Margate boss Ben Greenhalgh is confident the goals will follow to go with all their promising approach play.

Gate had 21 shots on goal against Herne Bay on Bank Holiday Monday but the match ended goalless.

It was a second 0-0 draw in three Isthmian South East games, having been held by East Grinstead on the opening day.

And while they remain unbeaten, having also drawn 2-2 at Ashford on Friday night, goals are the name of the game.

“The Herne Bay game was similar to East Grinstead, if not better,” said player-manager Greenhalgh.

“It was a dominant performance but the main issue at the moment is scoring goals.

“We’ve got goalscorers, so I’m confident the goals will come, but the reality is out of the four strikers who want to play as the No.9, no one’s put it in the back of the net.

“We’ve created 21 shots but the objective of the game is to score, so there’s a level of frustration.

“A lot of people came up to me afterwards and said how good the level of performances have been but everyone knows we want to be getting three points.

“There’s a lot of things we can work on but the main thing we want to work on is scoring goals.

“We said from the start we want to implement a philosophy of playing better football and being more entertaining and creating more opportunities. And we are doing exactly that.

“But the harsh reality is that games of football are won by scoring goals.

“You give the defenders credit and say we’ve got three clean sheets out of four games (including the FA Cup).

“Last year we only got four clean sheets in the whole season.

“So there’s a platform there that we’ve got to build on, and have already built on.

“I prefer to have a 0-0 where we’ve created lots of opportunities than a 0-0 where we’ve looked pretty poor.

“I don’t think scoring goals is a concern, because we’ve got the players, but in these games we needed to score.

“We got four in the FA Cup and two at Ashford, so it’s only two games where we’ve had this, but where it was such constant pressure and such a dominant performance, you need to score.”

Harvey Brand and Ibrahim Olutade struck as Margate twice led at Ashford on Friday but they had to settle for a point, while Greenhalgh had a penalty saved at 1-1.

Gate host Hayes & Yeading in the FA Cup first qualifying round on Saturday (3pm).

Greenhalgh, who scored a hat-trick against Loxwood in the last round, said: “It’ll be a different game because Hayes & Yeading are an established non-league side with experienced players.

“However, we want to take our game to the next level and start scoring goals again.

“Everything is working apart from putting the ball in the net from three or six yards out.

“We’re getting the whole way there, it’s just a case of putting it in the net.

“Normally in any team I’ve been a part of, you’ve got one attacking player who’s scoring when the others aren’t. At the moment we haven’t got enough of our attackers firing.

“But it’s gone well so far on the whole. Everything we’ve put together has come along.

“We are playing good football, everyone’s buying into our methods, the team chemistry is probably the best it’s been for a long time.

“Everyone’s up for it, the players on the bench are cheering the others on from the side and the players coming in are putting in really good performances.”