for the Christmas period but stressed: “Players are performing at a very good level and it’s one of the those where you don’t just want to add for the sake of it and disrupt things.”

The Boxing Day derby between Margate and Ramsgate at Hartsdown Park is a 2,500 sell-out, the hosts have announced.